Should I Pay Off My Student Loan? 2008/09 article discussion

Oldernotwiser

Chris2685 wrote: »

The entire debt is written off after 25 years, so what do you mean? I will just continue to pay minimum repayments on the loan for 25 years until it gets written off.

If you have a decent career there's noreason to assume that you won't earn enough to pay it back within 25 years.

Oldernotwiser

silvercar wrote: »

I would imagine she would because if she found a job the very next day, that money would be a bonus. If she doesn't work for a while she will be making no more payments.

9% of £4000 = £360. If it was paid outside of the PAYE system I guess it wouldn't be taken.

Now, without being certain, I don't think that you would pay out of redundancy money because you don't pay NICs on a redundancy payout and student loan repayments follow the same criteria as NICs. Best to check with HMRC though.

Chris2685

That's true.. I just worked out that even earning what I am now I will have paid it off within 5 years just making minimum repayments...

It depends how it works with 2 jobs though... Do they take your TOTAL gross from both jobs and take 9% from that? If so then there will be £180 going out each month! That's not so great

KarlLiegis

I feel really jipped. I attended uni and college from 2001 - 2006 and i find myself unable to have the debt written off until i am 65, whereas everyone else who ever took a student load only has to wait 25 years. Is there any case for making it equal for the classes of 1998-2006?

I also read the notes about going abroad but oe of the rumours when i was in uni was that if you left the country and dint come back for 13 year the debt would be gone due to you having no valid credit anymore.

next uni rumour was that if you go bankrupt it is wiped aswell. any truth in that?

Finally out of interest does anyone know why the years we attended affect our repayment scheme..is it simply due to the government in place at the time?

Chris2685

I think it is to do with the policy, and whatever agreement you 'signed' at the time. They can't change the contract part way through the loan term or something...

melancholly

KarlLiegis wrote: »

I feel really jipped. I attended uni and college from 2001 - 2006 and i find myself unable to have the debt written off until i am 65, whereas everyone else who ever took a student load only has to wait 25 years. Is there any case for making it equal for the classes of 1998-2006?

I also read the notes about going abroad but oe of the rumours when i was in uni was that if you left the country and dint come back for 13 year the debt would be gone due to you having no valid credit anymore.

next uni rumour was that if you go bankrupt it is wiped aswell. any truth in that?

Finally out of interest does anyone know why the years we attended affect our repayment scheme..is it simply due to the government in place at the time?

it's probably best to just pay the minimum back - trying to find ways out of it usually goes down very badly on here..... you can also count yourself lucky that you're through it before the fees get even higher.

Oldernotwiser

KarlLiegis wrote: »

next uni rumour was that if you go bankrupt it is wiped aswell. any truth in that?

None whatsoever, student loans aren't included in bankruptcy.

Oldernotwiser

Chris2685 wrote: »

That's true.. I just worked out that even earning what I am now I will have paid it off within 5 years just making minimum repayments...

It depends how it works with 2 jobs though... Do they take your TOTAL gross from both jobs and take 9% from that? If so then there will be £180 going out each month! That's not so great

Yes, total gross income, from whatever source.

steiner_2

Hi

I'll start off with a background story


Went to Uni for 5 months in 1995
had a bit of a bad time in the mid 1990's
settled down small family mortgate etc etc
totally forgot about the £1000 student loan but was vaguley aware i didn't need to worry because i was not earning enough to go over the threshold.

Today letter arrives from collection agency for my student loan.
Student loan company have said to me when i phoned them this morning, that I should have declared back in 2002 what my wages are. I explained I wasn't aware of this because i had not recieved any corrospondants
and they said I should of informed them of moving address and that it was my own responsibiltiy. They said their was nothing I could do and that i was stuck with the £1900 debt even if I was still under the threshold for actually repaying it.
I feel really annoyed because I would of dealt with this in 2002 if a letter had arrived.
If anyone can offer any advice it would be really appreciated.

JimmyTheWig

Are you saying that they want you to pay the whole thing off now?
Or just that they have reminded you that you owe them £1900 that you will have to repay once you earn over the threshold?