Help With Student Loans - HERE!

Savvy_Sue

Ellie, I think I would ask for the complaints procedure for both Santander and SFE. My gut feeling is that if the money went to Santander, they should be able to access any account, closed or not, to see what's gone into / out of it. However SFE may have had the money bounce back, but not put too much effort into working out where it's come from so that they can establish where it should be.

Savvy_Sue

sal-ad_daze wrote: »

The University is in Wales and my son still lives in England, with us as he is a parent with shared custody of his toddler. Because the child's mother is the 'registered parent' ie she recieves the Child allowance and as she works part time all the relevant tax/child credits etc. My son receives nothing for the child even though the child is with him more days than she is with mother. He doesn't claim for the child on his loan form as the mother says he's not able to or it would affect her entitlement but has to feed, clothe look after the child whilst with him (hence the major reason he's still at home with us).
It seems that because he attends a Welsh university he can't apply for English 'add ons' like Access funds etc. (forgive me, I'm not sure of the proper titles) but because he lives in England he's not entitled to any of the Welsh ones either!

Two points here: one is whether it's worth him seeing if he can get himself onto a suitable course at an English university, which would resolve some problems? I guess at this stage it would be through clearing? But now is the time to start investigating, rather than waiting until results are out and the phones go mad ...

The other is perhaps better explored on the Child Support board - does your son have his DD more NIGHTS than the mother? If so, he should perhaps be claiming the Child Benefit etc himself. If your son is 'just' providing childcare during the day, then I don't think that would be possible, but I'm not sure I'd be expecting him to buy clothing etc.

ellie26uk

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Ellie, I think I would ask for the complaints procedure for both Santander and SFE. My gut feeling is that if the money went to Santander, they should be able to access any account, closed or not, to see what's gone into / out of it. However SFE may have had the money bounce back, but not put too much effort into working out where it's come from so that they can establish where it should be.

Thank you for your reply, I will look both up. At least by complaining I will feel like something is happening to get it sorted.

Venusflytrap

Hi Everyone,

New to this so please be patient, brutally honest but constructive - thanks in advance.

I am considering returning to uni/college as a mature student for a BMus programme in Music (Sept. 2013) and then a MA in Music Therapy afterwards.

As I will be self-supporting (hoping to fit in p/t work throughout) I do not have anywhere near sufficient savings to fund both programmes so will have to apply for a student loan.

Now, I have only ever been in debt of 1K my whole life I am pretty terrified about potentially incurring up to 18K of debt. What I want to understand is:

If I incur such debt, how will this affect my creditworthiness during study and after graduation? Will it be reported to CRAs and noted on my credit report? Will it discourage lenders extending good credit products like cashback/rewards CCs my way?

If after my studies I chose to temporarily relocate outside the UK, would this be an issue with my student loan still owing? Can i defer repayments for a while or am I "stuck" on the island until all is repaid?

I have had a pretty steady working/earning and credit history from 07 to present - will this help to keep the scales balanced while i'm studying?

Professional music therapists are pretty well paid and increasingly in demand so I am optimistic about my employability but it's still a number of years till then so I want to make certain I understand the facts before I delve in.

Thanks!

Savvy_Sue

Have you started with Martin's article on the main site? TBH, I wouldn't worry so much about the undergraduate degree (if this is your first) so much as the postgrad one for which there is no statutory funding.

Dunroamin

Whilst I totally agree with the points above, I have to say that you've vastly underestimated the amount of student debt that you'll have after a 3 year degree, although this won't make any difference to the monthly repayment amounts.

I'm sure you've come across this, but just in case..

http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/Default.aspx?Id=432

monxton

Still hoping for advice about this. I'm not getting an answer from SF either.

monxton wrote: »

So, on page 24 of the 2012/13 Student Finance Guide, it says there are allowances of:
• £1,130 for any child other than you who is totally or mainly financially dependent on them,
• £1,130 if the parent is also a student
BUT there is nowhere on the form where it asks if the parent is a student. Of couse they know if the parent is a student receiving or applying for student finance. But what if they are not?

Venusflytrap

Dunroamin wrote: »

I have to say that you've vastly underestimated the amount of student debt that you'll have after a 3 year degree, although this won't make any difference to the monthly repayment amounts.

Quite right - I am probably still in denial (and shock) about how much realising this goal will cost me. I have found a MA programme at an institute in London which costs in the region of 8K, and this might be affordable if I save hard in the next year. I obviously need to find out how much work I can fit in to maintain myself throughout.

I'm sure you've come across this, but just in case.http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/Default.aspx?Id=432

Thanks for this. Not very encouraging but handy...

Rich33

Hi I started Uni last year so my loan was 1.5% APR

I didn't really need the all the loan but since I earn 3% interest on it I just save it in my ISA which I did with an overdraft as well.

OK so now for my final 2 years I am on a paid placement. They also pay my uni fees. But I am entitled to about £2100.00 Student loan.

Should I take this? I definitely do not need it! I will just save it again, what will be the interest charged on this?

I heard that it is retail inflation? If so I may as well let them keep it as I will be charged more interest than I get in my ISA.

ALSO

I have around 7k or 8k student loan from my first year. Will I be charged interest on this this year at retail inflation or the same 1.5% for ever?

I might pay it off, I have over 10k saved so I could easily do this but then I also want to buy a house soon and this is my deposit so... does not really make sense to do that.

Appreciate any help !

anyakitten

Hi there,

I'm hoping someone might be able to help me. My husband is a student who has just repeated his 2nd year at Uni. Unfortunately I was ill during his original 2nd year and he had to withdraw in March 2011 from his studies to look after our two young children.

During his time at Uni we've claimed ADG and PLA. The SLC are chasing us for repayments as they say we've been overpaid in 2010/2011, which I understand because of the way that they work out their payments.

The main problem is they keep changing how much we owe them, and I'm having difficulty getting them to accept my financial evidence as the helpline said at first we needed to only provide evidence up to him withdrawing from his studies, and now say that we need to provide it for the entire academic year. They also seem to spend a couple of months actually assessing this information and they helpline won't discuss any details and tell me I have to wait for the special team to write back to me.

Is there a way that I can work out how much we're entitled to, and how much we should have actually been paid ? I can't find any information on how ADG and PLA is worked out, only the maximum amounts. I'm starting to get quite stressed as their collection department are chasing us as they say my hubby has finished his course as they are looking at his withdrawal rather than his re-enrolment and say that the only people they can listen to are Student Finance England.

Any help would really be appreciated,

Anya