Student Finance - £3,000 Grant Overpayment

lana8

Hello,

Im after some advice regarding grant overpayments.
I have been informed that I was overpaid £3, 000 during the academic year 12/13 and have been told that the full amount will be deducted from my grant entitlement this academic year, resulting in financial strain.I have contacted student finance england on numerous occasions to see if I can repay the amount over the next three years of studying, meaning only £1, 000 would be deducted each year.
They still have not responded to this letter so I contacted them today, I was on the phone for nearly 4 hours, trying to sort this out and I have got nowhere. The last adviser I spoke to said there is nothing that can be done about it as the amount has already been deducted from 13/14 grant entitlement. This is confusing as I recieved an e-mail this morning, again explaining how the full £3, 000 would be deducted this year but also stating that 'if I feel this would put a strain on my finances and studies call the grant overpayment department to discuss repayment'.
Is there anybody who knows if I have a right to repay the amount over the next three years of my studies or have I no choice but to pay it all in one year. I have been going round in circles with student finance, they have not been very helpful at all.

Thank you.

aylesby

After months of waiting for Student Finance to use the information I have sent them on three occasions to correct their assumptions I find I have to make a complaint.
Trouble is I have no confidence that SF will respond within their stated timescale.

devildog

lana8 wrote: »

Hello,

Im after some advice regarding grant overpayments.
I have been informed that I was overpaid £3, 000 during the academic year 12/13 and have been told that the full amount will be deducted from my grant entitlement this academic year, resulting in financial strain.I have contacted student finance england on numerous occasions to see if I can repay the amount over the next three years of studying, meaning only £1, 000 would be deducted each year.
They still have not responded to this letter so I contacted them today, I was on the phone for nearly 4 hours, trying to sort this out and I have got nowhere. The last adviser I spoke to said there is nothing that can be done about it as the amount has already been deducted from 13/14 grant entitlement. This is confusing as I recieved an e-mail this morning, again explaining how the full £3, 000 would be deducted this year but also stating that 'if I feel this would put a strain on my finances and studies call the grant overpayment department to discuss repayment'.
Is there anybody who knows if I have a right to repay the amount over the next three years of my studies or have I no choice but to pay it all in one year. I have been going round in circles with student finance, they have not been very helpful at all.

Thank you.

In short, Student Finance do have the right to recover the overpaid amount in a later academic year however the regs also state that the reason should be looked at as to why you were overpaid(your fault for not giving all info or theirs due to an internal error) and these circumstances should also reflect in the most appropriate means of recovery.

SFE should always carry out the re-assessment even when the

overpayment has resulted from an internal error. The circumstance that

caused the overpayment to arise should be taken into consideration when

negotiating the most appropriate method of recovery where the student is

unable to make repayment in full. SLC will negotiate the recovery of the

overpaid amount on a case by case basis and in line with BIS guidelines

You say you haven't got anywhere with Student Finance, maybe you should call Student Loans Co and see if they will negotiate repayment with you.

TerryMI5

Same thing happened to me, apparently over paid for some apparent reason they would not entail, which is now being deducted from this years student finance money.
Still can't understand it, my situation has not changed whatsoever!

Erinnire

I wouldn't hold your breathe and prepare to tighten your belt. My BF has been battling with SF for two years over mistakes they made in 11/12 so they took all his SF in 12/13 until today when they have finally paid him over £6000 that they wrongly took from him. It's taken over a year with SF and about 7 months in a complaint to get somewhere and he is finally but slowly getting sorted.

They are still going to take £4500 off him this year for a supposed overpayment that doesn't exist....

The best way to get anywhere is to put a complaint in ASAP you should get a dedicated case handler. BF's is very good albeit rather slow!

Also you can apply for the Access to Learning Fund through your university if you are struggling.

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

Awful isn't it? All low income students are encouraged not to worry about finance - they will get all they need via SFE and via the university - it may come from different pots (i.e grant or loan or scholarship etc.) but when it arrives (after you've actually started!) it will be enough if you discipline yourself, and eventually you will just pay a graduate tax. No student knows what to expect versus what they will receive as grant/extra support/loan/whatever so when it arrives it is indeed either the blessing promised or more likely turns out to be the struggle some will have feared, with some roughing it ahead.

