Help With Student Loans - HERE!

Muffintop_2

Muffintop wrote: »

Hi,

I defaulted on my loan a year ago and I've been paying back £88 pounds a month to not Smith Lawson Company but to someone else (I can't remember tho'). On Thursday I got a letter from the Student Loans Company telling me thy were giving me a Notice of Intention to Register Student Loan Defaults to credit Agencies for the sum of 831.66. When I got notice from the debt collections agency (I think about February this year), I was told by student loans that my student account was being handled by them and I was supposed to defer to them (I haven't recieved a deferal yet). On monday I got a letter from Smith Lawson Company demanding £700 odd pounds.

I know they employ different agencies when you default but I can't keep track. My memory has been affected by my illness and I find it hard to process the same information as I usually forget whats where still. Who exactly do I owe money to. The student loans company know I haven't recieved a deferal. The company I pay the £88 had said I'd defaulted on my PAYMENTS 3 months ago which I hadn't. I wrote to them and told them to rectify their accounts, they haven't written back saying they have or they haven't.

I'm still waiting for a deferal form for this year.

I really am confused as to who I owe this money to, why can't they just lump it all together and let me pay off that. Why don't they inform you that when you've missed your second payment from when ever they think you've got to pay it that it's missed. Why do they always let it build up for about a year before they tell you.

I know it's not their responsiblity to ensure i pay my bills on time, but crikey, I was out of paying my gas by about £25 and they let me know 14 days after I was supposed to pay it. It seems their debit collection strategy is to wait until it's intentionally large enough so people can't afford to pay it back.

Can they pass the info onto credit agencies? I haven't defaulted on anything in about 2 years, I've been making regular payments to Student Loans through one means or another for the past year.

Any help would be good.

Muffin x

Any help on this? Generally what I want to know is can they share this info. I've had trouble before and they assured me that it would not affect my credit rating.

MrsManda

Muffintop wrote: »

Any help on this? Generally what I want to know is can they share this info. I've had trouble before and they assured me that it would not affect my credit rating.

I've no experience of this but your post sounds like you're getting yourself stressed and in a muddle. It sounds like you're dealing with multiple agencies over the same matter which is rather confusing. You need to sit down with all the letters you've had from the different agencies and work out who you've been paying what and why. Better still get someone to go through all the paperwork with you - may be a good idea to make an appointment at your local Citizen's Advice Bureau.
You said you defaulted on your loan last year, then that you hadn't defaulted on anything for about two years. Which is it?
If you haven't deferred this year's loan yet this is probably why the SLC have said they're going to pass your details to credit agencies as the financial year started 8mths ago.
Go through all the paperwork, get a clear understanding on what you owe, who you owe it to, who you've been paying and what has been requested of you. Then you'll be able to contact the different agencies in order to solve the issues. As it is the SLC who've sent you the letter to say they're going to inform the credit agencies it's probably best to call them first and ask them to talk you through your account and send you the full information on your account.

Poolie

Muffintop wrote: »

Any help on this? Generally what I want to know is can they share this info. I've had trouble before and they assured me that it would not affect my credit rating.

Student Loans do now have the power to put a notice on your credit file.

Soultech

I just got an 'Annual' statement from the SLC for the dates 06-07 through the door today.Which in itself is a bit weird.

But is anyone having any trouble accessing the loan repayment site studentloanrepayment.co.uk?

Thanks.

MrsManda

Soultech wrote: »

But is anyone having any trouble accessing the loan repayment site studentloanrepayment.co.uk?
Thanks.

Doesn't appear to be working but direct.gov.
says 'Student finance online services will be unavailable from 5.00 pm on Friday 11 December, expected to return by 8.00 pm on Sunday 13 December at the latest'
so I'm presuming this also applies to the repayments website.

Soultech

Ah ok, thanks very much. Makes sense.

Poolie

MrsManda wrote: »

Doesn't appear to be working but direct.gov.
says 'Student finance online services will be unavailable from 5.00 pm on Friday 11 December, expected to return by 8.00 pm on Sunday 13 December at the latest'
so I'm presuming this also applies to the repayments website.

All the student finance websites including the repayment website will be unavailable to do maintenance work this weekend.

Poolie

Soultech wrote: »

I just got an 'Annual' statement from the SLC for the dates 06-07 through the door today.

It may be an updated statement as the tax office has sent through old repayments.

Muffintop_2

Hi, cheers for the Reply.

To be clearer: I wasn't aware I'd defaulted on my student loan payments this year as I thought I was paying my loan plus the extra that I'd defaulted on last year 08' through CCA. I got a letter two weeks ago from Student loans saying I'd defaulted this year and owed them £800, then last week I got a letter from Smith Lawson Co saying I owed them £700. I've since written to the student loans saying I can pay them £50 extra if they consolidate the debt as it really isn't clear where the extra £700 has come from. I've also said:

However, if you register the defaults on my loans with other credit agencies you do not give me any motivation to pay as the damage to my credit rating will be done (considering I am already paying it off).

I got into a lot of debt (Stopped paying my rent, council tax generally everything - I never spent the money I just didn't pay any of it to bills) about two years ago and my credit rating has just got alot better this year. That's what I mean when I haven't defaulted on anything. I was going to try and get my credit rating back up. I've written to the student loans people before, to detail about why what's gone where, they've been less than helpful (I recieved a letter that more or less said 'because we can' without any account information included). I've also recieved letters with only one name at the bottom. I've stopped phoning because they are extremely aggressive and unhelpful (I'm sure you and your colleagues are an exception).

I've also asked for a timeline as to when they intend to share this information as I don't think they've done this responsibly (Come on? Christmas? Not November, not January but December? The timing must be intentional.) And I'd like to know when I go bust on the old experian front.

I know this has turned into a bit of a rant so I do appologise, and really thanks for your help.

Mx

Taiko

Poolie wrote: »

Student Loans do now have the power to put a notice on your credit file.

I believe now that there is the power for pre-1998 loans. I'll find the relevent documents.