Letter from Smith Lawson & Company owning money?

LemonSocks

I've had a letter this morning from Smith Lawson & Company Recovery Services this morning saying I owe £630.00. The letter says I have 7 days to pay (the letter was actually sent on the 10th but only arrived today so now I only have 1 day to pay).

I think that this is related to my first year at a prior university. I completed the first year but I ended up moving to another university where I started a fresh course. Whilst I was setting up my finances for my fresh course I had letters claiming repayments for overpaid grant due to not finishing my course. However as I'd completed that first year in full & went straight onto a new course, after phoning up SLC & sorting it out they said I wasn't supposed to pay it. I figured that was sorted.

I'm now near the end of my final year of this course & have just had this letter & I have no idea why. It a pretty threatening letter considering this is the first I've heard of SLC in years (and the first I've ever heard of Smith Lawson & Company).

I'll phone them (or should I write to them?) this afternoon to find out more details, but has anyone dealt with Smith Lawson & Co before? Does anyone have any advice?

Edit: I've just gone through all my old SLC letters. Unfortunately I no longer have the ones from that long ago. The only letter I've had from SLC this year is how much my total loans amount to so far. I've had absolutely nothing else from them.

Voyager2002

Write to them asking exactly what the money is for, and asking for proof that you owe it (you will find template letters elsewhere on this site). Many debt collectors send out frightening letters like this almost at random, in the hope that some people will be so frightened that they just pay. Once they are challenged, they go away.

agrinnall

You might be better to post this on the Loans board where people are familiar with most of the debt collection companies, and may be able to advise on how likely this particular one is to keep chasing you. They can also advise whether responding to them at all is a good idea, or if you are better to ignore them and maybe deal directly with the Student Loand Company.

By the way, don't you think it's a bit of a co-incidence that the debt collectors also have the initials SLC? Sounds to me like they have set up specifically to try to collect unpaid student loans.

vax2002

This will be a debt shark that has bought an old file.
In order to move forward they will need you to confirm that you are indeed you.

LemonSocks

Thanks for your advice. It states at the bottom of letter in small print that Smith Lawson & Company is a trading name of the Student Loans Company Limited. I'm actually really confused about all of this. If they are part of SLC, shouldn't they already know that I don't owe anything at the moment?

I was planning on phoning them for details but I don't want to do anything until I'm sure I'm taking the right action. A letter is a much better idea but I'll hold off on that for the time being until I find out more about this company.

If I do send a letter, should I be sending it to the 'registered office' in the small print or the PO BOX address at the top?

I'm a bit concerned too that this is going to appear on my credit report. I have one defaulted that should be written off next year so I was hoping to have a clear report again.

sharp910sh

Just call up the student loan company, and ask what it is about. simple

Taiko

You probably do owe them something though. Your old university would have deemed you withdrawn, the new one as a new applicant.

Unless you submitted formal transfer paperwork for both universities, the above applies. As the grants are payable for the academic year, which runs 1st September to the 31st August, and your entitlement to grants is up until the date of last attendance, you would have an overpayment, as per the terms and conditions you sign when applying.

LemonSocks

I understood that maintenance loans covered complete term time - that being until the end of term and not the end of exams (in the case of my current university the 21st June). Do grants not cover the same period?

Either way I had sorted this out before and I'd been told that when they had confirmation of attendance from my new uni I wouldn't have to pay.

Even if they have decided now that I do have to pay, why now whilst I'm still studying and why have they not contacted me once to politely inform me? I can't afford to check my credit report (let alone pay £630) but I'm seriously concerned that my credit has been affected without being warned/given a chance to do something about it when I'm so close to having my report clean.

Taiko

As I stated above, grants are payable on the academic year, which runs to the 31st August. Loans usually add on for the summer months, however these are not claimed back in this method, merely added onto the debt a student repays at the end of the course.

I'd say, based on what is known, the assessment is correct and you do owe this money. You need to confirm that transfer documents were sent from both universities, because if they are not then there is an overpayment. If the SLC assessed without these to write off any money owed, they'd be in breach of The Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011.

Speak with the academic registry at both universities to find out exactly what was sent.

behave

The same thing happened to me. You just need to call them up and set up a standing order or payment plan to pay them in arrears. When they have that in their system that you're paying then they will be off your case

LemonSocks

I've sent a letter asking for details of the debt and to send any copies of former correspondences relating to this debt (seeing as this is the first notice I've had). I've also sent an email with a copy of my letter too, so they know I've taken action immediately.
Once they've clarified I'll phone them up. But in the meantime I'll try and get hold of the universities like you've recommended, Taiko. Would I be after the admittance department, or my home department, or some other department altogether? I think I'll probably arrange a chat with my tutor too.