My old Student Loan now is with Link Financial

lightsaver

Hello all. I have provided some detail and background here to possibly avoid any questions that may need to be asked if I were to simply post a question without any background. Those who may be able to help would reasonably ask for further information before they might be able to provide an informed answer. I hope that the bakcground will cover that.

I have a relative who has old student loan. The last time they were in higher education was in 1994/5 when they obtained a Post Graduate degree. At some point their student loan was handed over to Link Financial (in between this time, during the first decade of the 2000s, the relative went bankrupt). They have been repaying Link Financial for years. If they are even just a few days late with the monthly payment (manually paid because they can't guarantee the funds for an automatic montly payment) then sure enough they get a call.

The interest and the amount they are able to pay makes a small dent in the £1200+ left of the original student loans they had back in the 90s.


It seems, having read other posts and enquiries on here, that none of the write-it-off options that may be available to those who have had a loan from the original SLC but not yet started paying can apply to someone who has defaulted on an original student loan. They had begun paying the loan back in good faith then defaulted which is when the loan was sold on to another company. (Student loans as many will know are exempt from being written of in a bankruptcy.)

It seems once you have this happen - had the SLC sell your debt on - you are unable to call upon some or even any of the loopholes someone who hasn't even begun to repay a loan after 25 years might benefit from.

My questions are these:



1) Is there any way they can legitimately have the debt written off? (They earn under £17,000 per annum before tax.)


2) Is it worth asking Link Financial to provide a copy of the original Consumer Credit Agreement/CCA? This is with a view to seeing if having to repay the loan has to continue if Link cannot provide a CCA. It is our understanding that if Link cannot provide a copy of the original CCA then the debt is still legal but unenforceable.


3) Has anyone had dealings with Link Financial and how amenable are they to at the very least stopping the interest on the loan? Link is getting £20 a month in repayment but due to financial difficulties this will have to be decreased.

If any of this is too long-winded or unclear my apologies in advance.

Any help and insights would be much appreciated.

glennstar

I think you are saying the loan is being paid at present and always has been... although why you [the subject] are still paying a 25 year loan is anyone's business... but it might be worth reading this. At this stage I might be tempted to send them an offer in full and final settlement and suggest they talk to a judge if they don't like it. £1,200 - really!? It can't be worth anyone's effort after 1/4 of a century.