Repaying Student Loans 2009/10 guide discussion

Poolie

mjsc wrote: »

I've recently lost my job (few months) and the SLC have contacted me asking me how i support myself.

I actually live with my partner at the moment while i look for work and cannot claim ANY benefits because she earns enough for the both of us according to the people at the benefits office.

My question is: Should I tell them i'm living with my partner, because i don't expect my partner to pay the loan payments.

They are asking for proof for how i'm supporting myself and i'm not sure what to do. Might they demand to see my partner's income details

Do husbands have to pay their wives student loans if the wife has children and becomes a stay at home mum?

Your partner will not be responsible for paying your student loan while your not working. They will not ask to see your partners income.

All you need to do is ask your partner to write and sign a letter saying that they are supporting you.

SLC will accept this and not accept any repayments till your back working and earning over £15,000

mjsc

Poolie wrote: »

Your partner will not be responsible for paying your student loan while your not working. They will not ask to see your partners income.

All you need to do is ask your partner to write and sign a letter saying that they are supporting you.

SLC will accept this and not accept any repayments till your back working and earning over £15,000

Thank you so much, you have put my mind at ease.

So do housewives and househusbands never pay back their student loan if they never go back to work earning above £15,000?

MrsManda

mjsc wrote: »

So do housewives and househusbands never pay back their student loan if they never go back to work earning above £15,000?

nope, the loans are purely personal income based so if you don't get over £15,000 in income you don't pay them back

motoko

I have a new-style student loan started in 1998. I worked for about 6 years after I graduated and was earning over £15000 the whole time, but never made any loan repayments. I never contacted them (I know I should have) and they never contacted me either despite having my address (or my parent's address anyway). I don't particularly remember now, but I'm sure I would've ticked the box saying I had a student loan whenever I started a new job, as I wasn't trying to avoid paying, just making the most of it while it lasted.

Now I'm back in full-time education, so shouldn't be paying anything, but I worked out I should have repaid about £3000 while I was working. I'll be quite happy to start repaying when I return to work. But will this prompt them to suddenly remember I exist and start demanding my backpayments / fees for not contacting them / the whole lot to be paid off in full etc? If I'm going to have to pay back £3000 as soon as I re-start work, I'd really like to know about it ahead of time.

I have seen some people on this forum saying that SLC do not chase for back payments for the new-style loans only the old ones, but others saying they have been told to pay extra when student loans realised HMRC hadn't taken enough the previous year?? If anyone has experience of contacting the SLC several years after they should have started to repay, please let me know how they react to this?

SherlockFan85

Hello All,

Just a little rant about my partner's SLC repayments.

My partner just received his Final Annual Statement for his student loan with the balance brought forward from April 2009 to April 2010.

He dropped out of a PGCE course in Jan 2009, informed all relevant parties etc. However, he received a total of 842.86 maintenance loan in April 2009 and very stupidly decided to spend it, despite my pleas against it.

He then received a letter from the SLC demanding back the 842.86 in autumn, which of course makes perfect sense. We contacted them and set up a SO with the bank or £20 a month, as he was not earning enough at the time for any more. So far, so good and everything makes sense. He was assured over the phone that the amount was separate from the bulk of the student loan he already had (he did a full english degree prior to the pgce course), which is why the demand was a scary letter.

However, around the same time he received the same scary letter for 1417.50 for the tuition fee payment. We contacted and set up an SO for £100 for this one as well. We both figured that because he dropped out, he had to pay for tuition fees for that term nevertheless.

Back to today, the statement has both the normal loan amount from past years, the 842.86 and 1417.50 in the debit side, but has credited us with 1417.50 on the same month of May 2009!!! Also, there are only two repayments made by us present on the statement of £100 each, despite us paying £120 a month since last autumn (shall go to bank today to get all figures and proof of SOs).

This means that we (joint account) have been paying for a loan installment of 1417.50 which no longer exists (which was demanded by SLC quite harshly at the time), and they have no record from SLC end of our payments that we have been making for months, despite it definitely going from the bank (i have checked our bank statements). No one has contacted us since May 2009 to tell us that the installment was re-creditted. In-fact we received the demand for the money in autumn, so they must have known by then that the amount was no longer demanded from us??!! We had no way of knowing!

Obviously i will be going to the bank today to get all figures, including exactly when we set up both SOs and how much we have paid SLC between that date and March 2010. Then i will phone the SLC and demand that they resend us a statement creditting all the money we have paid during this time, and after that we can cancel both the SOs, as we already both pay by PAYE anyway, and would much rather use £120 a month for better things!!

