Student Loans...

jungle_jeff

All this talk of claiming bank charges got me thinking.

I'm in the process of hopefully clawing back some bank charges from an account I closed back in Summer 2005. However, these charges got so big because while I was out of the UK my Student Loan Company had agreed to stop taking out loan repayments until I started earning again and I returned, but they started taking out money again shortly after I left.

As I had no money in (or coming into) my current account while out of the UK when the SLC randomly started taking money that wasn't there out of my account again after 2 months of my trip abroad they started levying massive charges against me and sending out letters at £25 a head. Obviously I didn't know any of this until I returned. At this point due to the fact I didn't have the money in my account to pay for these transactions I ended up getting charged twice (by SLC for not paying the money and by the bank for SLC actually trying to take the money when I didn't have it!!!) SLC continued attempting to take the money out but obviously it wasn't there so I got charged still more by the bank for them trying yet again.

When I arrived back in the UK and discovered all these letters and charges and the joy of having no job I thought long and hard about just leaving again and not coming back!! Anyway after borrowing a large sum of money off my parents who couldn't really afford it and friends I managed to pay the charges off and suspend my student loan until I got a job earning enough money and closed my current account with that bank. It was hard enough to actually open another current account with anyone as my credit rating had become so shocking.

To say I was mad was an understatement - I felt like I had been completely stitched up by the Student Loans Company. But anyway, this long post was just wondering if anyone knew if there was or is any similar method of claiming back any charges from SLC. I spoke to Citizens Advice Bureau who advised writing a snotty letter to the Managing Director of the company but after I heard nothing back I just decided that I would have to write the money off to a very expensive life experience!

Any ideas anyone....?

beefturnmail

Write a formal complaint to the SLC. They will have to respond. If they don't respond satisfactorily threaten to escalate the complaint and take it to the ombudsman if necessary. Be prepared for a long fight though, IMHO the SLC are numerous four-letter words.

jungle_jeff

Thanks.

There seem to be quite alot of people who have had problems with the SLC so I was intrigued to find out how they're still getting away with it. The biggest problem seems to be that you speak to one person who tells you one thing and then 2 dyas later you get a letter stating something completely different and the person you spoke to on the phone seems untraceable.

beefturnmail

Yes, that's certainly true from my experience! Don't bother calling, just write to them, but even then you often get a non-sensical reply. I only really got a resolution to my issue, when i started threatening them, as obviously then it got passed on to someone senior who knows what they're talking about rather than some temporary monkey.