SLC/Thesis Deferment problem

CraftyHall

My loans are from the nineties and have been sold to Thesis - and another company whose name escapes me for the moment.

I applied to defer but have been told more proof is needed this year. The only change in circs is that I no longer receive DLA (my PIP application was denied, but I hope to appeal). There is no deadline on the letter and I am terrified they will take money out of my account (which would leave me unable to pay for lessons/activities our children go to).

I do not work and have no income. Unsurprisingly they have now said as my only income is child benefit (which is ringfenced by me for their needs) how am I being supported?

My husband works full-time, pays for the mortgage, bills and food etc. However, I have no agency over what his salary is spent on. If I need anything other than housing/food, eg clothes, I need to a) ask, and b) justify the expense. There is no money I can call my own.

What do I need to supply as evidence? Can I just write a letter explaining the above - husband would provide a home for our children and food whether I was here or not. The SLC letter has made me feel completely worthless - as if I have no value because I'm not earning (tricky as I teach our SN child all day, every day - and my disability makes paid work almost impossible). I have wondered if I should move out if I'm perceived as a burden. I imagine I could get a three month printout from the Bank of all my incomings (which would be very short).

Do I need to get a letter signed by my husband to state that he controls his earnings? Can they request information on what he earns even though it is not his debt but mine? Will I have to hand over the child benefit?

I'm hoping to return to full-time education next year (health and children permitting) and am getting quite stressed working out where/if we send our eldest to school. I don't need this extra hassle but don't have the money to pay them.

I know there has been a Mumsnet thread about this, which I thought linked to a MSE thread, but I'm not sure where to find it. If you know of it, please put a link below.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Arleen

Your husband is not responsible for your debts, so they have no interest in his salary. They also cannot lay hands on child benefits. He can, of course, offer to give you money to make the payments, as this debt will not go away, but that is between the two of you.

As your debt situation is a bit complicated, you may want to contact one of the debt charities, stepchange for example, as they will be able to advise you best.

CraftyHall

Forgot to add my name is on the mortgage - although I've not contributed to it yet. When I earned over the threshold I was paying off my student loan. That was a long time ago and I am unlikely to ever earn that much again.

I think husband wanted me on the mortgage to make it easier to transfer things if anything happens to him, and if I can return to work (even if below the SLC threshold) I will contribute.

Does this mean I need to come off the mortgage? Could they make us sell it to pay them - as it's a joint asset, even though all money paid into it so far has come solely from husband?

Arleen

The fact that you have join ownership of the house makes it much worse for you. To explain, when you have no assets and no income then there is nothing to take from you. And then it's on the loan company who made a "wrong decision" (in a strict business sense, please don't take it in any way personally) when they've given out that loan.

But when you have assets, they potentially can come after them. So please contact stepchange: https://www.stepchange.org/ as soon as possible and speak with them about your options. It's unlikely that you can just "come off" the mortgage, so get all the help you can get before making any decisions. I am not sure if they actually can come after goods if this was an old fashion student loan (i don't think so, but can't say for sure), but the great people at stepchange will.

System

Arleen wrote: »

But when you have assets, they potentially can come after them.

I would point that fact out to your husband especially as he sounds quite selfish if you have to justify asking him for money for basics such as clothing. My wife doesn't work, I wouldn't dream of asking her what she spends the money on, I trust her to be sensible.

Lungboy

CraftyHall wrote: »

My loans are from the nineties and have been sold to Thesis - and another company whose name escapes me for the moment.

I applied to defer but have been told more proof is needed this year.

Was the other company Erudio? Who did you apply to to defer?