On July 17, the Beijing Branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) released the personal information of university graduates who have not repaid their student loans, sparking a heated debate among netizens.

The announcement included the names, ID numbers, contact information of more than 1,411 university graduates and the amount each of them owed. The total amount of the unpaid debts is around 18,575,900 yuan, including interest.

The largest single debt is around 30,000 yuan, while the lowest is several hundred. The majority of the listed graduates owe more than 7,000 yuan to the bank.

ICBC has already handed over the credit records of these new graduates to the central bank's credit system and urged these debtors to contact ICBC as soon as possible.

Mu Lehua, general manager of the department of personal credit at ICBC's Beijing Branch, said that the bank couldn't find these listed people because they had changed their contact details. "Some of the debts were incurred two or three years ago and are still unpaid," said Mu.

The bank wants to regain contact with the listed graduates through the Internet and also make them aware of their obligation to pay back the loans.

The bank started the student loan program in 1999 and the bad debt rate started to increase in 2004. "Many graduates should leave valid contact information for future contact with the bank," said Mu.

The release of the personal information aroused great concern among netizens. Some were angry with the bank's announcement. Most of the students who owe the money are from western China as inferred from their ID numbers, and some say that it is too harsh a financial burden for the fresh graduates to pay up the debts in a tough job market.

But others insist that honesty and credibility are a citizen's basic moral virtue and that this kind of behavior cannot be tolerated.

At present, 13 of the listed graduates have contacted the bank. Seven of them have promised to pay up the loan soon, while six others are in negotiations with the bank.

Coincidentally, the Guangdong Branch of ICBC released a similar announcement on June 26.

Bad debts from student's loans have become a wide-spread trend. It was reported by China Youth Daily that up to the end of 2005, the bad debt rate for the student's loan was 28.5 percent. Most banks are now very cautious about lending money to students.