It’s time to pay up for the 4,700 people with outstanding student loan payments as the Education Loan Authority is ready for payback.

Executive Administrative Officer of the Education Loan Authority (ELA) Howard Bastian disclosed that the authority is tracing borrowers as far as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States to get them to come into the office.

Individuals who do not repay the loan will face legal action and Bastian reported that several cases have been handed over to lawyers.

The Ministry of Education started an incentive programme in 2016 to help individuals payback their loans with payment schemes.

However, Bastian revealed that some of the loans have been outstanding since 2000 and the majority of the loans have interest rates piling up.

The organization is trying to increase these individuals’ interest as “the government is concerned to get this principle back, so they can make a discussion to restart the programme or not,” Bastian affirmed.

“This was money we loaned out and it was our intention for it to be a resolving fund,” Bastian asserted.

Minister of Education Jeffrey Lloyd recently encouraged those who have defaulted on their loans to seek assistance from the Education Loan Authority.

The high rate of defaulted loan is the reason for the loan programme being discontinued back in August 2009.

During the existence of the programme, the coverage of loans decreased as the funds did as well.

“When we first started, the loans could have been actually up to $40,000 a year and it was cut back to $20,000 and then it was cut back to $10,000,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd revealed that $156 million is owed to the programme and to date the default rate is 75 percent.