Student Loan - Very mixed up and court hearing imminent

skamanchero

I am very mixed up about the Student Loan I took out from SLC in 1997 when I was aged 33.
I can not make sense of the MSE student loan guides and there are circumstances in my case that are not covered.
I took the loan in Northern Ireland, in 1997.  I believe there was a change to the loan system then so i also have 2 following loans from 1998 and 1999. The guides speak of pre-98 or post-98 and I am not sure where I stand with that, am I on one loan system or the other, or both?

Around 2005 I got a call from SLC about how i was going to make repayments. I told them I didn't have to as I had deferred the loan as I had done in previous years. They said they hadn't received the deferment. He said he would send me a new deferment form to fill out. I received this and sent it back.
The SLC continued to send letters out telling me I had to make repayments, and phoning me virtually every day. I kept telling them I wasn't eligible to repay because I was not at the threshold, indeed i was unemployed. I got nowhere with this. This went on for a few years until I went to a friendly solicitor I knew and he said he would sort it out. The letters and calls stopped. Then the solicitor went to prison himself for law breaking. After a while the letters started again. 

The loan was then, I believe, sold on to Erudio loans.  They continued to send letters demanding payment.  
I have never reached the threshold to repay the loans.

In 2019 i was contacted by solicitors acting for Erudio they were taking me to small claims court. I filled in a form intending to defend because I had never been anywhere near the threshold and i should never have been expected to repay the loan.  I was given a date for the case to be heard and i was supposed to submit my defence and evidence apparently. I got bogged down in that and was unable to make sense of what i was supposed to send them. (bad idea to try and defend yourself)

I went and spoke to a solicitor who contacted the other solicitors and had a hold put on everything.  That solicitor has now asked me if i want to pay them a fee or apply for legal aid to defend this, apparently his intervention hasn't worked. It seems the Erudio solicitors are going ahead with this case and chasing me for their costs as well. 
My solicitor has raised the matter of defending this on basis I was never at the threshold to repay and the loan should have been written off when I turned 50, 6 years ago. 

Should my loan have been written off when I reached 50? 
Where do i stand on this. As the erudio solicitors are claiming i was in default does this mean that the loan being written off at 50 doesn't count?  
Is the loan still written off at 50, even if you have been making repayments?

Is it worth me continuing with this through the solicitor? If i don't get legal aid it will be pointless as he has told me it could end up costing thousands more. 
Are there any other options for me?

[Deleted User]

I thought the loans weren't written off until you were 60 ? If you have never earnt above the threshold then I don't see where they have a case, I think you now need to see if you get legal aid before making any decision.
eta this might help
https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2017/05/will-student-loan-written-off/

Carrot007

venison said:

IIf you have never earnt above the threshold then I don't see where they have a case, I think you now need to see if you get legal aid before making any decision.

The terms were will be writtne off as long as you deferred each year and got confirmation of deferrment. And chased it up if you did not in reasonable time. Shoudl that part ever be missed you go intyo arrears as without deferrmend repayment is due. And with arrears. Especially if you do not chase it up and get it deferred like you have to then the loan is never written off.

I think the written off date is 50 if your were x when taken out or x years.

OP could take it to court but if they just dug their head in the sand because they were eligable I don't hold out much hope.