What a waste of money!!!

rablovesroo

Poolie

SLC will more than likely contact you to find out what your doing now. They won't ask for the repayment but you will have been charged all the extra interest since you didn't may any repayments so you will end up paying more off your loan in the long run.

Poolie

rablovesroo wrote: »

Hello All,

Just a little rant about my partner's SLC repayments.

My partner just received his Final Annual Statement for his student loan with the balance brought forward from April 2009 to April 2010.

He dropped out of a PGCE course in Jan 2009, informed all relevant parties etc. However, he received a total of 842.86 maintenance loan in April 2009 and very stupidly decided to spend it, despite my pleas against it.

He then received a letter from the SLC demanding back the 842.86 in autumn, which of course makes perfect sense. We contacted them and set up a SO with the bank or £20 a month, as he was not earning enough at the time for any more. So far, so good and everything makes sense. He was assured over the phone that the amount was separate from the bulk of the student loan he already had (he did a full english degree prior to the pgce course), which is why the demand was a scary letter.

However, around the same time he received the same scary letter for 1417.50 for the tuition fee payment. We contacted and set up an SO for £100 for this one as well. We both figured that because he dropped out, he had to pay for tuition fees for that term nevertheless.

Back to today, the statement has both the normal loan amount from past years, the 842.86 and 1417.50 in the debit side, but has credited us with 1417.50 on the same month of May 2009!!! Also, there are only two repayments made by us present on the statement of £100 each, despite us paying £120 a month since last autumn (shall go to bank today to get all figures and proof of SOs).

This means that we (joint account) have been paying for a loan installment of 1417.50 which no longer exists (which was demanded by SLC quite harshly at the time), and they have no record from SLC end of our payments that we have been making for months, despite it definitely going from the bank (i have checked our bank statements). No one has contacted us since May 2009 to tell us that the installment was re-creditted. In-fact we received the demand for the money in autumn, so they must have known by then that the amount was no longer demanded from us??!! We had no way of knowing!

Obviously i will be going to the bank today to get all figures, including exactly when we set up both SOs and how much we have paid SLC between that date and March 2010. Then i will phone the SLC and demand that they resend us a statement creditting all the money we have paid during this time, and after that we can cancel both the SOs, as we already both pay by PAYE anyway, and would much rather use £120 a month for better things!!

What a waste of money!!!

rablovesroo

You need to get all the information and facts together for SLC. If you have been using an incorrect payment reference it may be the payments are sitting in a suspense account awaiting crediting to your partners account. SLC won't be able to send you a statement as these are only sent out annual when the PAYE returns are completed. Also, SLC will not speak to you about your partners account due to the data protection act so your partner will need to call them.

Grant Overpayments are dealt with by a seperate department, the phone number on the original letter will be able to help. The tutition fee payment certainly needs checking through.

Your PAYE payments are not joined in anyway so it will depend on what your partner is paying is SLC repayments each month from their salary, as this will only be going on their main loan and not the grant overpayment.

SherlockFan85

Thanks very much Poolie for the info,

So it's probably a better idea to firstly get the reference numbers for the SOs and amounts/dates from the bank, check it with the SLC to see if the extra paid money is sitting in an account with them, then sort it out so it pays for the grant overpayment of 842.86. If there's any to pay left over (which there hopefully shoudn't be) we may just pay it straight up, will have to see...

Hang on, that means that because we were paying the £100 for the 1417.50 (non-existent) tuition fee loan, at least £200 of that money has gone to repaying the main loan, which is not what we wanted. We'd have much preferred for all the SO money to repay the grant and get it over and done with. We need to check to make sure that the 842.86 is in-fact a grant overpayment, or if it has been merely added to the normal bulk student loan.

I wish i could phone and talk to them myself, the very fact that i mentioned that my partner spent his grant money (on a camera btw) that didn't belong to him tells you something about his relationship with money and authority!! And guess what? He is now in the police!!

rablovesroo

motoko

Thanks Poolie.

Its a relief that I won't be asked for the missed repayments from the past few years. The interest is a pain, but I guess its the same "in real terms" or so they claim anyway, and since I was in financial trouble at the time, if I had been paying this off I'd only have borrowed it again at a higher rate. I'd be surprised if the SLC suddenly contacts me to find out what I'm doing since they never have before, but I guess they have to get around to me eventually.... in any case when I go back to work I'll make sure my repayments go out this time.

I guess I could even contact them now to get my password etc for my internet account so I can see how much I owe by now...

renate_2

I'm a bit confused when it is pointed out that crrently student loans are interest free. I have lookedat my daughter's annual statements and from 2008 - 2009 she has accrued plenty of interest on her loans. Have we been misinformed by the student loans company or have I just misunderstood?