Student Loans Repayment from Abroad and effectivly 'off the gird'

Artikai

Hi,

I was paying off my student loan slowly but surely through the tax I was paying. Then two years ago I went travelling the world. One year ago I settled in Indonesia - I have decided to stay for the forseeable future. My parents address is still on the SLC accounts and they've just got a letter telling that I have to inform them of income with proof in the country I am in otherwise I may face penalties/fines and tracking down recuperation costs.

So heres the thing. I live a very modest lifestyle here and what little I earn is all cash in hand. I cannot afford the work visa (at around £2000 it is many months wages), but I can still live here 'under the radar'. So Indonesian legalities aside does anyone have any advice on what I might tell the student loans company as I have no proof of any earnings for two years, infact I have no proof of address here even as the transient lifestyle means I move every few months, so I've never need it. I'm totally off the grid in many ways but I want to keep good relations with the SLC. I will call them tomorrow but I'm not sure of the best way to go about providing them with anything (as I really have nothing). Anyone else been in a similar situation? What did you do?

Thanks for your help.

Voyager2002

Remember that Monday (27 May) is a bank holiday.

You will just have to ask your employer to give you a letter or whatever documentation is possible.

I hope you understand that your present way of living is not sustainable: since you are in the country illegally, none of your insurance is valid so if you fall off a motorbike you are on your own when it comes to paying hospital bills. And the contempt you are showing for the laws of your host country will make things more difficult for anyone in the future who wants to work or live there.

bernsteingirl

Not going to judge you on living illegally in Indonesia... but.. I sympathise with the SLC issue. I have been overseas for most of the decade since graduating and I felt as if SLC were constantly chasing me up, and hated this sense of being expected to fit in a box with a conventional lifestyle, regular income etc. I have been fairly nomadic (3 countries a year, normally), with no dates set in stone, a portfolio of temp jobs, very small earnings from self-employed online working etc which made it really hard to give any concrete information. When I could give them income info etc, they at least left me alone until my circumstances changed because I never earned over the threshold in my countries. If you're 'poor' over there, you won't have to pay back any loan, but if you can't prove it with documents, maybe you could try explaining that you're living a nomadic lifestyle, travelling and subsisting? I don't see how they can question that.