Deferred but SLC still took money

Scoobysnacks · 27 April 2013 at 5:29PM

I deferred my student loans for this year but had a letter dated 14 April saying they would be taking payment starting 25 April. This letter arrived on the same day that I recieved my returned bank statement from them showing that I am on income support.

I phoned them immediately and they said my deferment had gone through ok and that this letter had just crossed over at the same time so to ignore it. I asked if the money would come out of my account and they said no.

However, today I have been notified by my bank that they have authorised a payment to SLC which has now made me overdrawn. I only had £10 in my account and £100 overdraft. But this payment was for £143.10. So not only has my £100 overdraft been used but now having gone over that, I am using an 'unauthorised overdraft' which costs £5 a day.

I will phone them tomorrow but does anyone know what my chances are of getting this money back and for them to also pay the bank charges back that I have now incurred? I have no money whatsoever and am worried about the £5 charge a day.

Also, will this affect my credit rating due to my over my overdraft? If so, what do I do about that?

amiehall · 27 April 2013 at 8:16PM

Call your bank immediately and tell them the payment is unauthorised. Claim a refund under the Direct Debit guarantee. The money will be returned to your account immediately and you should not be charged. You should then cancel the DD. You can then resolve matters with SLC at your convenience.

Scoobysnacks · 29 April 2013 at 7:32PM

Thanks for your help amiehall. My bank said the only thing they could do was to cancel the £5 per day charges which they could only do once I was back within my overdraft. They told me to speak to SLC.

The SLC said that they had made an error but I will have to wait until 27 May before they can process it all and then I will have to wait 4 working days to get my money back. Apparently, even though they told me I had successfully deferred, my application wasn't processed properly and they have put it down to human error. They said as for bank charges, I would have to write to them with proof of the charges, then they would decide whether to pay me for them or not.

So I have borrowed money £140 today off family and have paid it in to my bank. Just need to decide if its best to have my bank cancel the charges (I believe they will only do this once) or whether to keep them on my record and get SLC to pay for them. The charges are £25.

amiehall · 29 April 2013 at 10:08PM

You said the wrong thing to your bank then. Don't complicate it with ANY information about the circumstances. Say the words "X payment is unauthorised, I want to make a claim under the direct debit guarantee" and nothing else. They are obliged to reverse the transaction.