Repaying Student Loans 2009/10 guide discussion

jessicasteeleeee

Hello, 
I am looking for some advice regarding my student loan. I have recently finished a three year degree in Northern Ireland and currently have 21k of student debt which is Plan 1 and I am now moving to Leeds to do a PGCE secondary teacher training degree. I am going to be receiving a 26k bursary and I am debating whether or not to take the 9k fees out as a loan including the maintenance loan or whether to not take any loans and self finance my 9k fees out of my 26k bursary to reduce my student debt. 

I know Martin Lewis says take all you are given as you will never pay it all back and not to pay off large chunks of it yourself but he is speaking about English and Welsh students with 50k+ of debt. I will have both a Plan 1 student debt of 21k plus a Plan 2 student debt of 12k so a total of 33k. I would love to be able to use my full 26k bursary to live off next year but also save for a house deposit and a year of travelling. Can anyone advise me on whether I am better to take the 9k fee loan out and maintenance loan of approx 3k (N.I) with the expectation that I will never pay my full loan back and therefore paying 9k out of my bursary could be throwing away money or am I better to not take out the extra debt, pay it out of my bursary and not have the extra savings incase I do repay my full student debt and the interest. I am finding the mixture of a Northern Irish and English student loan very confusing as I do not know how to work out if I will repay my full student loan or not given that the calculator is only for Plan 2. I expect to earn on average 24-34k salary throughout my life.

Additionally, would anyone be able to tell me when the 25 years (Plan 1) or 30 years (Plan 2) until your loan is wiped begins? Does it begin from the April after you graduate or once you start earning above the threshold. For example, it is currently the year I should start repaying my undergraduate loan but I am not earning enough, if I do my PGCE next year and then go travelling will I only have to repay my student loan for 23 years instead of 25? Or would the 25 years only begin when I start earning above the threshold. 

Sorry for the long query, I hope someone can help

Jessica 

MidnightVoice

I think Martin ought to clarify his by-the-way comment under 3 “ While this may seem obvious, it means it doesn't form part of your estate (ie, isn't passed on to dependants), unlike other forms of debts. ”

In the UK, at least, while those ‘other forms of debts’ must indeed be offset against any assets when winding up an estate, if the net balance still comes out negative then this is an Insolvent Estate, and the dependants (and other potential beneficiaries) will never need to pay anything to clear the Estate.

So while these other debts can certainly reduce the value of an estate, dependants will never be saddled with any actual debts to pay from other loans, just as they won’t with Student Loans.

PaddyMcpadington

Hiya,
Quick question. I'm on plan 2 for repaying back my student loan. 
I've got £9896 left on the loan and I currently earn over £33K, At an age of 21, is it worth me paying this off quickly to avoid a lot of interest, or will it be negligible interest because of inflation and stuff? I'm struggling to understand how this works and if it's worth my time? I'm quite happy either way to pay it off early or to leave it going. 
Thanks!

sarahpeterson

New here, Question about missing info PG LOANS interest rate:
The article doesn't seem to mention if its worth paying off a PG loan if you have the extra money, 

PG loan is automatically full 5.4% interest, and the article has no calculations for its repayment, wondering if there are calculations to see if its worth paying it off/overpaying it. 

Thanks!

Amjphb

Please can anyone help or advise me on the following:
I've just realised that the student loan repayments that are being taken from my salary every month have been far higher than they should be.
When I started working in Jan 2019 after completing my PGCE, my salary was £29,000 and straight away in January £50, February and March £60 each month was taken from my monthly salary for student loan repayments. I believe that from Jan to March 2019 I shouldn't have actually paid back any of my student loan because for that tax year I wasn't earning over the threshold having only worked for part of the year. Therefore, I should be refunded this £170.

From April to Dec 2019 each month £60 was taken from my monthly salary for student loan repayment when it should have been £18 per month. Therefore, for these 9 months I believe I am due a refund of £378.

My salary increased in Jan 2020 to £32,000, from Jan to Oct so far this year, £82 has been deducted every month from my salary for student loan repayments when it should have been £40. Therefore, I believe I am due a repayment of £420.

In total I believe I am due a refund of £968 and would like this money returned, however, upon contacting HMRC, they said SLC needed to rectify this and pay the refund but having spoken to SLC they say its not their fault or problem and are blaming my employer and HMRC.
SLC said that, "my employer is using the correct plan type (plan 2) but do not seem to be using a threshold", hence the overpayments. However how can their be a threshold if the repayments should just be 9% of my salary over the set repayment amount??
I have no idea where to go with this or how else to get the over payments refunded. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.

sheramber

 The threshold is the point when you start to repay. For plan 2 this is £26575. 

