About 100,000 mothers with student loans could benefit from debt relief

About 100,000 Hungarians could benefit from a government decree on debt relief for young mothers with student loans, the state secretary for family affairs said on public television on Thursday.

The decree, issued in the latest issue of the official gazette Magyar Közlöny, gives female students with a loan a three-year grace period for repayments after the birth of their first child, Katalin Novák said.

Half of their debt may be forgiven after the birth of their second child, and the rest after the birth of a third child.

Novák told news channel M1 that the debt relief will activate for children born after January 1, 2018, but mothers may count children born earlier when availing of the preference. That is, if a mother’s second child is born after the start of next year, half of her student loans will be forgiven, she explained.

She said the government would cover the interest costs during the three-year grace period. Mothers with both general purpose student loans and student loans for tuition can decide on which loan they wish to apply the relief, she added.