Student loan a mess

ericthekidstoner

does anyone have similar experiences with the student loans company whereby they seem to be totally (and I mean totally) unaware of whats happening to you loan/account?

I'm still repaying through my wages but the statements which sometimes come, sometimes don't, do not make sense.

Ringing them usually results in "we'll send you an updated/correct statement".

utter shambles???

do I still have to keep repaying - an amount set by them - if they are this inept? can't really trust them to actually be able to calculate my loan tbh

merc190e

I spent a year an a half paying off my student loan, to suddenly get a letter stating I had paided nothing. So I called them and asked so where is the money gone then ??? ooo errrr, they are a joke wasn't my problem as I had wage slips indicating that I had been paying. Also because of the small amount of interest that accumulated over the years I told them to take that off.

They where supposed to send me a updated statement, but I still have not received it

vicki98_2

same for me - haven't a clue how much I owe as i don't think i've received a statement from them for about 2 years. I haven't started paying mine back yet but i recently moved house & phoned them to give new address ... thought i'd ask them what the balance was & they asked me to sent letter confirming new address and they would send statement - that was February - still heard nothing i i bet they haven't updated my address details

Are they supposed to send regular statements out?

pachaboy

Yep they haven't got a clue in my experience.

No regular statements, no idea of my account or loan amount on the telephone(and very rude).

Put my interest up every month it seems.

It seems to be an independant company so they are probably rubbing their hands together after getting the student loan gig from the government.

mr_fishbulb

When are you supposed to get the statements?

I don't think I've had one for years. I was out of the country for all of 2004 and half of 2005, but they go to my parents house and they don't remember receiving one.

They were quick enough to send me a form when they noticed I'd started earning an UK income when I came back though!

ABH_3

Hi,

They are inept. That's the only polite way of putting it. I sugest if you haven't phoned them for a while and help them update their records, you will be doing yourself a favour as they tend to "lose" any information that you have paid them various amounts of money. As a result you start acruing penalty payments which they will tell you about at the end of the loan period or maybe if you ask. I know, I've been there and am still going through it.

Especially phone them if you have changed addresses. You are supposed to tell them this anyway, its in the contract. If they find you have changed addresses without telling them. They stick another £25 penalty notice on your account then automatically include it in your original debt. So you could be paying for penalty notices you either didn't receive or were informed about.

There seem to be 4 departments to the SLC;

1) Loan Department\Customer Services
2) Legal Department
3) Collection Department
4) Complaints Department

Only from the 'legal department' can you get any real sense or honesty for that matter. I'm sure that department 1 tries, but due to workload constantly get it wrong. Department 3, simply don't care. It seems to be stocked with people with no compassion, sense of responsibility and who were lucky enough to not have to take out a loan ie: rich parents. Talk to them and you will get a lecture on how they didn't need a loan though it comes accross in some sort of pseudo english. It's like they have daily competitions to speak like their still at school. Try to avoid this department if at all possible obviously. As for Department 4, don't waste your time.

Also, my final piece of advice. Don't send them any letters unless you send them registered. I've returned deferment notics to them, each time I give it 4 days to filter from the post room to the required desk and then have them update their record appropriately. I then call, as I got caught out one year and had to deal with all the departments listed above. Each successive year I go through the same thing, they never update my records upon receipt of the form or they lose the form and blame me for not sending it to them. Each time I have to give them the 'Track & Trace' details to look up. They say they will phone me back to confirm their receipt of the letter. But never do, but about 3 weeks later I get a letter demanding I get in touch it costs me £25 for this privillege, I then phone they demmand I send them the deferment notice make me aware of defaulting on payments etc. I give them the 'track & trace' again, they deny receiving the letter and charge me another £25 for another letter, eventually they will find the letter and I get an answerphone message that I need to contact them imediately. I do so to be told they have "found" my deferment form and I shall have my deferment re-applied.

This goes on every year from December through to Febuary. I would gladly pay back the amount I owe them but I had to leave uni due to ill health so it's not easy to fund repayments whilst on benefits. Especially when the SLC believe that just because their 'system' doesn't pick up on your communications with them, it automatically lables you as working and instantly raids your bank account. Which has the usual knock on effects of not being able to pay the electric\water\gas\community charge\rent payments due.

In short, the whole company is inept. Avoid taking a loan if possible and if you have a loan start to document everything or you are going to be permanently indebted to them.

Oh yes and as I was saying, my final piece of advice; Get in touch with them ASAP.

ericthekidstoner

if your experiences with them are this bad then you should contact your local MP. he/she sill be able take up your case on an individual basis and highlight your plight caused by SLC's general ineptness

savvy

ericthekidstoner wrote:

does anyone have similar experiences with the student loans company whereby they seem to be totally (and I mean totally) unaware of whats happening to you loan/account?

I'm still repaying through my wages but the statements which sometimes come, sometimes don't, do not make sense.

Yep I'm another! Wouldn't listen to me when I noticed they'd made a mistake with a date on some paperwork :rolleyes: Never DID get that £500 refund I was meant to have

They've been taking money at source for the last 4 years, yet my balance never seems to change!

Sillychuckie

I am wondering if i'd save myself a load of hassle by just repaying the complete loan in bulk when I leave uni (finish in a few months).

I am sure they try to take more than their fair share back when you start working.
But then, the longer I take to repay it, the more money I earn from the loan (as it is all stuck in a high interest savings acc't), so if I can trust them to take appropriate amounts for an appropriate length of time, I'd rather play it the slow way.
What do you guys think? If you could afford it, would you just repay it all now and be done with it?

There may of course be other advantages in having the loan deducted at source, as you earn less as a result. Could this lower your tax band, or is the loan deduction taken into account?

All thoughts welcome. Cheers.

equine_induced_poverty

Oh dear, dont get me started! I'm seriously hoping some one will pick this up and run with it to Downing Street. I previously posted a question as to whether their charges are unfair (similar to the reclaiming bank charges that has been highlighted on MSE) but didn't get a response. Is there anyone out there who will help the thousands of students who are getting financially raped by this monstrously inept and basically corrupt organisation?

kar

I haven't started repaying mine yet as I'm not due to finish until the end of next year. However i'm worried stiff about them not having a clue how much you've repayed and therefore ending up paying them twice as much as they should get. Please tell me how i makes sense to anybody that the government collects your repayments from your salary and doesn't tell the people you owe the money to how much they have taken until the end of the tax year (if they remember).

I have no idea if you are still paying interest on the money you have already paid off (i'm assuming you are) until the taxman passes on the cash in April. It's just so daft. The SLC don't know how much you owe because they don't take the repayments. I'm pritty sure the tax man relies on the SLC figures being accurate so in otherwords its a complete sham. If you want a figure from the SLC you have to 'have details of all repayments you've made' in that tax year. What other loan company do you know of that can't give you a settlement figure.

Wish i didn't have to have one.

But i certainly can't afford to pay it back when i leave university so will just have to make sure i keep accurate records of the whole thing.

kar