Honours Student Loans - refusal to defer payments

jomilne

Hi everyone,

I have a Student Loan which was sold on to Honours Student Loans which dates from 1998. I have deferred the loan every year , but was late on deferring in 2005 due to moving house and not recieving the deferement forms (I know this is my own fault, but when I did get in touch with them I paid the arrears and the rest was deferred again).

I applied to defer again this year but I have been told that due to these arrears in 2005 I will not have the option of deferring any more, despite having done it for the last 5 years!

I earn less than half the minimum monthly wage which acts as the limit for when you need to start paying back (its over £2k per month, I earn just over £1k per month). Honours Student Loans have been very unhelpful when I have spoken to them, and say its not their problem, I must start paying it back.

Perhaps I am just being sceptical, but could this have something to do with the fact that this year student loans are in negative interest and they're desperate to get some cash in? I've looked on their website and it says the only time that they can refuse deferement is if they cancel your loan, which they have confirmed this morning they have not done.

Any advice would be great - they are very difficult people to deal with at the best of times, and every time I phone I seem to be told something different!

Many thanks.