Help With Student Loans - HERE!

Kate909090

I sort of get that except the course is called a Higher Education Diploma and is also the first year of a foundation degree course. If I can't apply for a maintenance loan and I'm studying full time, what am I entitled to?

amina9

My query is regarding interest applied to my loan. If anyone is able to give me some insight or even grieve with me i would highly appreciate it!

So I took out a student loan in 2012 for a 1 year PGCE. Now like most people I was convinced the interest was practically nothing so i didn't worry about it. 3 years after graduating I have come to my senses and requested a statement (which are apparently supposed to be sent out yearly!! I NEVER HAD ONE and i'm sure it's part of a big scam). IN JUST ONE YEAR I HAVE HAD OVER £700 ADDED TO MY DEBT.. I was charged 6.6% interest, and am mighty confused. Am i right to think it is should have 3.6% interest, and only 6.6% for people who are earning over £41k? This is my question.

I am adamant to pay off my debt as soon as possible, for someone who is willing to ignore it until it's written off, it's not an issue, but currently i have over £2000 interest to pay on £31000 debt, and I'm confused as to whether there could be errors or if SLC is just a big sham.

silvercar

amina9 wrote: »

My query is regarding interest applied to my loan. If anyone is able to give me some insight or even grieve with me i would highly appreciate it!

So I took out a student loan in 2012 for a 1 year PGCE. Now like most people I was convinced the interest was practically nothing so i didn't worry about it. 3 years after graduating I have come to my senses and requested a statement (which are apparently supposed to be sent out yearly!! I NEVER HAD ONE and i'm sure it's part of a big scam). IN JUST ONE YEAR I HAVE HAD OVER £700 ADDED TO MY DEBT.. I was charged 6.6% interest, and am mighty confused. Am i right to think it is should have 3.6% interest, and only 6.6% for people who are earning over £41k? This is my question.

I am adamant to pay off my debt as soon as possible, for someone who is willing to ignore it until it's written off, it's not an issue, but currently i have over £2000 interest to pay on £31000 debt, and I'm confused as to whether there could be errors or if SLC is just a big sham.

The rate is really quite high while you are studying until the April after you finish. Then it drops to RPI, with a sliding scale for higher earners.

Full details here: http://www.slc.co.uk/services/interest-rates.aspx

Official RPI rates are here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/timeseries/czbh/mm23

Actual figures used to calculate the interest are here:


Year Interest rate
2015/16 RPI (0.9%) + 3% = (3.9%)
2014/15 RPI (2.5%) + 3% = (5.5%)
2013/14 RPI (3.3%) + 3% = (6.3%)
2012/13 RPI (3.6%) + 3% = (6.6%)

source: http://media.slc.co.uk/repayment/qsg/how-much-do-i-repay.html#s2-5

So your one year pgce course would finish Summer 2013. So you are charged RPI+3% until April 2014. Then it drops to RPI to RPI+3, depending on earnings.

So it looks like the 6.6% you quoted is correct. RPI was higher just a few years ago.

Ed-1

amina9 wrote: »

My query is regarding interest applied to my loan. If anyone is able to give me some insight or even grieve with me i would highly appreciate it!

So I took out a student loan in 2012 for a 1 year PGCE. Now like most people I was convinced the interest was practically nothing so i didn't worry about it. 3 years after graduating I have come to my senses and requested a statement (which are apparently supposed to be sent out yearly!! I NEVER HAD ONE and i'm sure it's part of a big scam). IN JUST ONE YEAR I HAVE HAD OVER £700 ADDED TO MY DEBT.. I was charged 6.6% interest, and am mighty confused. Am i right to think it is should have 3.6% interest, and only 6.6% for people who are earning over £41k? This is my question.

I am adamant to pay off my debt as soon as possible, for someone who is willing to ignore it until it's written off, it's not an issue, but currently i have over £2000 interest to pay on £31000 debt, and I'm confused as to whether there could be errors or if SLC is just a big sham.

The loan for your PGCE was a post-2012 student loan which have much higher interest rates than pre-2012 student loans.

