CSA payments from students

potatan

All students have jobs, surely? Mostly bar/shop work, but the grant and loan don't bring in enough to live off. Bearing in mind also, that I live with my own son and have a mortgage and all the bills to pay - plus no supportive parents (they are supportive, but not in a monetary way, both being retired).

sorry Kelloggs36, it seems like I'm arguing with you - I'm not, I'm just trying to get my head around what a ludicrous system I'm dealing with, where Loans/Grants are not counted as income, until you have another income - at which point they are suddenly counted.

Sounds a bit like disregarding savings, unless you suddenly earn 5k a year, and all of a sudden the savings are counted as income.

Ho hum.

kelloggs36

No, not all students have jobs. I was a student and I didn't have a job. My daughter is really struggling to get decent hours for work - she didn't get a job at all last year and got a job this year and then they promptly cut her hours!!

potatan

Well I spoke to them and they explained that it was a suspended debt from a long time ago that had been recharged to my account (i.e. unsuspended). I was offered a direct debit payment plan of approx. £70 per month, for 12 months to clear the outstanding debt, which I guess is better than finding £800 in one go. They also mentioned that my current assessment is nil, so this is just to clear some payments dating back a long time, for the time being I guess.

Having not spoken to them for 10 years or so, I was quite surprised at how quickly they answered the phone, and how quickly the initial call-taker found another case-handler to speak to me about it. This second person was still rather aggressive though, trying to demand that I set up a DD there and then. Being a record keeper these days, I asked for a letter outlining the plan first, which I have now received. I'll set up the DD myself.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

marksoton

You could set it up as a DD , far better though is to set up a standing order !!