Student Loan repayment

Oldernotwiser

anna42hmr wrote: »

the way i veiw it is debt is a debt, just because its paid to the government and is cheap, doesnt mean that it is not a debt

i doubt that many never have to pay it off though

any one who started uni after 1998 have the income based loans which are only written off if:

you are 65 (if loan before 2006)
25 years after the loan should have started to be paid back (if loan 2006 or later)
you die before the loan is paid back
you never earn more than £15,000 (which i imagine, eventually most former students will earn more than that)

so in my case, i know i will end up paying it back so may as well increase payments whilst i can 1. afford it, 2. reduce the balence before the interest rates go up in august and therefore reduce the balence that they can charge interest on.

I disagree; I think that very many people will never pay it back or even make much of a dent in it.

You can never know what lies ahead, whether it's illness, caring responsibilities, redundancy or travel. Most people will have at least one of these in their lives (many will have several) and may really wish that they'd hung onto the cash rather than pay it back unnecessarily.

student_advisor

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I think that very many people will never pay it back or even make much of a dent in it.

I am in this position myself - I owe around £20k and this is the first (and only?) year my balance will decrease (due to the 0% interest only). Life in the FE sector is not exactly well-paid!

[but I don't regret it, would do it again, and will NEVER pay it back any faster than I have to!]

Oldernotwiser

student_advisor wrote: »

I am in this position myself - I owe around £20k and this is the first (and only?) year my balance will decrease (due to the 0% interest only). Life in the FE sector is not exactly well-paid!

[but I don't regret it, would do it again, and will NEVER pay it back any faster than I have to!]

Tell me about it! I spent most of career in FE (lecturer and careers adviser) and my loan will be wiped out this year without a penny paid!

bodmil

Do what you feel is best. I paid my loan off with overpayments as I haaaaaated the idea of being in debt. Even if I missed out on a few hundred pounds of interest that I could have earned in a savings account, I felt it was worth it to feel so much better about it. To think that my payments was just covering the interest was rediculous, what's the point in paying it forever and not getting anywhere?