The post above explains that interest on post-2012 student loans is RPI + 3% until the 6th April after the course finished. The earliest date for post-2012 student loans to enter repayment was 6th April 2016 so you'd have been charged at RPI only between 6th April 2014 and 6th April 2016, then a sliding scale depending on earnings between RPI and RPI + 3% from 6th April 2016.

Interest on pre-2012 student loans is the lower of RPI and the bank of England base rate + 1%.

You repay your pre-2012 student loan at 9% above a threshold of £17,495 (this rises each year by RPI) and anything you earn above £21,000 (9% above this threshold) pays off your post-2012 student loan. Your pre-2012 student loan is written off 25 years after that loan enters repayment (6th April after leaving course) and the post-2012 student loan is written off 30 years after than loan enters repayment (6th April 2016).

silvercar

Ed-1 wrote:

The post above explains that interest on post-2012 student loans is RPI + 3% until the 6th April after the course finished. The earliest date for post-2012 student loans to enter repayment was 6th April 2016 so you'd have been charged at RPI only between 6th April 2014 and 6th April 2016, then a sliding scale depending on earnings between RPI and RPI + 3% from 6th April 2016.

I know that April 2016 was the earliest date for repayment of normal degrees, but pgce courses were a bit of an anomaly, being post 2012 and yet only 1 year and funded as plan 2 loans. I would have thought repayments would have started April 2014.

Ed-1

silvercar wrote: »

I know that April 2016 was the earliest date for repayment of normal degrees, but pgce courses were a bit of an anomaly, being post 2012 and yet only 1 year and funded as plan 2 loans. I would have thought repayments would have started April 2014.

Ordinarily the loan would have entered repayment the April after the course finished BUT no plan 2 (post-2012) student loans entered repayment before April 2016 for 'administrative reasons' (i.e. they needed a long time to get 2 thresholds up and running so that employers could administer the repayments through payroll). Interest was charged at RPI only in the intervening period rather than at RPI+3% but it does mean the 30 year write off is pushed further into the future than otherwise would have been the case.

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

If you were on a short course or finished your course early and should have come into repayment before April 2016*
RPI, plus 3% (3.9% for 2015/16) until the April after you leave your course, then RPI (0.9%) only until April 2016

* The earliest date for repayment for all post-2012 (Plan 2) borrowers will be April 2016.

Also see regulation 15(2C) of the repayment regulations: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/1309/regulation/5/made

(2C) A borrower with a post-2012 student loan is not required to repay any part of the post-2012 student loan under paragraphs (2), (2A) and (2B) before 6 April 2016.

amina9

Okay that's what I thought, but I was a little confused. The interest has gone down now, it was the initial couple of years which has really added up. Thank you all for your replies!

Feyfangirl

Hi All

Due to an oversight on my part (had a lot going on when I applied) unfortunately it seems my grant/loan was not means tested based on parental income, so have been told I need to fill in a form to request this and get my parents to as well... though have no idea where to find these forms, does anyone have an idea any help would be appreciated! I called them and they told me it was on the website, but cannot see it o.O

Ed-1

Feyfangirl wrote: »

Hi All

Due to an oversight on my part (had a lot going on when I applied) unfortunately it seems my grant/loan was not means tested based on parental income, so have been told I need to fill in a form to request this and get my parents to as well... though have no idea where to find these forms, does anyone have an idea any help would be appreciated! I called them and they told me it was on the website, but cannot see it o.O

Your parents (or partner of parent) need to fill in the below form.

http://media.slc.co.uk/sfe/1617/ft/sfe_pff2_form_1617_d.pdf

If you log in to your student finance account here: https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login

there should be an option to change your application and request student finance based on an income assessment. You need to find the non-means test to means-tested form. You then need to send this form to SFE and your parents the above form to SFE to process the means test.

Feyfangirl

Ed-1 wrote: »

Your parents (or partner of parent) need to fill in the below form.

http://media.slc.co.uk/sfe/1617/ft/sfe_pff2_form_1617_d.pdf

If you log in to your student finance account here: https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-register-login

there should be an option to change your application and request student finance based on an income assessment. You need to find the non-means test to means-tested form. You then need to send this form to SFE and your parents the above form to SFE to process the means test.

you are a star! thank you so very much! do they need to both fill in one form or is it one they need to do seperately?