In actual fact, via the reporting of examples like the one in this thread, where SFE/SLC (haven't really a clue what the difference is/was) make a mistake / make a retrospective adverse judgement on your entitlement, we discover that through no fault of your own you might instantly be expected (when least expecting it) to shoulder a wholly outrageous rebalancing of their books with absolutely no compunction about FFFing up yours. The best you are then encouraged to expect is some unquantified retrograde and probably token compassion for your situation after they have stuffed up your meagre budget entirely.

They are behaving like a bank. Maybe you should treat them like a bank and get Stepchange.org to negotiate repayment at some token £1.50 per week which as it happens is not an arbitrary amount but is exactly half what someone I know who got into £6,000 debt with his bank is now paying back courtesy of negotiations via Stepchange.org. Stepchange used to be called CCCS (Consumer Credit Counselling Service). They prioritise your outgoings i.e. accommodation and food first - other creditors like lenders come way way down the list and will likely be also encouraged to freeze further interest as well as be told to whistle for any onerous levels of repayment.

How about that then for a solution? Why should SFE/SLC get away with such a cavalier approach to rectifying anomalies like this when banks cannot once you get charitable experts on your side?

Or maybe students are second class citizens to be whipped into shape by a monopoly banker/lender (e.g. SFE) and not entitled to charitable treatment of the type which actually DOES get you out of a hole?

Taiko

The difference being SFE is underpinned by legislation on this. A bank isn't to the same extent.

The OP has failed to tell us why this overpayment has happened. They should have received a notification as to why, and without that we're just guessing.

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

Taiko wrote: »

The difference being SFE is underpinned by legislation on this. A bank isn't to the same extent.

It does rather sound as if you may be arguing that the reported example of impropriety of this particular lender against their captive market has been legitimised by statute?

I've described grants and scholarships as "cashback". The OPs story sounds a bit like Quidco notifying that they have incorrectly paid hundreds in cashback and have now, despite having tracked and verified it all previously, and paid it, have now changed their mind and used the paying in bank mandate in reverse and snatched it all back? The original contract (the loan) still stands of course except with no way back and no cashback.

The OP has failed to tell us why this overpayment has happened. They should have received a notification as to why, and without that we're just guessing.

Are you alluding to some impropriety on the part of the student now, and some ensuing deserved severe hardship or penalty, Taiko?

This really is all a bit much. These are young people with no income whose lives are being messed with. These are people have been urged to fulfill their destinies as "valued" future citizens of a highly developed country initially through higher education. Their assigned task upon reaching the square on the board that contains their A level grades is then to go straight to university and "do not pass Go". It is to fill in forms containing their bank details for the sole purpose of receiving windfalls of support without blinking. Thus most of them have never had any income of their own (they dutifully bypassed "Go" and went straight to grotty digs in Old Kent Road).

And now you are saying that protection of .... (what exactly ?) ... is more important than their continued well-being as players in this particular game?

I just cannot understand how you have no compunction but to single out a storyteller like the OP and suggest that clearly we have a bad egg.

I am sorry, but the stink is all from the Tuition Fee/Student Loan system - not from the unfortunate great unwashed that have no option but to put up with it and perhaps mark a "D" for Duress on sundry associated paperwork.

devildog

Taiko isn't suggesting we have a 'bad egg' he is clearly stating that we do not know the full reason why there has been an overpayment and based on the reason there may be options for repayment.

Don't get me wrong, I hate Student Finance and their incompetences and have had nothing but grief off of them for 4 years!

Taiko knows the system and provides valuable assistance here.

lana8

I took a leave of absence half way through the academic year, SF were made aware of this and they continued to pay me. My University told me that during my absence I was still a student of the university so SF may continue my payments whilst I was on leave.

My point to SF and SLC is that I have no problem paying the money back if it is rightfully owed, I just want to spread the amount over the next 3 years, this would not have such a negative affect on myself and my son. This year will be a struggle if it is not possible to spread the amount.

devildog

lana8 wrote: »

I took a leave of absence half way through the academic year, SF were made aware of this and they continued to pay me. My University told me that during my absence I was still a student of the university so SF may continue my payments whilst I was on leave.

My point to SF and SLC is that I have no problem paying the money back if it is rightfully owed, I just want to spread the amount over the next 3 years, this would not have such a negative affect on myself and my son. This year will be a struggle if it is not possible to spread the amount.

I guess they could look at it two ways, that they made an error because they continued to pay you or that you knew you weren't entitled to that money so shouldn't have spent it (they did the same to my youngest too)

Have you tried speaking to Student Loans Co in Glasgow direct?
I have found that they are more 'human' than SFE