Repaying Student Loans 2009/10 guide discussion

Poolie

For post 1998 an unearned income over £2000 should be declared to SLC and they will add this to the amount due. If you earning rental income on a post 1998 loan then you should really be completing a self assessment tax return as well as being PAYE.

mcclunyboy

hi,

I graduated in 2008 and have been working since october 2008. My salary is 17K but increasing substantially next month so before deductions my pay is over £1250 however I haven't paid any of my SLC loan back. I am not horribly bothered because of the low interest basically means its one of the best deals possible. But why haven't I paid any back?

Hope it isnt an obvious answer. Any opinions on whether or not I should get in touch with SLC to start repayments?

Poolie

If you graduated in 2008, then you should hard started repaying your loan since April 2009. If could be a problem with your tax records.

A few questions:

Do SLC have the correct NI number for you?

Contact your payroll and ask if they recevied an SL1 from HMRC for you? If so, ask why it has not been actioned.

If no SL1, contact SLC and ask them to check if they have your as matched and an authorised PAYE repayer.

If yes, ask them to contact HMRC for a start notification to be sent to your employer.

On 17K you are going to be repaying £15 per month from your salary.

Weluvdarling

Poolie wrote: »

For post 1998 an unearned income over £2000 should be declared to SLC and they will add this to the amount due. If you earning rental income on a post 1998 loan then you should really be completing a self assessment tax return as well as being PAYE.

Poolie, my loan is a pre-1998 loan.

Should I declare nil for the rental income (rental expenses > rental income) on my deferment form ?

Poolie

When you complete the deferment you have to put down gross income from salary so I suspect it will be the same for rental income. Might be worth phoning SLC to clarify.

brutus123

I graduated in 2007, I have about £10,000 of student loans, and currently earn about £26, 000 p.a. gross, so obviously I pay a fair amount off each month.. my monthly income is about £1500.
I am a bit worried about what happens if I have a baby.
I am currently trying for a baby and as I understand stat maternity pay is only full pay for the first 6 weeks, then its down to 20% of my salary for the duration of my stat maternity leave.

What happens to student loan payments in that time? Can I take a break from paying them when my income drops to 20%?

Obviously I would need to restart them but I don't want my partner to have to pay off my debt, as he will be the main wage earner.

please advise!

thanks Brutus

Poolie

I take it you are on a pre-1998 agreement.

If you take a drop in income you could defer your loan for a year. You can renew the deferment each year. SLC would require paperwork to support the deferment application.

Your partner would not become responsible for your student loan debt. When you starting working again you can ask to have the deferment cancelled or wait till the year period and not renew the deferement.

mcclunyboy

ill check the national insurance numbers...

can someone confirm the current interest rate on student loans?

Poolie

Pre 1998 loans have an interest rate of -0.4% till 1st September 2010.

Post 1998 loans have an interest rate of 0.00% till 1st September 2010.

The interest rate from 1st September 2010 will be announced as the RPI figure from National Office of Statistics during April.

This rate wil apply to both sets of loans unless the Government uses the legislation again not set to any interest rate or another rate for the post 1998 loans.

Weezarelli

Hi
I have 3 loans mixed between the SLC and the HSLC. These have always been defered because I did not earn enough to need to make replayment. Since my maternity leave, I have decided not to return to work and my husband supports me.
I have had a letter asking for my husband to write a letter confirming that he supports me and that the support is less than £2254/month. What I don't understand is, what is support? He doesn't give me money, but he does pay all the bills. If you add all these together is that the level of my support? He'd be paying the bills anyway for himself, so that's not really for me. Does he just support me by paying for my food?
Sorry if this sounds daft, but I have totally confused myself! I hope someone can help. Thank very much.