A word of warning to English students about SLC Loan Payments!

Savvy_Sue

NaomidislikesCambridge wrote: »

I'm not sure whether anyone is aware of this but you HAVE TO start paying back the student loan even if you earn less than £15,000 a year. It's something to think about.

Really? Are you sure you're not confusing it with the fact that the interest starts accruing before you're earning - actually from the moment it leaves their bank account!

Lokolo

You are right Sue. You do not have to start paying it back if you are on under £15000 a year.

Taking from the direct.gov website:

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You don’t start paying back your loans until you reach the repayment threshold. This means that you will begin making repayments when your gross earnings are more than:

• £1,250 a month; or
• £288 a week

If you are paid at different intervals – for example, fortnightly or every four weeks – these figures are adjusted in line with the annual threshold (£15,000 per year).

---

Hope this clarify's things.

Also it states that the idea is that the loan is a non profit loan. But they don't say that its for them its no profit. I have taken my student loan, put it in an ISA and I am planning to for the next 3 years (first year atm, course it 4 years). Hopefully I can use this as a down payment on my first house or I may just save it for the long haul.

emgormley

Hanniebis wrote: »

Hi all, I'm a 4th year English student studying in Scotland. I just thought I'd provide a word of warning to English students:

I received my Payment Schedule, as usual, before the start of the year, saying that my 3 installments would be paid in September, November and February of this acedemic year.

A couple of weeks ago, however, a friend of mine, also English, received an amended Payment Schedule; however, I had not. Out of sheer paranoia, I contacted the SLC a couple of times and finally got a reply. They told me that my Payment Schedule had also changed - my second two payments are now the end of December and beginning of April! They had NOT notified me of this by email, telephone or letter, and I only received official notification when I demanded a revised Payment Schedule be sent to me.

Basically, if I hadn't been lucky enough to hear about it from someone else, I would never have known my schedule had changed. I would have got no loan installment in November, and thus would have been without money for over a month and a half - unable to pay for day-to-day living OR for my rent installments to my University. As a result, I am on a very, very tight budget now, trying to make what money I have left last until January and still be able to pay for some of my rent.

If you believe your next loan installment is before the end of December, please check with the SLC that this is definitely the case. I am extremely angry that they changed when my loan payments would go in by over a month in both cases well after the academic year had begun (especially as in Scotland teaching begins at the beginning of September!). I'm even more angry at the fact that they didn't inform me about it.

On a side note.. I've also had other problems with them this year in that they informed my Uni I was to pay £600 tuition fees. After a lot of firm emails/calls to various people I finally discovered that there had been a mistake in the assessment and that I didn't have to pay the Uni anything at all. But how ridiculous and stressful - and NO apology from the SLC, yet again.

Is anyone else having these kinds of problems, either with loan payment dates or tuition fee assessments? I've had problems with the SLC in the past but this year it's been ridiculous!

In all of my four years i have been told that my student loan is out in october, january and april. I am in my fourth year in scotland (and I am english)
So maybe it is an individual circumstances.
Lat year was my only problem with SLC - they didn't send me a form to sign after i enrolled online. Then a computer glitch meant they didn't send me one for 6 consecutive attempts! :mad:

Hanniebis

emgormley wrote: »

In all of my four years i have been told that my student loan is out in october, january and april. I am in my fourth year in scotland (and I am english)
So maybe it is an individual circumstances.
Lat year was my only problem with SLC - they didn't send me a form to sign after i enrolled online. Then a computer glitch meant they didn't send me one for 6 consecutive attempts! :mad:

That's amazing.. which Uni do you go to? I'm at Stirling and me and all of my English friends have been messed around this year a lot. And ahh.. computer glitches! I've had a few of those with the SLC recently.. :rolleyes:

galaxynicole

Lokolo wrote: »

Also it states that the idea is that the loan is a non profit loan. But they don't say that its for them its no profit. I have taken my student loan, put it in an ISA and I am planning to for the next 3 years (first year atm, course it 4 years). Hopefully I can use this as a down payment on my first house or I may just save it for the long haul.

That's what I did. Now, I'm in the process of buying a house with part of my student loan and my own savings as I worked many hours through uni.