Student Finance have ruined my life

[DepressedDad]

Sorry for the melodramatic title but that's how I feel.

My wife has completed her degree but student finance have made it extremely difficult.

To cut a long story short, they overpaid us in her second year. They gave us an adult dependency grant which we didn't apply for. Student finance confirmed it was their admin error not ours. Despite this both the Student Union and CAB told us we'd need to pay them back.

They withheld the money promised to us in the third year which meant we had to pay full nursery fees. Because of this we had to live of credit cards and is the sole reason why we are now in so much debt. Buying things like bread and milk on a credit card for over a year mounts up!

Anyway, we survived and we repaid the final payment of £2K on a 0% card and the lady on the phone confirmed our account was settled.

Whilst all this was going on I became more and more stressed. I have a hospital appointment tomorrow to attend a stress and mood clinic. I'm just thankful that my wife and I have such a strong relationship because there were some rocky times.

Then today... we received another letter saying we owe over £4K. I am FURIOUS, they don't have a clue what they are doing. They've sent us hundreds of letters of the last three years all stating different figures. I've had enough! My wife will contact them tomorrow and have it out on the phone but Im worried they'll pass it to a debt collection agency which they threatened before we paid the £2K which we thought was going to be the end of it.

We've already spent a fortune on telephone calls in the last year trying to sort it, we then think it's all done and dusted and then they want more!

We've already tried to get some help from Student Union and CAB but wondered if there was anyone else we could go to?

Hopefully it's just another mistake but what the hell happens if it isn't!

Anyway, sorry to bore you and any advice welcome. Cheers!

[bouncydog1]

You will likely get a better response over on the student thread as there is at least one expert on there on student finance. Don't worry - there is nothing that cannot be sorted.

[beanielou]

Try to not worry too much.
As bouncydog says there is nothing that cant be sorted.
Martin Lewis says there are no debt situations that cannot be solved.
It might not be easy or quick but it can be sorted.

[LannieDuck]

Is there any way you can make an appointment to see them in person? Get them to pull your entire file and calculate the correct figures while you're there to agree them. Then ask them to put it all in a letter for you, signed by their manager.

[somethingcorporate]

Wow, that was melodramatic title compared to what the issue is!

Student finance are consistently a nightmare. They have a tough job and the government has continued to cut corners on them since they were brought into existence and the process of collections is barmy so no wonder there are so many issues.

We've had numerous problems in the past that are best solved in writing - it saves the emotion and getting annoyed on the phone with lack of progress. At the end of the day your situation is unlikely to be resolved by the first person you speak to so best get something in writing that someone can go away and look into.

Good luck, I have always found them to be helpful (but useless).

[macpumpkin]

I feel for you, if you have no joy then take it to the ombusman but be warned they move v v slowly having had dealings with them before. The SLC is a law unto itself but will does answer to the ombusman. My sister is a teacher and is of an age where the government is paying back her student loans and she took a sabatical and had to pay the contribution for that year but they wanted more money than that and it took about 18 months to sort out. You will sort it but it will prob take some time so try not to worry about it. I know easier said than done but be tenacious and most of all good luck. X

[macpumpkin]

The other person you could try is your MP as government bodies tend to respond v well to MPs or also the financial agony aunt/uncle in the Guardian or Telegraph Newspapers as when they get involved due to publicity things move more quickly.

[fatbelly]

Originally Posted by DepressedDad

Then today... we received another letter saying we owe over £4K. I am FURIOUS, they don't have a clue what they are doing. They've sent us hundreds of letters of the last three years all stating different figures. I've had enough! My wife will contact them tomorrow and have it out on the phone but Im worried they'll pass it to a debt collection agency which they threatened before we paid the £2K which we thought was going to be the end of it.

I wouldn't do that.

Originally Posted by somethingcorporate

We've had numerous problems in the past that are best solved in writing - it saves the emotion and getting annoyed on the phone with lack of progress. At the end of the day your situation is unlikely to be resolved by the first person you speak to so best get something in writing that someone can go away and look into.

That sounds better. Send a polite letter asking for a full statement of account. Then you can see if your payments have/have not been credited and, if peculiar amounts have been added, then you can query those items.

[moongarden]

Originally Posted by fatbelly

Send a polite letter asking for a full statement of account. Then you can see if your payments have/have not been credited and, if peculiar amounts have been added, then you can query those items.

Write to them as fatbelly suggests. Put your draft letter up on here if you want help with it. Don't ring them as they have to think on the spot and you don't have such great audit trail.

Send it recorded delivery and add the slip and a screen print of the signature from Royal Mail website to your file.

[woodbine]

OP if you havent already contact your MP for help

[paulmapp8306]

Like that will do any good......

AAnyway - when you settled the account with the £2k - did you get that in writing? you should have, in fact you should have had it in writing before making the payment (ie that £2k woule be full and final payment). If you DO have it in writing that the £2k was paid, and the account settled - then thats it. Its settled.. no arguments to be had. If not, then its more difficult.