Student Loan Repayment - Abroad

nicolac34

I'm currently living in Australia and have been for the past 18 months.

Last year in November I submitted the overseas assessment form to declare my income and the repayment schedule came back at £41 per month. I paid this in one lump sum for the whole year.

This November I completed the overseas assessment form again and sent it back and they've come back with a repayment schedule of £364 per month.

Now I'm stuck.

I'm currently supporting my husband as he is out of work, so it's just my wage coming in, we have no other savings. We completed his assessment form stating I was supporting him and he doesn't have to repay anything - which is good and what we expected.

The issue is I just cannot afford £364 per month out of my salary here to repay the loan, it works out to be 10% of my take home pay, which if my husband was working would be a pain, but not impossible.

My question is really - do you think SLC will be understanding and accept a lower repayment? Should I not pay and wait until they chase me? Can I just delay and pay the balance in full later in the year as long as it's in the same 'payment year'?

My intention is to pay the balance in full when my husband gets a job as it is only at £2,500 so isn't a huge amount - I just don't know when that's going to be.

I'm supposed to make my first £364 repayment in 7 days time and at the moment I'm going to have to put it on the credit card

Herzlos

I think you'll need to phone and talk to them, they will probably be able to come to some arrangement.

bengalknights

Give them a call they will make a agreement most likely something lower

CLAPTON

how have they calculated 364 per month?

that seems very high how much do you earn?

somethingcorporate

£364 per month is a massive salary, £65k+ per annum - is this correct? It should not be 10% of your take home pay but 9% of everything over £1,250 per month (iirc).

I don't think you can negotiate with them I am afraid but you need to make sure you have both got your calculations correct.

nicolac34

Thanks for the replies, I've sent them a fax outlining that I can't afford that repayment amount and could we come to some other arrangment that will see me clear my loan over the next 12 months in a more managable way. I find it works to get things down on paper rather than phoning them from here.

I earn $91,000 which at todays exchange rate is £59,041. My take home from that is $5,700 per month (£3,698) so the £364 ($561) is approx 9.84% of my take-home.

It does seem that they haven't really factored in the now high cost of living in Australia since the £ has dropped significantly against the $. Used to be £1 = $2.50 now it's more like £1 = $1.50. I'm not suggesting my salary is low, just when you factor in $2,000 per month in rent, utilities at $200 per month, the food shop for the two of us is $200 a week (and that's being careful!) other expenses and bills such as the car etc are another $500 a month it all adds up. They don't call Perth one of the most expensive places to live for nothing!

Like I said, I'm not against paying, it's just a lot for me to manage right now.