[Deleted User]

Amjphb said:

Please can anyone help or advise me on the following:
I've just realised that the student loan repayments that are being taken from my salary every month have been far higher than they should be.
When I started working in Jan 2019 after completing my PGCE, my salary was £29,000 and straight away in January £50, February and March £60 each month was taken from my monthly salary for student loan repayments. I believe that from Jan to March 2019 I shouldn't have actually paid back any of my student loan because for that tax year I wasn't earning over the threshold having only worked for part of the year. Therefore, I should be refunded this £170.

From April to Dec 2019 each month £60 was taken from my monthly salary for student loan repayment when it should have been £18 per month. Therefore, for these 9 months I believe I am due a refund of £378.

My salary increased in Jan 2020 to £32,000, from Jan to Oct so far this year, £82 has been deducted every month from my salary for student loan repayments when it should have been £40. Therefore, I believe I am due a repayment of £420.

In total I believe I am due a refund of £968 and would like this money returned, however, upon contacting HMRC, they said SLC needed to rectify this and pay the refund but having spoken to SLC they say its not their fault or problem and are blaming my employer and HMRC.
SLC said that, "my employer is using the correct plan type (plan 2) but do not seem to be using a threshold", hence the overpayments. However how can their be a threshold if the repayments should just be 9% of my salary over the set repayment amount??
I have no idea where to go with this or how else to get the over payments refunded. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.

Hi

There are too many questions to ask in order to ensure that any clarity I can offer is going to actually be relecant to your situation, so excuse me.

When did your PGCE end? MM/YY

Did you take loans for your undergraduate? What Academic Years? YY/YY

When did you last borrow for your u/g? YY/YY

What calculation have you used to arrive at your conclusion re refund?

I don't need specifics in relation to your income, but if you can provide me with an example of your income for one week/month I can verify your calculation for you.

Are you paid weekly, fortnightly, bi-monthly, 4 weekly, monthly?

Please don't post any personal details, I only need to know the answers to the Qs above to be better equiped to answer you effectively.

KingaMin

I'm on a plan 2 but as I only owe  £2214 + 2.6% interest I'm thinking of paying it all off.I have 2 jobs but my salary is < £25000 and so I have only paid £60 of my wages so far so it looks like I'm only repaying my interest.If I start making voluntary payments I might as well pay it all off in 1 year so that I don't end up paying more interest.What's your advice guys ?

Superchunk72

I took out my student loan in 1997 with the Student Loan Company. I deferred for a couple of years as I wasn't earning enough to meet the salary threshold. I moved addresses on numerous occasions & failed to let the Student Loan Company & then Erudio Ltd who bought the debt from them. I had no idea that Erudio were until I received a letter from a solicitor last week notifying me that a Warrant of Control had been issued against me issued at the address i was residing at in 1997. I accept that I am in default of the original loan agreement by not providing updated contact details, but my contention is could the Student Loan Company & then Erudio have done more to contact me? Why has it taken them 24 years to contact me? Presumably they had my National Insurance number & I can't help thinking that because of the 25 year criteria for the debt being wiped next January 2022 & my turning 50 years old next May has hastened their attempts to contact me.I have never met the earnings threshold in subsequent years & still don't earn £36,284 annually. I have agreed to pay the debt at £100 monthly through the solicitors to remove the warrant of control & the CCJ issued but the hefty financial costs of £650+ accrued are proving a bitter pill to swallow. I am not looking to shirk my responsibilities in repaying what I owe, I would just like clarification on what will happen when i turn 50 or the 25 years is up if i start repaying now? Will it change anything? Thankyou for any advice 

reni89

Hi,
I wonder if someone had a similar situation.
I am repaying my student loan at the moment on Plan 2. My annual salary is £36,771 so I am paying £71 every month. However, I also get bonus every January which is paid in one month added to my monthly salary. SLC took £732 in one go for January 2021 and then back to £71 per month. I know that if your annual salary is below the £27,295 threshold you can claim back the overpaid money, however can you do the same if it is one monthly payment that was much higher and therefore money were taken using the monthly threshold rather than an annual one?
Using the annual threshold I should have paid £1332.36 but my total payment to SLC was £1630 for that period (April 2020- April 2021).

Thank you for any advice