Student Loan Statement

Zammo76

Has anyone got their Student Loan Statement for last year?

I'm trying to get mine as I'm hoping to clear the remaining balance on my student loan, which I've been paying off since I graduated in 2002.

14 years to pay off £16k

silvercar

Zammo76 wrote: »

Has anyone got their Student Loan Statement for last year?

I'm trying to get mine as I'm hoping to clear the remaining balance on my student loan, which I've been paying off since I graduated in 2002.

14 years to pay off £16k

Would be interesting to see the amount you have paid in total vs. the original size of the loan.

Zammo76

It'd depress me too much to work out!

All I know is that every month they take out about £120+

I feel sorry for my brothers kids they are lumbered with £30K student debts.

This government really is trying to turn back the clock and make it only an option for the rich to go to University.

silvercar

If you are near the end you should go on the website and check what is owed. They only update once a year for payments up to the end of the financial year. So you could find you are paying for months after you have completed the payback.

bambinaUK

Mine arrived this morning.
I will finish paying it in November, so I am considering ringing them up and just paying off the balance.
It will save me a small amount of interest.

Zammo76

Where abouts do you live in the UK Bambina, I'm based in London so I don't know if the area dictates when you receive your statement?

The Student Loans company seem to think they can't issue a statement until HMRC have sent them a letter saying how much you've paid in the tax year. But HMRC don't seem to be in any particular rush to do this. TBH the whole setup stinks and is just a way to keep people in servitude and debt.

bambinaUK

Im in Lancashire, don't know if the location makes a difference or not.
Since I last posted I have had a promotion and will be getting a signficant payrise, so my first pay day next month im going to ring them and see how easy it is to pay off the balance.

Zammo76

I rang the Student Loans Company about this and they gave the usual spiel about how they can't send me an updated statement until HMRC sends them by payments for the tax year. I pointed out to them that the tax year ended in April so how comes they haven't sent me a statement, they replied that it wasn't their fault and was the fault of HMRC. Because of this I am getting charged interest on a balance of over £4500 instead of around £2200, which by workings out is my outstanding loan.

In the end I rang HMRC and explained the situation to them, they checked into it and found that they had sent the payment details to the Student Loans Company in June. The adviser there then rang the Student Loans Company and was able to find out that they will be sending me an updated statement on the 9th September, so basically 5 months after the Tax Year ended!

The whole process of how Student Loans operate is IMO intentionally confusing and open for abuse so the Student Loans Company can keep people in debt longer and reap more financial reward for themselves. How this has been allowed to go on this long beggars belief!

Lokolo

When they update they recalculate the interest, so you wouldn't be losing out on anything.

The last 2 years I have had my statement in late October, my housemate had his last month. They can't do everyone's at once, they do them in batches at a time.

If you are close to paying it off (i.e. less than 2 years), you should have already rung them on and gone on Direct Debit scheme. That is what I did in May. Every month when my Direct Debit comes out, my balance updates automatically reducing the amount owed.

In all honesty I have not found it that difficult.

Zammo76

From my experience its been a nightmare, I find the Student Loans Company to be difficult to deal with, their website doesn't work properly, I seem to get very irregular statements and the whole process is overly complicated. How can you have a loan but you can't find out what you owe until the end of the tax then an additional five months from that date for someone to add up a few totals? Its inexcusable.

Thankfully I should be able to clear the loan by October of 2017, I'll give switching my payments to direct debit a shot, cheers.

Zammo76

Still no sign of my student loan statement, despite assurances that I'd get it on the 9th September. This really is starting to take the mick, how the hell am I supposed to get an updated statement?