Student Loan Repayments - Please Help!!

citroen17

Not sure if this is the right place to ask for advice, so apologies if I am in the wrong place.

When I was at uni I took out a student loan to help with rent and living expenses etc.

When I got my first job since leaving uni three years ago my completely incompetent payroll department managed to lose all of my information including my P45 (which they have admitted liability of). I think on my P45 there was a box that I ticked saying that I had a student loan. I definately filled out / ticked something saying that I had a student loan.

My HR department claimed to have sorted everything out for me (I didn't get paid properly for nearly three months) and at the time I was earning under the amount that you have to earn for the student loan company to collect payment. In the last two years I have been promoted and earn enough to have my payment deducted. I have rather naively assumed that my student loan repayment was automatically deducted with my tax. As I work unusual hours my pay differs from month to month.

Yesterday I recieved a letter from the Student Loan Company saying that they haven't received any information from me to determine my monthly repayments and have sent me a form to fill in. On the form I have to put my employment start date, which now is nearly three and a half years ago and I am really worried that they are going to think that have deliberately concealed the fact that I am working to avoid making repayments.

I cannot believe that I was stupid enough to think that my payroll department had sorted everything out and that I had been making payments. I want to ring them up and explain what happened with payroll, but I am concerned that they will either take me to court for not making any payment for over three years or try take three years worth of back payments from me. Its taken me nearly three years to clear my overdraft with the bank.

I have no idea what to do next? Any advice would be gratefully received...

wantabetterlife

Hi Citreon, I would doubt that will be looking you to pay it all back. I started paying mine about 6 years ago but when i changed jobs a couple of years ago it took almost a year for the payroll department to sort out student loan payments and i have never been asked to pay for that year when i should have been paying.Hope that helps!!

In case you were wondering how much you will pay as far as i know it is 9% on anything you earn over £15,000. Good luck!!

anniecave

citroen17 - don't worry at all. I wouldn't even bother to phone them.
I'd just fill out the form they gave you.

This sort of problem happens all the time. If the payroll departments don't notice the student loan bit, often people don't start paying after they graduate if they are earning enough, or like you when you change jobs again the same thing happens.

Student Loans chase up this sort of thing. They cross check all the NI numbers that they aren't receiving payments for with all the data they are allowed to access (which includes information submitted to HMRC) so they pick up the people that fall through the net.

I would keep an eye on it, and make sure you either get a letter back saying they have instructed your employer to start deducting, or you start seeing student loan on your payslip. If you don't hear anything after a couple of months, I would phone up. They will only start getting nasty if you don't act reasonable.

And they will only start taking deductions from now on at the agreed rate. Divide the £15,000 by 12 - so that's £1250 - so if your income is more than £1250 gross in any month, they will start taking loan deductions at the rate agreed on the amount above this figure.

If it's taken you this long to clear your overdraft, it's probably fortunate for you this happened!