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Money Moral Dilemma: Should my daughter claim Universal Credit?
This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks... My daughter is 18, lives at home and is taking a gap year before starting university next September. She had a temporary part-time job that recently ended and is now job hunting. Technically, she could claim Universal Credit, but she doesn't think she should as she has some…
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Studying in Australia
Heading down to Australia to study. I will need to open a bank account down under but for the first few weeks will rely on using a debit card from my current bank, Santander. Is there a better bank account I could open that will reduce the fees I pay, as some transactions already have been made and the exchange rate is…
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Uni student struggling
I’m a uni student with another 2 years to pay off my car at 163 a month with 10.9% interest. I’m starting to struggle with not being able to work as much with placements etc.. I have £6610 in an ISA account which is me saving for a house after finishing uni in a few years. I was thinking of withdrawing money to pay my car…
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Financial help on your own?
Hi, I’m a foundation year student who’s going to be doing a first yr in the next year. I have lived in a toxic household most my life and I think it’s best for me to leave. A few questions I had was when applying to maintenance loan do you have to have an address for where you will be staying even though you might not know…
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Tuition fees and maintenance loans to rise in Wales – here's what it means for you
Universities in Wales will be able to charge full-time undergraduate students up to £9,535 a year from 2025/26, the Welsh Government has announced today (Wednesday 4 December). Student living support – also known as maintenance loans and grants – will also rise by 1.6%. Here's what you need to know. Read the full story:…
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Student grants rules and restrictions
I'm writing to ask for your advice on a difficult situation. My daughter, who just turned 18, wants to attend Manchester University next September. Unfortunately, due to Me and my wife high income she's only eligible for a small student grant of £4,000 per year. This amount is far from enough to cover her accommodation or…
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Loan taken in England but living and working in Scotland
Hi, Does anyone know which income threshold should be applied for someone who took a Plan 1 loan, in England in 2000. The person is originally from Scotland, but had been living in England since 1997. They went back to Scotland in 2012 and are currently living and in PAYE employment there. Should the higher threshold (of…
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Over threshold by £500 Overpaid by £400 - can I still get a refund
The plan etc. is immaterial so I'll keep it simple and omit. According to letter of reason one I have earned above the threshold in a previous tax year, but only marginally so (by just over £500) despite this, and for same reason as explained about repayment being deducted monthly based on monthly earnings where I was out…
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How is parental Income calculated for student loan eligibility?
Apologies, this has probably been asked and answered many times, but is there somewhere official that describes how parental income is assessed for student loans and the 25k limit for full loan eligibility? Areas of relevance to me are: The treatment of pension contributions The treatment of pension draw down, taxed and…
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One off payment against postgraduate loan
Hi.My daughter has an undergrad and postgrad loan (masters) and we want to make a one off payment that reduces the postgrad loan not the undergrad. However on the website if you select bank xfer you are required to enter the customer number - which applies to both loans. How can we ensure which loan the repayment is…
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Returning to study
Recently returned to study (Level 7, year 3) as a mature student with extremely limited time. Can anyone suggest how to get assignments done as quickly and efficiently as possible? I’m aware of various apps (OpenAI & Grammarly) which seem to be useful tools for creating an outline/template but not sure how good they are at…
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Plan 2 AND Plan 5 loans (Current PGCE students) - repayment rules costing £10,000s?
Hi all. Bit of a niche one this, but bear with me! Will affect most PGCE students who have done an undergrad degree followed by a PGCE that commenced: last year (Sep 23) this year (Sep 24) next year (Sep 25) These students will have had a 'Plan 2' student loan for the Undergrad course, and 'Plan 5' student loan for the…
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"mortgage style" (pre-1998) student loans and deferment - does savings interest count?
Hi there. When working out whether someone can defer a "mortgage style" student loan, does income from savings interest count towards the threshold when declaring income? Thanks.
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Student loan after stopping work, what happens?
Hi, It looks like I may stop work in the near future and will be supported by my partner. I still have an outstanding balance on my SL. In recent months my repayments have stopped as the threshold was raised just above my annual salary. The query I have is, what happens if I stop work? Will I be chased for payments or will…
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Student loan repayments - multiple jobs.
Hi, Just a quick query.. Is it correct that if someone has multiple jobs (all PAYE, therefore no self assessment) and doesn't earn above the monthly repayment threshold of £1615 (Plan 1) at any one of those jobs, yet overall earns above the annual threshold of £19,390 (Plan 1) then they'll never make any repayments?.. Is…
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Student loan - repayments not clearing anything, interest causing debt to rise
Is this right? I am on repayment plan 2. I earn £43,000 per year. My repayments are not clearing the debt and instead interest is just getting added and added. Two years ago in September 2022, when I was probably earning ~£40,000 or a bit less, the debt was £33,929.44. Now today I have taken a look, November 2024, and the…
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Issues with student loan
Our daughter has applied for a student loan for her PGCE. She previously worked in South Korea for two years (22-24), teaching English at a private school. Student Finance has stated that she needs to prove her work abroad was temporary, which it was. She has already sent a letter explaining this, but they have requested…
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Student loan repayment
I have been trying to find some info on this, but not found much so I am throwing this out to see if anyone has any ideas! I am a mature student and took student finance of £12,000 for tuition fees on plan 2, which I started to re-pay in April 2020, after graduating the year before. Due to my earnings I was paying £60pm…
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erudio stopped sending emails
Heloo. I hope someone can advise me about this situation. I have some of the old style mortgage type loans from 1997-2000 that I have deferred successfully every year since then (except 1year when i was rich). Usually they send an email to remind me about the deferment window when it comes around. This year they did not.…
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Can you Salary Sacrifice student loan repayment(s)
Dear Team, partner has £30k in Student Loan to repay. Looking to repay it ASAP as the interest on it now is 7.6%!! Can you increase your repayments via your employer payslip? If so - is it on Gross salary - ie reduces your Tax and NI costs? The current default is 9% which will barely cover the interest charges. So looking…
