Please help - student finance overpayment demand

Jamie8713

Hi all, I really need advice on this situation.

I graduated from university in 2012. Since then I have heard absolutely nothing from Student Finance other than my yearly loan statement.

Today I received a letter - 4 years later! which states that I owe £1500 in overpayment of grants. I can't figure out why this is, and feel (know) there has been a mistake somewhere - perhaps with my childcare grant - but as I no longer have records of what I paid to my childminder there is no way I can prove it. I have been given to the end of this week to come up with the balance or a suitable offer.

I know for a fact that I paid my childminder more than I was given in grants, because I calculated everything at the time I finished my studies.

Please advice, I am completely lost!

debtdawg

I had the same, plus their figures change constantly. I'm paying off £20 per month, apparently I owe £3k odd. I can't prove/disprove them as the 'debt' is several years old, I provided all invoices from the childcare provider and they provided invoices upon request, but apparently there was an overpayment (even though I paid more than what their grants were anyway too!).

Jamie8713

debtdawg wrote: »

I had the same, plus their figures change constantly. I'm paying off £20 per month, apparently I owe £3k odd. I can't prove/disprove them as the 'debt' is several years old, I provided all invoices from the childcare provider and they provided invoices upon request, but apparently there was an overpayment (even though I paid more than what their grants were anyway too!).

Thank you, at least I know I'm not alone!

I'm going to assume that they will not admit any fault at their end, so I am completely stuck. Can I ask how you negotiated repayment? Will they allow me to pay in small instalments? I am a single mother of 3, and there is no way I can afford to produce £1500 out of a hat by the end of next week!

sourcrates

Hi,

Try to relax, they may ask for the money back in one go, dosent mean there gonna get it !!

Request a statement of account from them (I'm not to sure how these type of grants work) but one thing I am sure of, is that no one can just demand money from you without providing any proof of what you owe, when asked to do so.

Ask them to provide you with proof of how the overpayment occurred, do everything in writing so you have evidence.

See what they come back to you with.

If it turns out you do owe the money, you just repay it at a rate you can afford, determined by you, no one else.
Don't feel pressured into paying more than you can afford, that's why this forum is here, to help you !!

Jamie8713

sourcrates wrote: »

Hi,

Try to relax, they may ask for the money back in one go, dosent mean there gonna get it !!

Request a statement of account from them (I'm not to sure how these type of grants work) but one thing I am sure of, is that no one can just demand money from you without providing any proof of what you owe, when asked to do so.

Ask them to provide you with proof of how the overpayment occurred, do everything in writing so you have evidence.

See what they come back to you with.

If it turns out you do owe the money, you just repay it at a rate you can afford, determined by you, no one else.
Don't feel pressured into paying more than you can afford, that's why this forum is here, to help you !!

Thank you, I will call them as soon as they open on Monday, I just feel so annoyed as I am sure I do not owe this money

sourcrates

Jamie8713 wrote: »

Thank you, I will call them as soon as they open on Monday, I just feel so annoyed as I am sure I do not owe this money

No no no no, don't call them.

Send them a letter, always tackle anything to do with debt in writing so you have a paper tail, and evidence of what's been said and done.

Jamie8713

sourcrates wrote: »

No no no no, don't call them.

Send them a letter, always tackle anything to do with debt in writing so you have a paper tail, and evidence of what's been said and done.

Thank you I will write to them as soon as I can, and update the thread with my results. Hopefully there is some kind of positive (ish) resolution.

January2015

I would do a data protection request, not just a statement of account. That way they will have to provide you with copies of what you originally provided them re. childminding payments. You may have to pay £10 for this, but I think it would be worth it.

Edit: I would also notify the department chasing you that as soon as data protection information provided and you are able to see evidence of the debt owed, you will negotiate an affordable repayment schedule.

timefortea

Depending on where you went, your university may be able to advise you too. I work in the funding office of a university and when I've been contacted by previous students with issues like this we've dealt with it together. If there's someone in the uni who is a member of NASMA they should be able to help you, try searching here: http://www.nasma.org.uk/Contacts-Links/Institution-Contacts/

andyfromotley

Yup,

tell them that you do not agree that you were overpaid and they must prove to your satisfaction that you were. This is not being awkward, its simply your right to know why someone wants £1500 off you!

BRtelg

Jamie8713 wrote: »

Hi all, I really need advice on this situation.

I graduated from university in 2012. Since then I have heard absolutely nothing from Student Finance other than my yearly loan statement.

Today I received a letter - 4 years later! which states that I owe £1500 in overpayment of grants. I can't figure out why this is, and feel (know) there has been a mistake somewhere - perhaps with my childcare grant - but as I no longer have records of what I paid to my childminder there is no way I can prove it. I have been given to the end of this week to come up with the balance or a suitable offer.

I know for a fact that I paid my childminder more than I was given in grants, because I calculated everything at the time I finished my studies.

Please advice, I am completely lost!

Hi Jamie8713

I too have had a similar situation - I finished university in 2009 and heard nothing from student loans apart from my yearly statement, until a few months ago when they sent me a letter stating they had 'reassessed my account' and decided I had been overpaid £1600 in a grant. I have been battling with them as I had a letter about it back in 2008 - I was overpaid the grant in the 2007/2008 study year so i'm not disputing that - but my father paid the full £1600 back shortly after receiving the letter in 2008. However, he has since passed away and all his bank accounts etc have been closed well over 2 years ago & all his old receipts and documents are gone! So we are in the process of trying to get statements for these closed accounts. I rang them & explained the above and they have put the account on hold to give me time to get the statements or evidence to prove it was paid. It may be worth asking them to put the account on hold for now so they don't keep sending letters to you every week. They have been very reasonable so far. Or like others have said, if you genuinely have been overpaid then they will allow you to set up a monthly payment plan so it doesn't need to be paid all at once.
I cannot for the life of me work out why it has taken then almost 8 years to supposedly 'reassess the account' and come back to me about it though.