Student Loan Statements

Mikeyorks

mmsparkle wrote:

Last I heard, it takes 42 days for the Inland Revenue to stop payments from my wages. )

The 42 days is anticipatory that SLC get a 'Stop' notice out to your employer when they become aware your loan is close to being repaid. As here (click on the 'Stop' link when read) :-

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/cslmanual/cslabo/cslabo02104.htm

As your's is already repaid - sounds like SLC are at fault. HMRC merely issue the STOP notice (automatically) on command from SLC.

(Haven't a clue what magic is incorporated in '42 days'?? Sounds more like something from 'Hitch Hiker's Guide .. to Student Loans'??)

CarolinaChiquita

Mini update - Rang them today and they have now booked my mail in so I know that they have received my payslips ... thank god! and it didn't take the 5 weeks they said it would only 3 so that's not too bad either. The dude I spoke to said that I should receive a letter in a few days so hopefully I will but I'm not holding my breath!

rubyrooster

I graduated in 2001 and then went on to do a post grad course, which I finished in 2002. SLC told me I would start paying the minute I started earning over £10k (this was before the threshold changed). I didn't.

Spent an age trying to get them to do it, but my previous (p/t) employer hadn't ticked the 'pay student loan' box on my P45. Apparently, if this happens, you fall into a black hole and can't repay your loan even if you want to (except by D/D which I did't have the money to do at that point).
At the end of the tax year, the whole thing refreshed and I finally started paying.

I get a statement approx once a year, but at random points. Discovered a couple of days ago that they'll give you your current balance over the phone if you call them up. Before the threshold was raised I made a bit of a dent in it, but now I barely cover the interest.

My only question is - at an interest rate of (currently) 3.2%, are we better paying it, or saving in an ISA with a higher interest rate? At this rate I won't have paid it off until I'm in my 50s!

JenIttels

Yikes - what a bunch of stories. I've just written 'FIND STUDENT LOAN STATEMENT' on a post-it note which i will probably stick to my head.

Ruby - I'm putting aside a bit of money each month into an ISA specifically aimed at the loan. Didn't the interest rate go down slightly recently, btw? To be honest, i've done some calculations as to the best way to pay it off (ISA vs actually paying SLC) but haven't put the time in to come up with a definative answer. All i really know is the >4% interest on my ISA is greater than the interest on the loan!

For fun, I definately recommend figuring out how much time/money you will save by over paying. I used the snowballing calculator for ease http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx and it told me that i would pay the loan off in a third of the otherwise estimated time by upping my repayments to a very reasonable amount!

On the question on whether you may as well keep your loan going and put any spare cash on a mortgage instead....well...i can't decide.

regularsaver1

I don't have much choice about it coming out of my wages

CarolinaChiquita

Another quick update: Rang them on Friday and they've still not done anything with my payslips, they said to ring next week and if nothing had been done then they'd chase the right department for me. Why do I think that is not going to happen since I bet this is their busiest time with all the new students going to uni in Sept. Oh well - I will just mither until it gets sorted!!