The interest rate was already quite low (0.01 per cent), but it will now be zero per cent. Such a low rate has never occurred before, according to Het Parool. The reason behind it is the fact that the Netherlands are currently able to borrow money at a very cheap rate, which students are now benefitting from.
People paying back their student loans will have their interest rate fixed for a period of five years. Former students who graduated in 2012 will be starting a new fixed-interest five-year period, and their interest will fall to zero as well. The same goes for former students who started paying back their loans in 2007 and 2002.
Zero percent is a historical low. Anyone who graduated in 2011 is stuck with an interest rate of 1.39. People who were done in 2008, paid 3.58 percent, and students who graduated in 1992 more than double that: 9.49 percent.