Student Loans: "Should I pay mine off?" article Discussion Area

AddieH

appolonicon wrote:

We are in the fortunate position of being able to pay off our son's loan (we are retired and could do it out of pension cash commutation).

Leaving aside the question of whether it would weaken his character and destroy his determination to survive on his own, my query is this: Would this payment be liable to inheritance tax if my wife and I die within seven years and have fully used all the £3000 per year allowable transfers to our son? And if not, would there be any capital gains tax liability for him? Any tax accountants out there? (This seems to be an unknown area for the two accountants I have spoken to).

I'd think twice about this and would consider just giving him the money as it would almost certainly be worth more to him now (mortgage etc..) than to pay back a small-ish student loan.

delorean_2

JenIttels wrote:

at least we'll be living it up across the pond!

EXACTLY!

Thanks for the very useful post. I wrote to the SLC yesterday and printed out a direct debit/overseas form and filled it out as best I could.

I set up the direct debit and am going to see how it pans out from there.

Just waiting to hear back now...

Too_Much_Telly

Too Much Telly

Beware of who you are dealing with. I paid off my loan in 2001. Stupidly, I didn't insist on a receipt - so no proof of payment. 3 weeks ago I had a a call from them saying I still owed £130.

After arguing with them for about two minutes I was told I could have £20 pounds off. After about five minutes, it became £40 off. (If they could do that I should have held out for the bill to be wiped off completely.

Any way, I have paid £78 pounds but no receipt yet.

Please beware.

dickybeau

Some general points.

if moving abroad -tell them. there is a contact number (uk office hours) which you can access easily from abroad. once you know your address, contact them again and update records. 6 weeks before you are due to defer, contact them and ask for a form to be faxed/airmailed out. Make sure you know your dates- don't wait for them as the time taken to get your form to you and returned to them can mean you will be late and incur additional costs.

if travelling on a gap year, they need a copy of your itinerary showing your expected return date along with evidence of how you will be supporting yourself. always, always sign and date your form.

if you are leaving the uk and you have family or good friends staying here, you can authorise that person to deal with your account including sign your deferment form, collate evidence, talk to slc and pay balances off.

the older mortgage style loans are harsher as you have 5 (or 7 depending on number of years loans) years to pay back once in repayment. but you can defer at anytime if you earn less than the threshhold and can evidence that by payslips or a letter from your employer. remember that deferment is not a right but is by application. the maximimum you can backdate if you are late is 3 months. so it pays to be on the ball. deferment is based on gross earnings including bonus and overtime. if your last payslip is over the threshhold, you will be rejected.

if you have both types of loans, mortgage and income contingent repayment, you can end up paying them both..

finally, every year adeferment form is sent out to those that defered last year. if you did not defer, you need to call to request one.

honest--jon

I am currently a student going into third year and am a little bit of an art weeler dealer, one thing I learnt in life is money makes money, so the more you have the even more you can make!

What I personally do is spend every penny I have (barr rent etc..) and buy limited edition prints, which once sold out tend to atleast double in value then sell them and buy more and beats the low interest of 5% that banks pay.

I went into uni with £1500 savings, and if I sold my collection today it would probably be worth £18,000-£21,000. being a student is great with overdrafts, loans etc.. it means I can buy and sell stuff to make more money from money I never had.

Its sometimes a little risky but really exciting.

I will be 21 when I graduate and am aiming for a nice £30,000 in the bank the day I graduate (and will have about £12,000 dept from student loan)

moos_2

Hi

I have been working for over 3 years and the Student Loans Company have not taken a penny. A few others at work who started at the smae time as me are being deducted money from their wages, but not me.
Im quite happy about this, but wanted to know if it is my responsibility to inform them? Should I let them know im earning enough to pay the debt monthly or should they know this info?

If anyone can help please let me know

Thanks

moos

neil.cooke

Hi all.

My girlfriend graduated in 2002 with a student loan of about £11,000. She went travelling and started work in June 2004. Since then she has paid no student loan even though she is earning above the threshold. I keep hearing mutterings that if they have not found you for repayments within 6 years they will not chase the student repayment of the loan after this. Is this true or urban myth? Should she contact the Student Loans company and start paying this back?

Any advice would be great!!!

si1503

neil.cooke wrote:

Should she contact the Student Loans company and start paying this back?

i wouldn't, personally

AddieH

neil.cooke wrote:

Hi all.

My girlfriend graduated in 2002 with a student loan of about £11,000. She went travelling and started work in June 2004. Since then she has paid no student loan even though she is earning above the threshold. I keep hearing mutterings that if they have not found you for repayments within 6 years they will not chase the student repayment of the loan after this. Is this true or urban myth? Should she contact the Student Loans company and start paying this back?

Any advice would be great!!!

I would suggest contacting the SLC, better to pay it back eventually.

dickybeau

neil

your girlfriend is running up a bill. you need to consider that the terms and conditions that she signed indicate that any mail sent by slc is considered received after a certain period. She is also obliged by the same terms and conditions, to keep slc informed of any change of address. she will, currently be in arrears which grow monthly. charges will also apply. If her monthly payment is £70, that payment is due from the day after her last deferment ends or repayment was due to start. 2 years equals £1680 debt on £70 per month. if they send the account to debt recovery companies, she may have an unpleasant surprise and find herself paying her loan and paying her arrears. After 5 years, her loan matures and full payment is due. It is true that after 6 years, if the slc has made no effort to contact the dbtr, it may be that the loan is not due. BUT see my first point. I have been helping some people with this and it has been making their life difficult. several people I know are in serious debt and are involving debt counsellors to stop getting further in to a mess. While it is unusual, cases can and do go to court affecting credit ratings and ability to get mortgages, loans and credit cards. Unfortunately, the onus is on the borrower to come clean.