Student Loans discussion

gazat

It was a personal attack on me by accusing me of trying to weasel out of repaying my loan. This is not what I am trying to discuss and therefore, from my perspective, irrelevent.

I have accused no-one. I asked the question, thats all.

bestpud

gazat wrote: »

It was a personal attack on me by accusing me of trying to weasel out of repaying my loan. This is not what I am trying to discuss and therefore, from my perspective, irrelevent.

I have accused no-one. I asked the question, thats all.

I don't think any of us are sure what it is you do want to 'discuss' tbh...

gazat

OK - lets start again as its all got a little cloudy

I am looking at this from an almost academic, not personal perspective. My repayment of my student loan is not in question - it will be repaid by the end of the year.

So, ignoring any personal perspective, I am trying to look into whether there is a better way in which student loans can be applied for.

Many of you have mentioned that you just filled in a form. Given the size of these loans, the relative nievity of many of the people applying for them (many people are not particulary financially astute), the unusual derivative based interest rate and the basically tax like repayment (which is both good and bad, but on the whole good, if unusual), and that the SLC appears to be acting outside the protections offered by the FSA, is there a more effective and better way of advising students about this loan.

Admittedly there is a whole host of information on the internet for those who check, and there is also the terms and conditions that should be read.

However, I personally feel that students should be given better advice

dmg24

Perhaps the type of student that refers to should grow up and remember that they are adults, and need to actually check what they are signing before applying for the loan?

Sounds a good answer to me!

gazat

And that is one way of looking at it, but it seems to me that they actually have less rights to some extent with a student loan than with a commercial loan.
Commercial loans are regulated and pretty straight forward. Student Loans are a bit more complicated and unregulated to boot.

If easier to understand loans are regulated, it seems to me that more complex loans should be too.

The fact that students are supposed to be inteligent should not factor into this assessment, neither that the SLC is an effective arm of the treasury, IMHO.

bestpud

Perhaps something like this on every sheet of the application form:

Remember you are big boys and girls now and this is a loan which has to be paid back!
Please make sure you read the T&Cs in full as that is what big people have to do before they sign anything!
If you do not feel grown up enough to read them yourself, we suggest you ask mummy or daddy to explain, BEFORE you sign the form!

Oldernotwiser

If a loan is only relevant to one sector of the population, ie. students, then their supposed intelligence ought to be taken as given. I really don't know why you think that student loans are so complex; students readily take out credit cards whose terms are far more complicated and do this on the internet without being given any specialist advice. Student loans are at the rate of inflation and I know there are a variety of indices for this, but credit card rates are just plain variable. Why is one more difficult to understand than the other?

I think that all you're doing is worrying prospective students, most of whom will be unable to attend university without taking out a student loan. I find the fact that you've chosen to introduce this issue at this time quite insensitive and counterproductive to students from less sophisticated financial backgrounds wishing to go to university.

melancholly

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I think that all you're doing is worrying prospective students, most of whom will be unable to attend university without taking out a student loan. I find the fact that you've chosen to introduce this issue at this time quite insensitive and counterproductive to students from less sophisticated financial backgrounds wishing to go to university.

:T:T:T:T
exactly

gazat

You may be right about the timing - I apologise. It probably is a bit insensitive. Perhaps posts should be postponed until a later date.

On the other hand, I doubt that this thread, given the responses I have had, would put anyone off.

Intelligence is not the same as financial sophistication. Newton was undoubtably a genius but got screwed on the south sea bubble and lost a fortune.

Your comparison with credit cards is useful I think. That said, I don't think credit cards should be quite so accessable either, but that is a different topic

soolin

No I don't believe this thread has put any one off. The facts as far as I can gleam from your very careful answering of the questions you want to answer, and the overlooking of those you don't, appear to be that you feel that somehow students are being misled with these loans..However most students if not all (apart from you it seems) appear to manage to understand them without too much difficulty, and if they don't understand they have the ability to ask relevant questions.

However, I think it is safe to make the assumption, as others have done already, that students have at least as good an IQ as the rest of the population..if not better (possibly) so I can't see any argument that means they need their hand holding any more than any other segment of the population.

Back on the first page of this thread a sort of agreement was reached that we assume 'most' students cannot afford to go to uni without these loans..so I'm not quite sure what your point is, if you neded the loan and you believe you are of average intelligence, what is your complaint based on? If you feel there was any hard sell, and I would argue against that as a proposition, then you must believe these loans are unnecessary, which takes me back to the earlier point where you have already accepted that you needed the loan.

This thread is not a discussion, it is someone with an unexplainable problem with student loans that it appears no one else can understand and yours are the only posts that appear to misunderstand a fairly simple situation.

I honestly don't know where else this discussion can go now, you haven't found anyone to support, or even understand your position, you are reluctant to explain why you are looking for a technical loophole and it is very difficult to know what else to say.

There are a lot of things in this big bad world that maybe some of us do take for granted. If when you get a job you work in the City you will find, for instance it is common for employers to offer a 'season ticket loan' please be warned if you are offered such a loan to be repaid via your salary that your employers ar enot acting as IFAs and are just trying to be helpful. By all means exercise your right to independent advice before you accept any standard loan (interest free or otherwise) from your employers.

Anyway, I'm happy today as DS2 got his uni place yesterday and his loan documents all turned up today so all is well in the Soolin household.