Repaying Student Loans 2009/10 guide discussion

Oldernotwiser

If you have savings, why don't you just leave enough in a UK bank account to make the payments for a suitable period? This would avoid the cost of transferring funds and still give you savings behind you for your new life.

Poolie

Patrick_Vieira wrote: »

Hi Poolie

I received a statement up to April 2010 and it didnt have the deductions i'd been making from the previous July. I dont know when exactly the Tax Office get in touch with SLC. On the website its updated to July 2010, but does not take into account any repayments since July 2009.

In NZ i have a job already, which if you translate the salary is more than what i earn in the UK by a £2000. So if they give me a figure i have to pay back, it'll be more than what i was doing previously. Also, this could change at any time. If the strength of the pound picks up vs the NZ$, then my NZ salary could turn out to be less than what i had in the UK and then i'd be paying a fair chunk of my salary to make the payments in £'s. I'm thinking of paying as much as i can in one big payment and then the remainder over the year.

The payment threshold in NZ is the same as the UK, £15k.

Hi Patrick

At the top of the statement does it say final annual statement or interim annual statement? If it is the interim then there could be more details to be sent from HMRC to SLC. They are sent from June onwards to SLC by HMRC. If they are missing, you could send SLC a copy of your P60 if you were employed by the same company at April 2010 otherwise it would need to be copies of your payslip. These won't appear on your statement though till the payment file is actually received from HMRC.

If you are earning more then you payments will be slightly higher. As somebody else suggested provide slc with a bank account that can accept direct debits in the UK and leave an amount in it for the year for SLC while also gaining interest on the amount you will need. Each year SLC will reassess your repayment if overseas so you can always send the new require amount in one payment back to the UK.

Patrick_Vieira

thanks for your response

That what i will do. I will leave about £1500 in the UK and either set up a direct debit or make the payments myself each month using a debit card (i cant give them a direct debit just yet as my bank is being funny about me moving overseas so i might just change banks soon)

If i save some money in NZ, in a couple of years i'll pay off some chunks to helo reduce the time i'll spend paying it back.

I'd feel uncomfortable being in NZ with no back up saving

Also i called up SLC and i'll be sending my P60. They said they expect HMRC to update them in a matter of weeks from April 2009 to April 2010.

Thanks for helping me see sense!

strengthcoach

Hi all,
I have 5 student loans from 95-99.
4 of the loans are on one account and the 1997 loan stands alone in its own account.
I have 2 questions:
1. Can they be combined so I only recieve 1 of each letter, whether this a statement or reminder? The SLC tell me this can't be done, although on occasion I've been told it can be done, but then it's never happened!
2. I read once that if you have 5 loans it is cheaper to repay per month than if you have 4 loans. Is this still the case? If so, it explains why they might not be so keen to combine all 5 of my loans!
If anyone can shed any light on the above, it'd be much appreciated.
Al

trembling_blender

Hey folks,

I'm new here so firstly, i just want to say hi!

I took out a student loan in 2000 for my first degree...the balance as of today must be around £20,000, however i've never really had any issues with it as the repayments off my salary when i was working were so small they were hardly noticeable. However, i've recently reconsolidated all my debt and simply knowing the SLC loan is there (its the only 'outlying one' so to speak) is now starting to annoy me.

Obviously, i'm not too happy about the pre-1998 bursaries that were not available to people like me, as such I see the SLC loan as...quite simply...a pain in the !!! that (let's face it) they're never going to fully get back due the increasingly low repayments.

So...my question...from someone who has never missed a repayment on ANYTHING since i was 16...as I move around rented accomodation quite a bit, what would happen if i 'forget' to inform the SLC of a new address?? Any mail would be returned to them, obviously, but would they then start contacting all my previous addresses one by one?

And say if i move abroad to the USA, what would happen if i 'forget' to inform them that that's where i am?

Hopefully you can see where i'm going with this...

Thanks folks,

Poolie

strengthcoach wrote: »

Hi all,
I have 5 student loans from 95-99.
4 of the loans are on one account and the 1997 loan stands alone in its own account.
I have 2 questions:
1. Can they be combined so I only recieve 1 of each letter, whether this a statement or reminder? The SLC tell me this can't be done, although on occasion I've been told it can be done, but then it's never happened!
2. I read once that if you have 5 loans it is cheaper to repay per month than if you have 4 loans. Is this still the case? If so, it explains why they might not be so keen to combine all 5 of my loans!
If anyone can shed any light on the above, it'd be much appreciated.
Al

The loans may be linked on the system but they can't stop you receiving 2 sets of correspondence. This is usually due to you apply with a middle name one year and not other years or the other way round. Basically the system doesn't match your records unless all the information is exactly the same.

It depends what courses you did. If you have 5 years worth of loans they you should have a longer repayment period although the records are not all linked to the same customer reference I can see why SLC are not willing to comprehend this suggestion.

Poolie

trembling_blender wrote: »

So...my question...from someone who has never missed a repayment on ANYTHING since i was 16...as I move around rented accomodation quite a bit, what would happen if i 'forget' to inform the SLC of a new address?? Any mail would be returned to them, obviously, but would they then start contacting all my previous addresses one by one?

And say if i move abroad to the USA, what would happen if i 'forget' to inform them that that's where i am?

If you move address and fail to tell SLC they are allowed to charge you an charge for tracing you. Also, it would not stop the repayments from your salary as these are taken by your employer when instructed by HM Revenue and Customs. SLC would have any mail returned to them and all future mail would be surpressed. So if you were getting close to repaying your loan you would never know and SLC won't stop taking deductions until the balance is repaid which could be 18 months after you were due to complete so not really in your interest.

If you failed to inform SLC that you are going overseas, they will start tracing you and charge your for it as well as charge a default repayment of £246 per month to your account so if you want to be in more debt your going the right way.

If you play fair they play fair. You had the money from them for your education and it is time to pay it back. Yes we are all annoyed that from 1998 when the grants were completely removed but this was not a decision by SLC but my the government of the day in 1997 (oh that will be Labour then). They would have benefited from the grant system and their wealthy parents paying for them.

trembling_blender

Cheers for that Poolie, i guess that clarifies that then. Just a real pain in the neck knowing that its there...i'm planning to move to the states in the next year or and having to send money back to the UK would be a bit annoying. Again though, its not that much so (i hope) it'll be hardly noticeable.

Just updated my address details online this afternoon...dang it! Ah well, fairs fair as you say.

Cheers again!

Ross

barnishroader

Hi, i was wondering can you defer a post 1998 loan?
I think mine started in 1999.
My salary has been cut so i wondered if there was maybe a threshold that i would be under now and therefore not have to pay.

MrsManda

barryheffron wrote: »

Hi, i was wondering can you defer a post 1998 loan?
I think mine started in 1999.
My salary has been cut so i wondered if there was maybe a threshold that i would be under now and therefore not have to pay.

No you cannot defer payment but your payments will be reduced inline with your salary reduction if you pay via PAYE. You pay 9% of your salary over £15,000 so if you currently earn £16,000 then you'll repay £90 over the year, if your income drops to £15,500 your repayment will fall to £45 over the year.

How Repayments Are Calculated