Help With Student Loans - HERE!

Tylium

I'd like a bit of advice on my student loan balance. I phoned SLC two weeks ago and in short I was told my balance was £7,954, up from £7,454. I understand interest has been added but I paid £22 a month for 3 years up until July last year. The interest isn't that high. Why has my balance shot up?

I then log on today to find my balance has dropped by a hundred quid. I haven't paid anything since July last year because I'll be paying via Tax Return. How has it gone down without me paying anything?

Why is the Student Loan Repayment website so woefully inadequate at telling me what has been going on with the balance? There's nowhere to check what interest has been added and nowhere to check the payments I've made through PAYE.

Savvy_Sue

the amount deducted from your salary each month is not paid over to SLC until the end of the tax year, so during the year the balance you owe goes up because it's continuing to have interest added, and then it goes down once a year after HMRC have handed over what you've paid.

So, if you had something deducted from April to July last year, that £100 looks about right.

As for the SLR website, I have no answers! Only that's why the advice as you come to the end of your loan is to stop paying through PAYE and make direct payments, so that you don't overpay and have to wait for repayment!

DreamerV

I'm guessing the rules are different for SAAS and SLC but the SAAS reduce the award of student loan pound for pound after unearned income goes above £1067. I earn around £6000 from rent (mature student with a house still in Scotland, no mortgage as it's my parents investment although technically mine). Apparently if I had earned this from PAYE work, it would not be used to means test me.

Can I just ask if the SLC has the same rule? If not ignore this, but if so, could someone maybe explain why money from unearned income (which I used to support myself) is treated differently from earned income (to support myself).

Would be much appreciated.

Edited to add: Those are the rules so I have no choice but to abide by them. I just want a bit more of an understanding (as I'm a bit like that - always want to know why), and am hoping someone will be able to put across an idea of maybe why the rule is such that it is. Thanks in advance for any help.

TheBees

Hoping someone can help with a couple of questions filling out the 2012/13 parents assessment of financial circumstances form. Are we the only people to think it is very confusing and the questions are badly worded?!:mad:

Anyway here goes - page 6 Question 5 - "Did you recieve any income from savings and investments? The notes for this question say "tell us about the amount of interest you recieved from the following savings and investment types" and in the blue box below it says "Untaxed UK interest etc Amounts that have not been taxed"
So am I right in thinking that this means that if our building society account interest had tax deducted then we don't have to include the whopping £27 net interest my husband received on this form?

2nd query is regarding an endowment policy that is due to pay out. I know we don't have to include it on this years form but our endowment policy is due to pay around £20K in the next year. When we fill out student finance forms again in the future will we have to declare the endowment payout? Q5b asks for total income from UK life insurance gains or Q5C asks for total income from UK investments and dividends. Would that be an endowment?
Also Q7 asks if there's any other income you have not told us about and a series of other questions.
Surely we don't have to treat the £20K we'll get from the endowment as an income - it's been going for nearly 25 years and is needed to pay the balance off the mortgage.

Any help would be appreciated.
Many thanks

New_York_No1_fan

TheBees wrote: »

Hoping someone can help with a couple of questions filling out the 2012/13 parents assessment of financial circumstances form. Are we the only people to think it is very confusing and the questions are badly worded?!:mad:

Anyway here goes - page 6 Question 5 - "Did you recieve any income from savings and investments? The notes for this question say "tell us about the amount of interest you recieved from the following savings and investment types" and in the blue box below it says "Untaxed UK interest etc Amounts that have not been taxed"
So am I right in thinking that this means that if our building society account interest had tax deducted then we don't have to include the whopping £27 net interest my husband received on this form?

2nd query is regarding an endowment policy that is due to pay out. I know we don't have to include it on this years form but our endowment policy is due to pay around £20K in the next year. When we fill out student finance forms again in the future will we have to declare the endowment payout? Q5b asks for total income from UK life insurance gains or Q5C asks for total income from UK investments and dividends. Would that be an endowment?
Also Q7 asks if there's any other income you have not told us about and a series of other questions.
Surely we don't have to treat the £20K we'll get from the endowment as an income - it's been going for nearly 25 years and is needed to pay the balance off the mortgage.

