Issues with student finance England

angelcake89

I'm having issues with student finance England and I'm now very worried (almost certain) that I won't get any money on time.

I put my application in in March and all evidence etc was sent by April. I heard nothing from them so started periodically chasing it by June and all through July. I phoned on the 1st of April to be told I had to wait for a few weeks and then check again. This prompted a complaint being put in because obviously it is getting closer and closer to term starting. When I put the complaint in I was told I needed a change of circumstances task sent by the university. They sent this 10 days ago electronically yet student finance are saying they haven't received it yet it took for me to complain to be told there was an issue with the course code.

By the time my complaint has had time to be looked at it will be the 22/23rd of August which is obviously getting closer to term starting again.

I'm getting very stressed as Student finance are fobbing me off telling me to chase the uni (who have done what was asked) and essentially telling me just to wait. I'm a single parent with two children who will be going into childcare come September so I can't afford to keep waiting and it not arrive.

At the minute if this continues I'll be looking at an overpayment from housing benefit as I can't send them details of my loans/grants until they arrive as well as not having the money to pay for my childcare or cover stuff like insurances or buy food.

I'm really at a loss of what to do I can't keep waiting but I've already had to spend out over £10 calling student finance and I'm harassing the university who can't really do anything further.

If anyone has any advice on what I can do to help the situation I'd really appreciate it.

gemnomnom

angelcake89 wrote: »

I'm having issues with student finance England and I'm now very worried (almost certain) that I won't get any money on time.

I put my application in in March and all evidence etc was sent by April. I heard nothing from them so started periodically chasing it by June and all through July. I phoned on the 1st of April to be told I had to wait for a few weeks and then check again. This prompted a complaint being put in because obviously it is getting closer and closer to term starting. When I put the complaint in I was told I needed a change of circumstances task sent by the university. They sent this 10 days ago electronically yet student finance are saying they haven't received it yet it took for me to complain to be told there was an issue with the course code.

By the time my complaint has had time to be looked at it will be the 22/23rd of August which is obviously getting closer to term starting again.

I'm getting very stressed as Student finance are fobbing me off telling me to chase the uni (who have done what was asked) and essentially telling me just to wait. I'm a single parent with two children who will be going into childcare come September so I can't afford to keep waiting and it not arrive.

At the minute if this continues I'll be looking at an overpayment from housing benefit as I can't send them details of my loans/grants until they arrive as well as not having the money to pay for my childcare or cover stuff like insurances or buy food.

I'm really at a loss of what to do I can't keep waiting but I've already had to spend out over £10 calling student finance and I'm harassing the university who can't really do anything further.

If anyone has any advice on what I can do to help the situation I'd really appreciate it.

Hi there. Sorry you're having such a nightmare with student finance. I find it such a ball ache too. I can't really help apart from to say keep a list of what you're spending trying to sort this out and then at the end, file a complaint. It is an independent company which sorts it out and they're good iirc. There could be the possibility of compensation.

Also, try "say no to 0870" to get the same number but for free!

Finally, does your uni have a union? They will be able to help - including hardship grants if it comes to it.

Best of luck

angelcake89

Thank you. I'm going insane with this at the minute I just keep speaking to everyone and getting no where.

It's really ruining the last summer holiday before my eldest starts school too. Due to being a single parent I'm only getting half the time with him as his Dad has decided to get more heavily involved (obviously not complaining it's fantastic for the both of them).

I've put in an official complaint in a complete rage after one of the advisors sighed down the phone at me. I just don't know what to do with them any more.

Lavender13

angelcake89,

When one of our children first applied for student finance it was taking a very long time to complete. Telephoning gave us a different response every time and was very confusing.
So we wrote down all of the details they could possibly need, like national insurance number,names, contact details, student number, dates that evidence was received by them and the question "what information did they need to progress the application?", and could they be specific i.e. evidence P60 needed for year 20** from Mr Dad rather than request "evidence from supporter 1" as that was too vague. We also recorded the letter, so that we had evidence. The application was sorted within 2 weeks and was evident on line ( written confirmation took about a week longer)