Repaying Student Loans 2009/10 guide discussion

aah

Hello everyone

I would like to ask for some help. I am a very mature student, at 53 in the first year of a 2 year PGCE, will be 55 when I finish. (July 11). I am also earning - £43k and I have a (redundancy induced) pension of c£8k pa.

I know I sound well off, but it is only due to my being much older than many SLC clients, indeed I have children who are SLC clients, and I probably earn similarly to other parents on these boards, more than some, less than others.

My fees are £950 pa, which my employer and I agreed to pay between us - £650 pa by my (kind) employer, and £300 pa by me. The University has biled my employer for the first £650 which they have paid. I have paid nothing yet.

But the University tells me I am stupid and the course is eligible for funding by SLA. So I have applied. And this morning I received a financial notification from Student Finance England detailing

Tuiton fees - loan to be paid £950
Maintenance Loan:
non income assessed basic loan £3564
less loan substituted for grant £1106
Loan to be paid £2458
Supplementary grants - maintenance grant £1106

What does all this mean - apparently the fees will go direct to the Uni - what happens to my employer's £650, does it go back to them, or to me? And do I now become liable for the whole £950 instead of just £300. And is this maintenance grant exactly that - a non repayable grant of £1106? And as for the £2458 loan, where does that go - into my bank account?
Cab I bank the grant and loan (and the employer subsidy if I get it back) and earn interest on it while I am studying and pay it all off thereafter? Is that lawful?

Is there anyone out there who could help me. My bottom line is - I do not want to finish this course in debt (been there done that, and am helping my own children out of it)

Many thanks
Anne x

Poolie

aah wrote: »

Tuiton fees - loan to be paid £950
Maintenance Loan:
non income assessed basic loan £3564
less loan substituted for grant £1106
Loan to be paid £2458
Supplementary grants - maintenance grant £1106

Not a repayment question but here goes.

The Tuition Fees are a loan so SLC will pay the fee to the university if you take the loan. Your employer would have to get a refund from the university. You would then be liable for the whole £950 + interest once you have finished. Might be better to refuse this and pay the other £300 to the university when the bills arrives.

Maintenance Grant is a grant non repayable.

You could take the loan and grant and put it in a high interest savings account. Once you have finished just call up and pay the balance on the loan.

forumusername_2

Just wanted other people to be aware that the SLC are not good at monitoring when you have completely paid off the loan balance. I called them today as I hadn't seen a statement since July 2008 (!), and they calculated that I have overpaid the loan. Whilst I will be able to get this money back, it's a bit of a hassle as I have to send in all my P60s and payslips. Plus I could obviosuly have had my money sitting somewhere else earning some interest!

Basically, make sure that you keep an eye on how much you've paid, as I don't think that the SLC will!!

Trevor64_2

My partner has student loans from pre 1998 (ie the old type ones). She deferred year on year because she was on benefits and then once she was working she was way below the repayment threshold.
She then forgot to send the deferment form in for a couple of years and now the student loan company and their debt collectors want the "arrears" totalling £6K paid off.
She still doesn't earn enough to be making repayments and has sent a deferment form off for this year.
The one other thing is that she is now over 50 and so we think that maybe the loan should be cancelled anyway since the 50th birthday is the cut off point for repayment of these old mortgage style loans.
So my question is; If we contact the student loans company and can provide evidence of incom etc for the relevant periods of the arrears will we be able to defer the payments retrospectively? Alternatively could we argue for the loan to be written off due to her age? OR, are we up the creek without a paddle and doomed to have to pay off the undeferred amount of the arrears?

Thanks

Poolie

forumusername wrote: »

Just wanted other people to be aware that the SLC are not good at monitoring when you have completely paid off the loan balance. I called them today as I hadn't seen a statement since July 2008 (!), and they calculated that I have overpaid the loan. Whilst I will be able to get this money back, it's a bit of a hassle as I have to send in all my P60s and payslips. Plus I could obviosuly have had my money sitting somewhere else earning some interest!

Basically, make sure that you keep an eye on how much you've paid, as I don't think that the SLC will!!

