Repaying Student Loans 2009/10 guide discussion

scott_gbsn

Hey Poolie, thanks for your quick reply.

So the letter doesn't have to be an official one? They just can write the letter and sign it and that's it? if this is true, mate...what a relief! Anyone else could confirm this?

thanks a lot

Simon11

You only start paying off the loan once you start earning £15,000

However not sure how they would convert that rate to Euros!

Poolie

Scott, it does not have to be official but a standard written out letter with a signature is usually enough.

Poolie

Simon11 wrote: »

You only start paying off the loan once you start earning £15,000

However not sure how they would convert that rate to Euros!

If your overseas you have to show your income or how your supporting yourself.

if you in the UK and not matched in the tax system because you have never worked then you still have to prove how you are supporting yourself.

scott_gbsn

Poolie, thank you very much, now I feel much better.

One silly question, do I have to have a british bank account in order to do the payments via direct debit? I had a student account with barclays and it expired, they ask me if I wanted to upgrade it to a standard account but I said no since I was leaving the country, now I'm thinking that maybe it was a mistake...I'm an ignorant in terms of banking and all this stuff so any information is more than welcome!

Thank you very much guys

Poolie

Scott for the direct debit you would need a uk bank account. Although I have seen people send a cheque for the total annual repayment (made out from a UK bank) and SLC will offset the money and use this instead of calling from the bank every month.

This could be done to save you a lot of international banking fees. Means 1 payment instead of making 12.

scott_gbsn

Thanks Poolie again for your help, really appreciate it!

Poolie

If you do send a cheque, make sure you send a covering letter stating it is to be used for offsetting your annual overseas repayments otherwise they will think it is just a standard repayment and they will try to call for the money from a direct debit.

ZeroZero

I have read all of the overseas student messages, but have some more detailed questions.... This quote got me going:

"If he fails to tell SLC he is putting himself at risk of being charges £216 per month interest on his loan. If he returns to the UK in the furture they may start asking questions were he has been and may request immediate payment. If they have to trace him overseas then he will be liable for the charges."

Are they tracing people abroad? Tracking them down? How and who? Are they allowed to do this? This would be like interpol tracking someone down - but it is a civil matter.

They also make it sound like they can deduct money direct from your UK bank account - is this possible when you are abroad? Or would they do this only after a civil court ruling? What if you then closed your UK bank accounts to prevent money being deducted? (not that I'm advocating this, but so that I know where the law stands)

And is it possible for them to take money out of your European bank account? They also make it sound like they can do this, but I find this slightly improbable!

Thanks.

Oldernotwiser

Once loans go into arrears they can be passed to debt collectors who can have branches and/or contacts aboad. It'll be these companies who trace the debts and demand payment, just as they can for any other debt.