Student Loan Charges are they lawful?

ossesst

HI, I had some great success with re-claiming bank charges a few months ago,so many thanks for the advice. However I am in a financial hole (with a glimmer of light at the end of it!) And was wondering The student loans company charges £20 per letter sent as a result of late or missed payments. This smacks of banks overcharging?
I would love to know if anyone has had any joy getting these charges paid back. What do you think???
Thye certainly dont seem very helpful or friendly on the phone, just makes me want to get something back!
:mad:

dmg24

So you took advantage of a loan at an incredibly low rate (up until this year), and because you missed payments, you expect them to chase you up for free?!

ossesst

Its taken me 15 years plus to try to repay this loan, I was made redundant 18 months ago and contacted the company, I went self employed and they insisted that I get an accountant to do accounts for me (even though I had only just started working) this cost me money to get the interim accounts done, they charged me whilst I was waiting for the accounts to be done, and again this year as I am waiting to reply to them with latest accounts this year (which will be below the threshold too.) I would have hoped for a little flexibility for someone who has been struggling to pay for years thats all. (BUT POINT TAKEN anyway!)

pinkshoes

ossesst wrote: »

HI, I had some great success with re-claiming bank charges a few months ago,so many thanks for the advice. However I am in a financial hole (with a glimmer of light at the end of it!) And was wondering The student loans company charges £20 per letter sent as a result of late or missed payments. This smacks of banks overcharging?
I would love to know if anyone has had any joy getting these charges paid back. What do you think???
Thye certainly dont seem very helpful or friendly on the phone, just makes me want to get something back!
:mad:

How on earth do you miss payments?!? It's not like you have to pay back much (only 9% over £15k you earn), so hardly "unaffordable"!

Plus the whole claiming bank charges back thing just screams financial irresponsibility!!

Rather than wasting your time writing to the student loan company and moaning about their charges, why not take the time to sort out your finances, set yourself a sensible budget, and learn how to adhere to it?

Sigur_2

Possibly in the first year you could use it as an excuse, but come on, you've again been late in providing the accounts?

anewman

It's up to you to keep it at £20 for the first and only letter.

autismmum

pink shoes, i think you are on the wrong site, this is consumer revenge martins way to screw the banks and companys that have huge proffits, you are looking for a misers page try the ecconomist.

Blacksheep1979

pinkshoes wrote: »

How on earth do you miss payments?!? It's not like you have to pay back much (only 9% over £15k you earn), so hardly "unaffordable"!

Plus the whole claiming bank charges back thing just screams financial irresponsibility!!

Rather than wasting your time writing to the student loan company and moaning about their charges, why not take the time to sort out your finances, set yourself a sensible budget, and learn how to adhere to it?

because if it's taken over 15 years they were obviously on the old style loans which you either pay or don't - there's no sliding scale (unless you want to pay extra).

Yes you can claim the charges back if they don't accurately represent their (the SLC) costs.

ossesst

Thanks for the comments. All appreciated and taken very much to heart. As Blacksheep said, its not a matter of paying simply 9% over the cut off point, I have to pay a set amount whether I am earning £1 over or £100k over, they currently want approx £100 per month. However thats neither here nor there, I had thought that the idea of claiming charges back was simply a matter of whether they were lawful or not. If the amount they want is £20 per letter I do not see that as a fair representation of their costs, from some of the comments made some of you who have decided that I am useless with money (and you may be right!) seem to feel that the banks/loan companies etc can charge what they like if you are bad at managing a meagre income. However should they therefore only charge £5 or £6 if you have a good income and can manage your finances better but make a one off mistake? Have any of you who posted earlier tried to reclaim bank charges? if so please tell me what the difference is, and if the Student loan company is such a benevolent being I wonder what they do with their profits? Positive advice would be very welcome, I am not a sponger I am just trying to keep my head above water!

CLAPTON

As everyone knows it hasn't yet been determined whether bank or credit cards charges are lawful or not.

This is because no case has yet reached the high court.
A case is currently being prepared which I believe is due to be heard next year.

Maybe or maybe not (depending upon the result and whether or not there is an appeal ) we will then know what is lawful and what is not.

As far as I know there has been no court case involving the SLC charges

You can of course take the SLC to court to reclaim the charges.. as I say I know of no other case but if you win then maybe you will have your name in a law book one day.

Blacksheep1979

people have followed the same route as with banks to claim their charges back from the SLC - tbh I find the people there frankly unhelpful and in some instances rude so to the OP, go for it.