Student Loans Company

cartman44

Hi All,

To give some background, myself and partner entered University in 1998 and both graduated in 2002. We both took 3 years of student loans, we skipped one as we had gap years.

After graduation we were both fortunate enough to get full time jobs and immediately started repayment of student loans. My partner made her final payment in March 2007, and I made my final payment in April 2010. Mine I assumed took longer as I took higher loans at the time. We both contacted SLC after our final payments to confirm the accounts were settled.

Now to the present...............

My partner got paid today and to her suprise there was a fairly hefty deduction from the SLC. Having enquired as to what this was she was informed that one of the loans she drew had not been linked to her account, and now (5years 3months later) they had linked the account and she now had to re-pay the loan. Furthermore she was also liable for 5years and 3months of interest!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Obviously this sticks in our throats, we both genuinely thought we had paid our dues.

Is there anything we can do about this. I have looked about and nothing seems to qualify for payment default. The loans were after '97, they have established contact within 6 years, she has not had the loan for 25years and we are not over 65!!

If nothing else, surely she can't be held liable for 5years of interest given the fact that it was their admin error??

Furthermore, our circumstances have dramatically changed. As we didn't know this debt existed we have never budgeted for it. We have entered into a larger mortgage based on our circumstance at the time and the repayment of this new debt will put some serious constraint on us as it's over £200 four weekly.

I really can't help feel we are being penalised for a mistake on their part - has anyone any suggestions of how to proceed, or has she just been bent over a barrel?

Thanks for any help.

Mark

fwor

cartman44 wrote: »

If nothing else, surely she can't be held liable for 5years of interest given the fact that it was their admin error??

Before you start thinking of this as being penalised, take a look at the interest rate she has been paying on that money. Student loan interest rates are incredibly low - far, far lower than any commercially available loan, and in fact IIRC not much above inflation.

So look at this way: she's had the use of the money for 5 years at - in real world terms - almost no cost. It doesn't look too bad a deal when viewed from that perspective.

Having said that, I don't think it would be unreasonable to ask them to reduce the level of repayment per month because of your mortgage commitments. They may take the view that it was her responsibility to keep track of her own debts, but it does seem a bit incompetent of them to "lose" an account for 5 years or so...

CLAPTON

were there yearly statements of the a/c?

if not then that might strengthen your cause for some special treatment

Dunroamin

cartman44 wrote: »

Hi All,

To give some background, myself and partner entered University in 1998 and both graduated in 2002. We both took 3 years of student loans, we skipped one as we had gap years.

After graduation we were both fortunate enough to get full time jobs and immediately started repayment of student loans. My partner made her final payment in March 2007, and I made my final payment in April 2010. Mine I assumed took longer as I took higher loans at the time. We both contacted SLC after our final payments to confirm the accounts were settled.

Now to the present...............

My partner got paid today and to her suprise there was a fairly hefty deduction from the SLC. Having enquired as to what this was she was informed that one of the loans she drew had not been linked to her account, and now (5years 3months later) they had linked the account and she now had to re-pay the loan. Furthermore she was also liable for 5years and 3months of interest!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Obviously this sticks in our throats, we both genuinely thought we had paid our dues.

Is there anything we can do about this. I have looked about and nothing seems to qualify for payment default. The loans were after '97, they have established contact within 6 years, she has not had the loan for 25years and we are not over 65!!

If nothing else, surely she can't be held liable for 5years of interest given the fact that it was their admin error??

Furthermore, our circumstances have dramatically changed. As we didn't know this debt existed we have never budgeted for it. We have entered into a larger mortgage based on our circumstance at the time and the repayment of this new debt will put some serious constraint on us as it's over £200 four weekly.

I really can't help feel we are being penalised for a mistake on their part - has anyone any suggestions of how to proceed, or has she just been bent over a barrel?

Thanks for any help.

Mark

Have you calculated that correctly - is she on an income of £42K?

Poolie

All you can do is put a complaint into SLC and ask for the interest to be recalculated based on the fact the accounts were not linked. They should look at the whole balance and the fact that the interest applied would have been less than what has been charged. The loan itself plus the interest which would have been due should have been paid. She should have been getting annual statements from SLC due to it not being repaid.

This is an ongoing problem for SLC as the information people gave between different years did not match due to Local Education Authority doing the processing.

CLAPTON

Poolie wrote: »

All you can do is put a complaint into SLC and ask for the interest to be recalculated based on the fact the accounts were not linked. They should look at the whole balance and the fact that the interest applied would have been less than what has been charged. The loan itself plus the interest which would have been due should have been paid. She should have been getting annual statements from SLC due to it not being repaid.

This is an ongoing problem for SLC as the information people gave between different years did not match due to Local Education Authority doing the processing.

why would the interest have been less if the a/cs had been linked?

BristolBob

CLAPTON wrote: »

why would the interest have been less if the a/cs had been linked?

Because she would have been reducing the amount of the loan every month? Therefore, the interest AMOUNT would have been less.

Poolie

Repayments are only be made to accounts which are linked together at one time as it is based on the National Insurance Number.

As BristolBob said if it was linked then the interest each month would have been less as some of the capital on the third loan would have been clearing.