Student grant overpayment as not taking IVA into account. Please help !!

funface

If anyone can give advice on this it would be very appreciated. My partner has been in an IVA since 2006. I have now finished my degree but had problems getting my grants sorted and finalised from 2010/2011 - they have now written to me and stated I am not entiteld to adult dependent grant and in total it looks like they are asking for £4000+ back to be repaid. However without the grants I would not have been able to complete my degree as we had less coming in then going out with financial commitments. A large commitment was the IVA of £385 a month.
When I called to ask why I amno longer entitled to the Adult Dependent grant I have been told it is because the IVA payments, which I sent evidence in for has not been included. However I do not understand why the IVA has been discounted in their calculations as in my previous 2 years of study it was included.
I am very confused by this as it was an existing financial commitmet prior to starting the course.
I cannot afford to pay back £4000+, I have two children, and despite working would no way be able to afford this.
Why did they accept the IVA as a financial commitment in the first two years but for final year? They state they made a mistake in the calculation and are sorry for any inconvenience. This line in the letter made me laugh as it is more than 'inconvenience'. I am so stressed by this and feel like none at student finance is bothered, and noone takes any ownership.
The guy today said he would need to go through to their processing department but they are closed today. So now I have been told I have to ring back Tuesday, speak to someone new again, explain everything again, and so it keeps going on.
I am worried sick, and have sent in so much information and spoken to so many representatives at student finance. I have asked for an email address but there is not one, and the letter I previously sent by recorded delivery asking for a full breakdown as to how they make their calculation they state they have not got, or rather they have no record of it on their scanned information.
I feel like I am banging my head againast a wall every time I speak to them, and I have the student finance debt agency on my back, although they have been good and put the account in review this is only for a short period.
Please if anyone can help I would love to hear from you.:(

devildog

Hi, I didn't want to read and run but it all sounds really complicated.

Taiko will know the ins and outs of this and if you are in with a chance he will point you in the right direction.

Taiko

The IVA shouldn't have been taken into any years assessment, so in a way you're quite lucky, as they could in theory now go back and reassess all previous years entitlement.

You do not have any grounds for appeal on this. SFE, although they shouldn't, do make mistakes, and they are perfectly entitled to correct these when they come to light. What you will be able to do though is offer to repay at whatever you can afford per month, they will not demand everything at once.

You will need to repay this though, there's no way out of it. Best advice I could give would be not to go in all guns blazing at them. Do that, chances are they'll suddenly look more in depth at your account, and pick up the previous years too.

funface

Thank you for this advice, however why do you know why the iVA is not accepted given it is a financial commitment through the courts, therefore it is not an optional payment. It is something that had to be paid.

devildog

Financial obligations incurred by the student before the course starts

201.


Financial obligations incurred by the student before the start of or during the course are not disregarded.

funface-have pasted this from their guide(sometimes it helps to see it in black and white)

funface

Thanks Devildog. I have since found this after looking at the guidance for 2010-2011 (Grants for Dependents and Travel Grants) which is the period they are reassessing. Within this I have found the following:
Financial obligations incurred before the start of the course (Regulation 42(3)) [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]89. Regulation 42(3) allows recurrent payments made by the student or his partner in respect of obligations incurred by the student before the start of the course to be deducted from the partner's net income where such obligations were reasonably incurred, which is for LAs/SLC to decide. They might include payments made under insurance policies, such as household insurance, contents insurance, medical insurance and life insurance, payments under a mortgage agreement (mortgage payments and mortgage endowments), council tax payments, rent payments, repayments under a loan agreement, such as a Building Society home improvement loan, and obligatory maintenance payments. However, LAs/SLC have the discretion to decide which types of recurrent payment to deduct, and this list is not binding but intended purely as a guideline as to what might be regarded as permissible items. If an LA/SLC considers that a lesser obligation could reasonably have been incurred in the circumstances, a correspondingly lesser sum may be disregarded. Where a partner is making payments in respect of an obligation for which payments are shared by the partner and the student, the full obligation (i.e. the amount being incurred by the student and the amount being incurred by the partner) should be taken into account. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial]


[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Given the above I just do not understand why they agreed to accept it but have now decided not to after the fact. Looking at the guidance above it is at their discression,but how can they say yes one minute and then 'no' the next? If they made the decision to accept it at the start, and made payments based on this, surely this should have been honoured[/FONT][/FONT]

I am so confused do I fight this or leave it as Taiko suggests? How long do they give you to repay. Does it have to be within a specific time. I don't think I can afford more than £30 a month, yet this would take over 10 years to pay back. I am not trying to shirk the repaying, I just want to make sure if I am paying it back that this is the correct thing.

devildog

Hi,
I saw that guidance too initially, but knowing nothing about adult dependent grants.............
May be worth trawling through The Student Support Education regs
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/176/contents/made to satisfy yourself.
However, I must stress that Taiko has/does work in this area and I personally would not doubt what he says

funface

thanks again for your help. I guess given what Taiko has said, and yourself I will just have to wait to see what they confirm the overpayment as being and make an offer of repayment which I can afford.

Just when I though I was getting on my feet

devildog

People that have come here before re overpayments appear to offer £5 per month to Student Finance which has been accepted so the impact on your finances may not be as huge as you imagine. Good Luck

Taiko

I see you quoted from the 10/11 guidance, where it's the 11/12 that relates to you. In paragraph 90, it states:

SFE would not ordinarily consider Loan and HP agreements for the following:
• Holidays
• Furniture
• Electrical equipment/white goods
• Home conversions e.g. extensions
• Cosmetic surgery
• Debt consolidation
• Christmas costs

And that is why it is not taken into account.

funface

Hi Taiko, I did see that, however I thought as mine is for the academic year 2010-2011 I thought it was this guidance which would apply.
I finished my degree in July 2011. They are still trying to finalise my grants from this period however. hence why I am still looking at 2010-2011 guidance.
In addition where it mentions debt consolidation in the 2011-2012 guidane again as the IVA was not a loan, there was not a HP agreement or a credit agreement. If the IVA was not paid by partner would have been declared bancrupt, and taken to court no doubt. The IVA was due to a failed business, not because of irresponsible spending etc.
The IVA was not done through one of these companies such as Payplan etc. It was done through an insolvencey practitioner and agreed by the court. Therefore no credit agreement or HP. This is why I struggled to see the IVA as a loan/HP agreement for loan consolidation.
I really do appreciate your thoughts on this as, and I am not doubting your advice. I am just trying to get my head round how I am a going to find this £4000, and secondly all the stess, particularly as it as if they gave me the grant stating I was eligible for it,even upto a month ago when they initially completed the reassessment, however now I get a very short letter, with little explanation saying this is no longer the case. I know everyone makes mistakes but this is not just one person. Throughout the year I have spoken to several people and have been told the funding was correct.
I guess I am having a real difficulty taking it in because to be honest I am in shock that such an overpayment could have been made for 2010-2011.