Any help would be appreciated.
Many thanks

With reference to your first question about savings. You must inform them of any interest you have received GROSS,(before tax deducted) therefore if you have a net figure (ie £27) then you need to gross this up. Usually building societies do this for you by showing the gross figure, amount of tax deducted and then the net figure.
So in answer to your question, yes you do need to declare your whopping £27 but its GROSS equivalent.

Sorry I can't comment on the endowment, however I don't think it would be counted as 'income' unless you put it into savings and got interest. This doesn't however mean that you don't have to declare it but perhaps someone more knowlegeable can answer this for you.

Yes I agree the form is a bit of a nightmare, and after 4 years of form filling, I'm still not an expert but there again, 'no pain- no gain.....hopefully.:)

Good Luck

TheBees

Many thanks for the prompt reply. I have the gross figures for the savings so that's no problem.

Regarding the endowment policy I would appreciate help or advice from anyone else out there who knows the answer. My experience of phoning Student Finance has not been good so far so I am reluctant to call them again...!!

Thanks again.

Ladylilo

New_York_No1_fan wrote: »

With reference to your first question about savings. You must inform them of any interest you have received GROSS,(before tax deducted) therefore if you have a net figure (ie £27) then you need to gross this up. Usually building societies do this for you by showing the gross figure, amount of tax deducted and then the net figure.
So in answer to your question, yes you do need to declare your whopping £27 but its GROSS equivalent.

Sorry I can't comment on the endowment, however I don't think it would be counted as 'income' unless you put it into savings and got interest. This doesn't however mean that you don't have to declare it but perhaps someone more knowlegeable can answer this for you.

Yes I agree the form is a bit of a nightmare, and after 4 years of form filling, I'm still not an expert but there again, 'no pain- no gain.....hopefully.:)

Good Luck

Hi there,

I would not have thought an endowment would count as income unless you put it in a savings account and actually received income from the interest earned. As you don't have the money now there is no need to declare it, and if when you get it you pay off your mortgage, you won't have the money then either.

I hope that makes sense.

Regards

Jo_anne_2

Student son is in yr 2 of his course and has had only the maintenance loan and tuition fee loan before, without taking into account the household income. Now there has been a significant drop in our income and we think he should be eligible for a grant. I rang SFE and they said to fill in a current year income assesment form and that is all. But this seems to disagree with what is on the website and guidance notes. Do we need to fill in the PFF2 form as well?

Also, when we fill in the current year form, is OH's redundancy payment counted as income? Thanks.

New_York_No1_fan

Jo_anne wrote: »

Student son is in yr 2 of his course and has had only the maintenance loan and tuition fee loan before, without taking into account the household income. Now there has been a significant drop in our income and we think he should be eligible for a grant. I rang SFE and they said to fill in a current year income assesment form and that is all. But this seems to disagree with what is on the website and guidance notes. Do we need to fill in the PFF2 form as well?

Also, when we fill in the current year form, is OH's redundancy payment counted as income? Thanks.

Hi,
As your son is obviously in receipt of a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan for this year (11/12), all you need to do is fill in the current year assessment form now. This will be your income for the financial year 11/12. You will be required to supply them with copies of P60's, evidence of gross income on savings (copy of certificate of deduction of tax) and proof of any other 'income'.

I've just dug out old paperwork and in it I was specifically told not to complete an PFF2.

When i contacted them recently to ask about a retirement lump sum, they couldn't answer the question other than to say 'well make reference to it on the form and we'll sort it out if we need to! Not very encouraging I must admit, however a lump sum is not 'income' unless you receive interest on it if you have invested it.
Not sure if any other MSE have had experience of this point?

Jo_anne_2

New_York_No1_fan wrote: »

Hi,
As your son is obviously in receipt of a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan for this year (11/12), all you need to do is fill in the current year assessment form now. This will be your income for the financial year 11/12. You will be required to supply them with copies of P60's, evidence of gross income on savings (copy of certificate of deduction of tax) and proof of any other 'income'.

Thanks. Do both me and my OH fill out the current year assessment (it is his income that has dropped for 12/13 - mine has stayed much the same) or does he complete this one and I do the PFF2 for 2010/11?

When i contacted them recently to ask about a retirement lump sum, they couldn't answer the question other than to say 'well make reference to it on the form and we'll sort it out if we need to! Not very encouraging I must admit, however a lump sum is not 'income' unless you receive interest on it if you have invested it.
Not sure if any other MSE have had experience of this point?

We're not sure on this either. OH thinks his redundancy is not income either.