Student Loan never going to end

jo.anne

A bit of advice would be great on a situation my son is in. He took out a student loan in 2012 and moved away to university for 1.5 years and this totalled around 19k. Unfortunately he did not pass his degree and had to move back home. Over the years dependant on his job he has paid a fraction back and over the last 1.5 years has been repaying about 1k a year back, unfortunately this is not making a dent and he is unable to afford anymore and due to bring a baby into the world in a few months.  My son does procrastinate so I said I would look into his loan and it appears with the interest last year being £1,500 The 1k he is paying is not going off the loan and he, he also did not realise the loan is now 36 and will continue to rise. Is there anyway interest can be frozen?

fatbelly

Not true to say that a SL never ends, nor that there is 'real' interest.

Martin explains

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-repay/

Dobbibill

This is also a good link that covers all dates & regions

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/which-student-loan-plan-am-i-on-/

The interest won't be frozen as it's more of a 'graduation tax' than a loan.

money is generally better off put towards a mortgage, pensions or savings if there is any spare. 

The general rule of thumb is not to pay additional monies off your loan unless you are a high earner/tax payer and highly likely to pay it off as per the tax system. 

EssexHebridean

Martin has also done a couple of podcasts covering student finance questions too - those might be worth a listen to put your son’s mind at rest! But yes - generally speaking student loans should be ignored and left to do their thing, for most people. 

If your son is struggling with finances then his best approach would be to join the forum, prepare a Statement of Affairs (SOA - calculator link in my signature below) and post that into a new thread and we can make suggestions of where savings might be made. It’s pretty important he does this before the arrival of the baby too as things are just going to get more expensive from then and he would do well to have a solid budget and some financial plans in place.