Student Finance say they have Overpaid me by £3,600!

squidgylou

Hi,

I am hoping someone can help me understand what to do next.

I did a PGCE in 2009/2010 and applied for student finance. I am married with a child at nursery. I got the Parent's Learning Allowance and Childcare Grant and Maintenance Grant.

Now after 6 months of going back and forth with Student Finance, they say I was not entitled to these and want the money back (hence the £3600). I have sent them massive amounts of documentation showing my husband's income, bank statements, mortgage statements, childcare cost confirmations, etc.

I don't understand why my application entitled me to the help, and now my actuals don't. (As far as I know nothing has changed). I can't see my application details online so I can't compare them myself to the actual income and expenses to calculate the difference.

My next step was to ask SF for a full breakdown of my estimates vs. actuals, as well as the calculations explaining the withdrawal of grants. (I don't know if they would give me this!)

Has anyone got any advice as to anything else I could do?

It goes without saying that the money has gone on childcare and living costs so there is no chance I could pay the money back. My worry is that their assessment has gone wrong somewhere and there is no way I can check it! It's getting desperate now as I finished the course in July 2010!!

Thanks for helping!

Lea28

Hi there, you are defo in the right place for advice. Student Finance are a nightmare (see my thread student finance nightmare).

I'm currently applying for 2011/12 finance and was awarded the PLA but I'm terrified of being paid it and then them asking for it back, just like your situation at the minute. I'm also waiting to here about the child care grant too.

Can I just ask at the end of each accademic year will they ask for all the proof of outgoings and earnings for the year again, I might keep a record of the estimates I have given them.

There is a really helpful poster on here called Taiko, Taiko has excellent knowledge of how it all works and might be able to help you.

squidgylou

Hi Lea,
Thanks for reply! I hope Taiko has a look at my problem.

Yes, I had to provide the actual information for everything: bank statements with highlighted outgoings (mortgage, council tax, life insurance, house insurance), payslips, mortgage statements, child tax credit final assessment, childcare costs confirmations...I could go on. Every time I rang them they asked for another piece of proof and implied I was being stupid, even though they seem to give the wrong information every time I talk to someone! I am on the verge of seeking legal advice for stress and prolonged anxiety!!

This is not what I need in my first year of teaching as well!

Taiko

If you can post up full details of partners net income, any child and working tax credits, and outgoings, breaking down what they relate to, I can look. I'm not able to right now, as I'm still recovering from some surgery.

Would probably help to know amount of childcare you're estimating too.

squidgylou

Hi Taiko,
Thanks so much for offering to help. My income and expenses for Sept 2009 to Aug 2010 (which is what SFE tell me the exact period should be) are as follows:

Husband's income after tax: £18,064
Child Benefit: £964
Child Tax Credit: £518
Working Tax Credit: £0

Expenses:
Mortgage: £3,550
Council Tax: £784
H&C Insurance: £250
Life Insurance: £119
Childcare: £8,240

As far as I can tell I have provided as much info as is possible for all of these. Also, estimates given at the beginning of my course should not have differed much from these as nothing changed.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks again.

Taiko

I can say, without even getting my spreadsheet, that the assessment they've made does actually look correct. Outgoings aren't enough to bring down the net income to qualify.

I'll run it through my spreadsheet when I get chance, but I have to agree with them just without doing this.

squidgylou

If that is the case, I need to understand on what basis they made the initial assessment and paid me the money in the first place. Would they tell me what my application details were?

Obviously from my point of view I thought I was entitled to the payments at the time but I am struggling to understand why there is a massive gap in comparison to the final assessment. It feels quite unfair to be honest so I want to know if I made a mistake somewhere.

Thanks for checking anyway.

Taiko

I think it's unlikely, unless you do a Subject Access Request for the full history of the account. You'd be wanting details from every single assessment, and screenshots from each change they done, as well as the dates. They would hold this information.

I always used to keep paper files as well, although I don't believe this to be the case with SFE.