Help With Student Loans - HERE!

I was a student between 2007 and 2011 and have an associated student loan which I've been paying off via PAYE since but I currently find myself in an interesting situation and SLC's call centre hasn't been very useful. Any help will be much appreciated.

I was made redundant in June 2015. I received my normal salary in April (circa £4k) and May (circa £4k) then significantly more in June (statutory redundancy £1.4k, pay in lieu of notice period £12.5k, holiday pay £2k). For the remainder of the financial year I had no income. My annual salary for the financial year ending April 2016 is approx £22k depending on what is classed by SLC as salary.

I paid £224 towards my student loan in April, £224 again in May and £1,123 in June, a total of £1,571 for the 2015/16 financial year.

I believe I should have paid 9% of what I earn above £17,335.
22,000 – 17,335 = 4,665

9% of 4,665 = £419.85

I should have paid about £420, yet I paid £1,571, an overpayment of approx £1,150. Am I correct? And am I able to reclaim this? SLC's call centre said, as I was paid monthly, my liability was calculated on a monthly basis and therefore there wasn't an overpayment and I wouldn't be able to get this returned. If I can't get this refunded I've in affect paid 34% of what I earned above the annual allowance!

As of much lower concern, despite paying my contributions at the start of the financial year my payments have been applied equally each month, this results in too much interest being charged throughout the year. Is there a way to get this corrected? I believe the difference is currently £20 or so but given that interest will be charged on this I'm keen to get it fixed.

Any help will be fantastic!
Thanks

mallock91 wrote: »

I created a spread sheet to enable my financially-literate daughter to check her small student loan. By coincidence, today I received her latest statement as at April 6th this year and, after obtaining her approval I opened it.

I am a retired financial professional so I was extremely surprised to discover the way that the SLC calculates interest on her pre 2012 loan. Interest is applied monthly to the balance at the previous April 6th anniversary and the total annual repayment is applied to the balance at March 31st. This is clearly contrary to normal practice as the monthly repayments should be applied currently and interest applied only to the reduced balance.

It may be that the SLC loan agreement provides for this method but I am surprised that I have seen no reference to this subject in MSE forums although I confess that I have not examined all of the possible forum subjects with a fine-tooth comb.

Am I the only person to question this practice?

When SLC credit the repayment for the previous tax year, interest is adjusted to calculate as if the repayment was received on the last day of each calendar month, with the total repayment amount divided into 12 equal monthly installments.

This is provided for by regulation 17(c)(i) of the Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/470/regulation/17/made

suzieQueue wrote: »

As a parent of twins who are both planning to go to uni sept 2017 im trying to do some advanced planning/damage limitation.

DH and I run a small business which is a limited company and we are the only shareholders/directors. Our turnover is already down this financial year compared to year end april 16 so i understand we can opt for current year assessment and would need to get our accounts done quickly after end of april 17 for consideration.
I also understand that dividends are classed as income for SL purposes and I know that our dividends will be lower this year than last.
I have read on here that we can reduce our 'income' by making additional pension contributions. Is this the case as we would like to get our income as low as possible so that both our children can get additional bursaries/grants to help with their finances?
Also, if we leave money (ie profits) invested in our limited company then presumably they don't count as income. Our company would then pay Corporation tax on them and we could draw them out in future years? Would they then count as 'income'?
Sorry if I have this completely wrong but we are only in our second year of Ltd co.
Many thanks

SuzieQueue

Students no longer get grants from student finance, only additional loans.

If you are earning the money by taking it as income (as salary or dividends), it will count towards the assessment.

lost_in_the_woods wrote: »

I was a student between 2007 and 2011 and have an associated student loan which I've been paying off via PAYE since but I currently find myself in an interesting situation and SLC's call centre hasn't been very useful. Any help will be much appreciated.

I was made redundant in June 2015. I received my normal salary in April (circa £4k) and May (circa £4k) then significantly more in June (statutory redundancy £1.4k, pay in lieu of notice period £12.5k, holiday pay £2k). For the remainder of the financial year I had no income. My annual salary for the financial year ending April 2016 is approx £22k depending on what is classed by SLC as salary.

I paid £224 towards my student loan in April, £224 again in May and £1,123 in June, a total of £1,571 for the 2015/16 financial year.

I believe I should have paid 9% of what I earn above £17,335.
22,000 – 17,335 = 4,665

9% of 4,665 = £419.85

I should have paid about £420, yet I paid £1,571, an overpayment of approx £1,150. Am I correct? And am I able to reclaim this? SLC's call centre said, as I was paid monthly, my liability was calculated on a monthly basis and therefore there wasn't an overpayment and I wouldn't be able to get this returned. If I can't get this refunded I've in affect paid 34% of what I earned above the annual allowance!

As of much lower concern, despite paying my contributions at the start of the financial year my payments have been applied equally each month, this results in too much interest being charged throughout the year. Is there a way to get this corrected? I believe the difference is currently £20 or so but given that interest will be charged on this I'm keen to get it fixed.

Any help will be fantastic!
Thanks

Is anyone able to help me with this?