Student Loans Company ASTOUNDINGLY INCOMPETENT 22 September 2020 at 1:15PM in Student MoneySaving 14 replies 808 views

fred246

It's amazing how bad this company is. I wondered if it was me so I checked online. Trustpilot very much agrees with my asssessment. They really are an absolute shambles. I can only advise that people that deal with them check everything out for themselves. Do you own calculations. The only problem with that is that when you prove they have made a mistake they are too shambolic to correct it! I have phoned them numerous times and been given some sort of plan at the end. 100% they don't do what they have just told you they will. Totally unfit for purpose.

sazaccount

Was there a question in there or just a vent?
I'm not going to lie SLC have driven me potty over the years but they have got better recently with the introduction of being able to submit information online (I'm overseas) and their complaints team takes time but by email got things sorted in the end. 

fred246

You are supposed to be able to sort things out over the phone but at the end of every conversation they tell me of the 'plan of action' and then they totally ignore what they say they are going to do and do nothing. They have a 100% record of doing that ie they have NEVER done anything that they say they would. It seems that must be how they work. Just tell the customer a story to get them off the phone. I need to start some proper written complaints I think. Organisations seem to take more notice of a written letter. Emails they just ignore or don't take seriously.

Kiko4564

Indeed. I'd say dealing with them in writing is the best.

fred246

It really is a bizarre system. Parents submit evidence of their income. Student loans are supposed to calculate it correctly. They seem very good at getting it 'wrong'. However much you ask they will never tell you their calculations so you can't check it. The result of their calculations produces a loan amount for the student. So the parent then has to work out if they have calculated household income correctly. I can only advise parents to check their students figures. When they do their calculations wrong they refuse to correct them.  It's just mistake after mistake. I can only assume they will be just as incompetent when collecting money back. I can only advise people to check all their figures. Never assume Student Loans Company know what they are doing.

Taiko

So, what makes you think they haven't calculated correctly? 

fred246

The student loan is dependent on household income. I know our household income so it's easy to know when it's wrong. Getting it corrected is almost impossible. We were getting to close to all making a data subject access request. Would be interesting to know how that would have worked. What isn't in question was their total commitment to NOT correcting their mistakes. If families aren't communicating then they can get it wrong with impunity. All a parent can do is make sure that they have their own income assessed correctly. You should be able to phone up and say "my income was £X do you agree?". Instead they say "this is a student account. We can't discuss it." Everyone understands that they have to protect data but they are just silly. Even when you write a written complaint they don't read it properly. I dread to think how many errors go uncorrected. Sometimes I wonder if I am the only one who checks accounts. Surely if someone has a child going off to university they will check what their loan should be?

Taiko

Did you use net income or gross? 
Did you try and claim company pensions as a deduction?
Did you provide supporting documents or appropriate consents? 
Self-employed, perhaps?

fred246

You have 2 parents A&B. Student C gets the loan. So a sensible parent like me calculates what loan should be.
So parents A and B fill in the forms correctly and send in all supporting documentation.
The loan C comes back as incorrect.
Parent A knows that they can't discuss parent Bs income. So parent A phones up and asks to check the income calculation for A. Then parent B could have done the same.  "Oh no this is the account of student C. We can't discuss this."
So student C phones up and gives authorisation to discuss account with parent A. They give a password.
So parent A writes a letter. "Student C has given authorisation. The password is"
Student Loans Company writes back "we can't discuss this without the student giving authorisation"
They are just total imbeciles. Their systems are awful. I just wonder how many errors they make. They seem to want to make errors and steadfastly refuse to correct them.
They seem to hide behind 'data protection' as a reason to get everything wrong. My advice to parents and students is 'check everything'. Don't assume they will get things right.

Taiko

I mean, you seem uncapable of answering a simple question, so by all accounts you're no better. 
Do you think someone actually sits there with a calculator and works a figure out? Of course not; it's all calculated based on what the student/parents have input, and the supporting documentation to verify, 

fred246

You would hope that Student Loans Company would use the data that you input but they obviously change it. You can't find out what they have done wrong because they won't discuss it. Is it a mistake or are they trying to get it wrong? You never know. All you can do is keep sending them the correct calculation until they eventually get it right. Multiple useless phone calls where they tell you they will sort it but don't. Letters that they answer without reading. Astounding incompetence. They are a complete shambles.