Student Finance:)

rosalie-lavender

Thanks Devildog,

That is very interesting. Goodness knows what is going on with our application then. It is starting to drive me potty because my son is in Coventry with exams to deal with and he suffers from depression and anxiety so can do without worrying about it really. I am trying to get him to phone but what with exams etc he is already stressed.

I would still appreciate it if taiko or anyone else has any ideas about it.

Taiko

Sorry I've not been around much of late, ended up with an ambulance out to me the other night and as such I've been pretty much nonexistant.

2nd year students who supplied all information in year one should be able to self-certify the income for year two. Their insistance on seeing documents isn't right, and goes against all guidance given.

I'll see if there's any reason, but I'm out of the office at the moment and therefore can't really speak to anyone for you.

rosalie-lavender

Thanks very much Taiko, I appreciate the help. Sorry to hear you have been ill, I hope you are feeling better now.

I wonder if the problems that I have had with re-supplying the evidence for the audit for 2007/2008 have caused a problem. One of my P60's was refused because it is a paper one and then they refused my week 53 payslip because it wasn't signed or stamped and so I had to get a letter from my employer instead and to make sure they accepted it I filled in the form as well. All that arrived and was signed for on the 13th of April but perhaps they did the loan assesment before it had worked through the system and they have got last years down as not finalised.

What was irritating was they saw all my documents last year and accepted them and then wanted them all again and it looks like it might be throwing up issues with this years. On line, last years is down as assessed but the letter asking for the alternative to the P60 said to get it to them by the 31st March so they could finalise my sons claim. I thought it was finalised last year! I got the alternative to them by the 31st only to have it refused again and had to send another alternative which arrived on 13th April..

They have also asked for P60's from my husband who doesn't work and wasn't working that year either. His employment income is clearly down as nil on the form.

I think I am going to sort out the evidence for 2008/2009 and send it off and when he plucks up the courage to phone, my son is going to give his consent to share with me. He is thoroughly confused by it all because obviously I have been dealing with supplying evidence for the audit and not him and with him in Coventry and me in Kent it makes it difficult. The trouble is when I had to phone up about the audit it seemed to confuse the advisor as much as me because they were asking for evidence for last years claim not this one.

If you could find out if it is a new thing to insist on evidence it would be helpful because one person says one thing and someone else says something different.

Taiko

What audit is this? There isn't an audit as far as I'm aware for 1st years if all originals had been provided before.

rosalie-lavender

Well I had a letter back on 4th March saying that "as part of the ongoing quality auditing scheme we are currently doing some additional checks on evidence for academic year 2009/2010.

This means we have to confirm your taxable income from all sources for 2007-2008 tax year and need you to send your financial information and evidence to us.

It then asked for photocopies of P 60's etc and if you were divorced decree absolute. It is on proper headed paper and I am sure it is genuine. My husband had the same letter.

All my original documents were supplied and accepted last year and then they asked for them all again and decided to refuse my paper P60. It is on a proper official P60 form but hand written.

The letter is signed by a processing manager. I could pm you his name but I won't put it on a public forum.

It is all very odd and has caused a lot of unneccesary work for your department, my employer and myself.

devildog

Sorry you have not been well Taiko.
One quick question for you-if child no 2 decided to go to uni and applied for Student Finance would it be the whole palava like when the first one applied or do they take into account that you have already proved who you are, what your income is etc?

rosalie-lavender

devildog wrote: »

Sorry you have not been well Taiko.
One quick question for you-if child no 2 decided to go to uni and applied for Student Finance would it be the whole palava like when the first one applied or do they take into account that you have already proved who you are, what your income is etc?

That is an interesting question because I will be in that position myself in a years time.

devildog

It is next year that I am thinking about too-dreading to have to go through the whole thing again- thought I could start getting the paperwork ready now
I hate also that they want to see the originals of all documents-dd's passport was sent last year special next day delivery,went online to check the next day that it had arrived, it hadn't, checked the following day and a Message came up that it had been 'diverted' (but still not signed for) kept re-checking, it was never signed for at the other end but approx 3 weeks later it turned up here again!! God knows where it had been!!
Complained to Post office and got a refund but just hate having to send originals of anything cause the chances are they either don't arrive at the other end or do not get returned(not that I am saying that Student Finance don't return the docs)
Gu3ess I had better start mentally preparing myself now!!

Taiko

For any student going into first year, documents need to be provided,. As such, when the younger sibling begins, you'd need to send in dopcuments again. Your own reference numbers remain the same though