Health insurers, energy suppliers, water companies and landlords submitted some one million reports to Dutch local authorities about late-paying customers last year, according to NU.

That’s a 10% increase on 2023.

Landlords, public utility companies and health insurers are supposed to tell councils if a customer falls into arrears so the officials can intervene at an early stage and try to ward off future financial problems. But most late payers decline the help.

The figures come from Divosa, a network of local council social security chiefs. According to Divosa researcher Anna Schors, the increase in late payments doesn’t necessarily mean that there is an increase in financial problems. “It could also be that providers are making more reports than before,” she said.

Drinking water companies in particular send invoices more often than in the past—monthly instead of quarterly—meaning more late payments are not a surprise.

But debt expert Nadja Jungmann says the numbers are still worrying. “A large proportion of people with problematic debts do not use help, even though they cannot solve it themselves,” she says.

No help wanted
Most reports involve an outstanding bill of between €250 to €1,000. “Once people miss multiple terms on a fixed charge, there is often more at stake,” says Jungmann. But only 35% of the people contacted agreed to accept help, which could be anything from payment arrangements to tips or referrals to outside assistance agencies.

Henk de Graaf, director of the Poverty Fund, says aid organisations have seen the number of requests for help increase for years. “One setback and the problems pile up,” he said. “And from one day to the next you suddenly live in poverty. We see this happening more and more often.”

Health insurers reported the most payment arrears. For insurer VGZ, it’s the young who are having the most trouble paying on time. Almost one in 10 customers aged 18 to 35 get into trouble with their bills.