Student Loan Interest Rate Discussion

Poolie

It is not just the wording of the t&C we signed under but also the point that the T&C will state that the government can alter them using secondary legislation (know as Standing Orders). This is why the bank of england thing kick in because one previous standing order allowed this to happen.

The most recent has covered the impact of interest rates going negative. When the MPs approved the standing order there was no vote or debate they were just nodded through by a government whip.

Poolie

littlemissmoney wrote: »

Source:
http://www.studentloanrepayment.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=93,3866911&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

What a load of nonsense! You would pay more per month but would pay LESS over the lifetime of the loan.

Also, surely the threshold is also in the t&cs so they couldn't just go reducing that, can they?

The threshold is reviewed every 5 years. Last time is was 2005 and it cahnged from the 10,000 to 15,000 we have now.

The next review is due in 2010. I am led to believe that the repayment threshold is calculated as a average of national earnings and also how much the governemtn expects graduates to be earning when they finish university. On top of that the government has to project how much they will be repaid depending on the threshold they set.

sdooley

Now the decision to keep at 0% has been made, the important thing is that once deflation turns back into inflation, the deflation year(s) are taken into account. e.g.

2009 RPI -0.4% Interest 0%
2010 RPI -1.5% Interest 0%
2011 RPI +2.5% Interest should be c. 0.6% not 2.5%

As for the legalities, the banks claimed their t&cs on below base rate trackers referred to interest payable by the borrower, by which definition the interest couldn't go negative. Could the same apply to the student loan wording (I haven't seen the wording)?

angry_from_brid

Whilst I realise that the interest accrued on a £10,000 loan will only differ by £40 between the 0.0% being "generously" given and the RPI based rate of 0.4% that our contracts "entitle" us to it is a matter of principle. They have already benefitted from a year in which the RPI peaked in the month they use to base our yearly rate.

Instead of signing a petition is there no legal action that we could use to void the contracts we signed based on the governments breach of contract?
If companies can tout for business by promising to free borrowers from debt on technicalities why can't this be done here?

Better still, seeing as how the government wants a skilled workforce (half of school leavers to go to university) why dont they pay for it?

For the past few years there have been far more graduates graduating each year than there are graduate vacancies. Supply and demand means the supposed benefit of obtaining a degree is not matched by graduate salaries/prospects and that's not even taking into account the current recession/depression.

I realise wiping out all student loans would be very costly but given the seemingly infinitely deep pockets to bail out banks, drain moats, pay second mortgages why should recent/current students be denied the free university education taken up by such a high proprtion of the government/ house of commons?

Any legal graduates able to advise regarding voiding slc contracts?

Kazby

I was emailed about this at work today by fellow grads. There is another petition doing the rounds if you're interested. It's called 'loansofstudents'. I would post the link but I can't 'cos I'm still a new user. Sorry if this has already been mentioned above, I've read through the thread but my eyes aren't what they used to be (at the tender age of 28!!)

littlemissmoney

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Loansofstudents/

JayScottGreenspan

At the very least the government should store up this -0.4% and knock it off the interest rate for next time.

It would still punish students a bit (depending on whether they are currently making repayments or not), but the government should at least make it clear they will do this.

littlemissmoney

Shockingly, NUS are backing the government on this one! Read the article and raise your concerns here:

http://www.nus.org.uk/en/News/News/Student-Loan-interest-rate-dropped-to-0/

surfsister

7993 signatures on the petition now

surfsister

8183 now on the petition