'Pulling out of Govt’s Student finance day...' blog discussion

BruceyBonus

Sillychuckie wrote: »

Can someone explain to me why the Govt can do this?
Is the loan between students and the SLC not a binding contract like any other? If the original terms of the loan say it will track inflation (and mentions no 0% minimum), then is this not a breach of the terms?

I have a loan, but I'm not sure I have the small print surrounding the terms of it. Why is it the are able to do this?
Thanks. SC

It is a binding contract but it does say:

You will find full details of the conditions for
receiving student loans in the relevant Student
Support Regulations. The conditions for repaying
income-contingent loans are included in the
following regulations (which may be replaced by
later regulations).
• For England and Wales, the Education (Student
Loans)(Repayment) Regulations 2000 as
amended.
• For Northern Ireland, the Education (Student
Loans) (Repayment) Regulations (Northern
Ireland) 2000 as amended.
• For Scotland, the Repayment of Student Loans
(Scotland) Regulations 2000 as amended.

The bit in bold is important as The Education (Student Loans) (Repayment) Regulations 2009 allows them not to charge interest in specific years.

My issue with this is that it would make the loan an unfair contract, as the government could vary the terms at any time as and when they want to.

littlemissmoney

You can comment on NUS's response here:

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