After reading a lot of posts here (including several in Dutch), I tried to get a subscription set up (I already sorted out the OV-chipkaart needed for that), first via NS chat, then via the klantenservice phone number). Both times they told me that I got rejected by EDR. That’s kind of funny because I don’t recall ever owing anyone in NL money and my credit rating in my own country is just fine, so personally I suspect that they just don’t provide data for foreign consumers in the first place (and I distinctly recall the NS service agent using the word “malfunction” when talking about the EDR result, but after speaking to a colleague they gave me the “talk to EDR and settle any outstanding bills” instead).

Of course, EDR’s info form doesn’t even let you enter a foreign address, and the person I talked to at their consumentenhelpdesk didn’t speak English and hung up on me.

I also tried going through Mijn NS using a few random Dutch addresses, but the EDR check failed there too before I could even enter a bank account.

If instead I try to go for a “Dal Vordeel op saldo” subscription on the website, it does let me proceed to the point where I can select an iDeal account, and I do have an LT Revolut account that I could try this with... but I’m worried that there will be no way for me to get the rest of my money back if I pay for the whole year and cancel early.

Is there anything else I can do to get a Flex subscription, or can I at least be confident that there’s a way to get back the excess from the “op saldo” subscription if that does go through? I know that normally an “op saldo” subscription can be converted into a Flex subscription after a month, but I suspect that this wouldn’t work due to the EDR thing, so is there another option to get the rest of the money back… and if so, how does it work?