You not have received a statement since July 2008 as either HMRC have not sent on the payment information to SLC yet or address has been returned as not known at this address.

SLC only receive payment information ONCE a year from HMRC. If you feel you are getting close to paying off your loan you can provide SLC with P60 and payslip details.

You are better waiting till the payments stop from your salary before requesting a refund. This can take up to 42 days to cease. Once you have the payslips and P60s together send copies to SLC and provide bank account details where you would like your refund sent to and it will be processed. Obviously you would have received interest on this refund if the interest rate was not 0%.

Poolie

Trevor64 wrote: »

My partner has student loans from pre 1998 (ie the old type ones). She deferred year on year because she was on benefits and then once she was working she was way below the repayment threshold.
She then forgot to send the deferment form in for a couple of years and now the student loan company and their debt collectors want the "arrears" totalling £6K paid off.
She still doesn't earn enough to be making repayments and has sent a deferment form off for this year.
The one other thing is that she is now over 50 and so we think that maybe the loan should be cancelled anyway since the 50th birthday is the cut off point for repayment of these old mortgage style loans.
So my question is; If we contact the student loans company and can provide evidence of incom etc for the relevant periods of the arrears will we be able to defer the payments retrospectively? Alternatively could we argue for the loan to be written off due to her age? OR, are we up the creek without a paddle and doomed to have to pay off the undeferred amount of the arrears?

Thanks

They will not be able to defer the loan retrospectively as it is the borrowers responsiblity to send back the deferment for completed in time. The loan will not be written off till the arrears are paid.

Oldernotwiser

Trevor64 wrote: »

My partner has student loans from pre 1998 (ie the old type ones). She deferred year on year because she was on benefits and then once she was working she was way below the repayment threshold.
She then forgot to send the deferment form in for a couple of years and now the student loan company and their debt collectors want the "arrears" totalling £6K paid off.
She still doesn't earn enough to be making repayments and has sent a deferment form off for this year.
The one other thing is that she is now over 50 and so we think that maybe the loan should be cancelled anyway since the 50th birthday is the cut off point for repayment of these old mortgage style loans.
So my question is; If we contact the student loans company and can provide evidence of incom etc for the relevant periods of the arrears will we be able to defer the payments retrospectively? Alternatively could we argue for the loan to be written off due to her age? OR, are we up the creek without a paddle and doomed to have to pay off the undeferred amount of the arrears?

Thanks

Unfortunately, once you get into the situation of arrears and charges then repayment of the loan becomes far more rigid and akin to being in arrears with any other kind of debt. Unless she had reached 50 during the period when she forgot about the loan then this is irrelevant as arrears and charges aren't written off and deferment can only be backdated for 3 months.

I'm afraid that the best you can hope for is to be allowed to arrange a payment plan to pay the money owed over a period of time.

Trevor64_2

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Unfortunately, once you get into the situation of arrears and charges then repayment of the loan becomes far more rigid and akin to being in arrears with any other kind of debt. Unless she had reached 50 during the period when she forgot about the loan then this is irrelevant as arrears and charges aren't written off and deferment can only be backdated for 3 months.

I'm afraid that the best you can hope for is to be allowed to arrange a payment plan to pay the money owed over a period of time.

Thanks so much for the advice. Not what we wanted to hear but at least we know where we stand now.
Thanks again

gillstar

Hi.. I am overseas and so have started to pay off my load (although I do not make over the required15k). I owe roughly 10k and also have saved this amount. What shouldI do with it? What are the best investments or is it best to let it just sit in a bank account?? Thanks

Tunstallstoven

Hi, I have 3 student loans (years 1994-97). I was 19 when I started in 1994. I have deferred payment every year (13 years) as I have never earned over the threshold. However, I am considering a job where the income will be £29K (over the threshold no?) BUT this will only be for 1 year starting in March. After that I will return to an income under the threshold and it is unlikely to ever go up substantially again.

Am I right to think that I would have to start repaying the loan as soon as my income exceeds the threshold?

Also, my main concern is if this will affect the 25 year write off period. Does this time limit only apply to when you first left university, or does it restart if/when your last payment was to the loans company?

Any help will be gratefully received