Student Finance Computer Failure! Help
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martyherbs
Posts: 2 Newbie
Hi
My daughters have recently been asked to pay back £200+ on the student finance they were awarded, as parents we did our bit by entering the HMC details and up to now, no problems, the girls got their money.
My girls have now been told that they owe money as it seems an extra dependant was on their forms, basically, my girls entered their first name only, we entered their middle names as well, so this created extra dependants in the family, the computer evidently is not smart enough to work out that the family would not have two children with the same first name and date of birth and think something isn't right with these details.
After many hours on the phone and arguing that this is student finance computer mistake, they still seem intent on harassing our daughters with threats of collection, the last straw came when they sent them £110 as the end of the finance payment.
Has anyone else had this happen to them and resolved it or can you advise on my next steps, we have asked for and received the phone recordings we made were it proves they have told us three different accounts of why we owe them with no apology from them, and the harassing call to my daughter which proves the bully techniques they use.
thanks in advance for any guidance.
My daughters have recently been asked to pay back £200+ on the student finance they were awarded, as parents we did our bit by entering the HMC details and up to now, no problems, the girls got their money.
My girls have now been told that they owe money as it seems an extra dependant was on their forms, basically, my girls entered their first name only, we entered their middle names as well, so this created extra dependants in the family, the computer evidently is not smart enough to work out that the family would not have two children with the same first name and date of birth and think something isn't right with these details.
After many hours on the phone and arguing that this is student finance computer mistake, they still seem intent on harassing our daughters with threats of collection, the last straw came when they sent them £110 as the end of the finance payment.
Has anyone else had this happen to them and resolved it or can you advise on my next steps, we have asked for and received the phone recordings we made were it proves they have told us three different accounts of why we owe them with no apology from them, and the harassing call to my daughter which proves the bully techniques they use.
thanks in advance for any guidance.
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Comments
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I don't know about this specific issue but in quite a lot of cases getting your MP involved often seems to help get a resolution.0
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I've never heard of their system creating extra dependants, tbh. It can only work on what was entered when the application is completed. I wonder if you entered both girls names on each of your parts of the application, rather than just the sibling of the relevant applicant. It's the only thing I can think of. Extra dependants reduce your income and increase the students' entitlement.
It's my understand that SLC has a duty to collect any overpayment, however caused, but I'd be asking for a written explanation of how the overpayment was incurred so that you can be sure it's correct before your daughters agree how they will pay it back.
I used to be Starrystarrynight on MSE, before a log in technical glitch!0 -
If they're still using the old Protocol system they had years ago, it was possible for an online applicant to add two dependents of the same name/DOB. But seeing as I reviewed everything by hand on an application, I'd pick these up and resolve. I've a feeling they're doing it in a more automated way now...
Unfortunately, this would mean the overpayment is correct.0 -
If they're still using the old Protocol system they had years ago, it was possible for an online applicant to add two dependents of the same name/DOB. But seeing as I reviewed everything by hand on an application, I'd pick these up and resolve. I've a feeling they're doing it in a more automated way now...
It is definitely much more automated now. Information about the parents is gathered from HMRC automatically and imported into SLC's system, rather than previously where a person would have to check and manually enter the figures.0 -
Thanks for all your help guys, as we warned that it is government money and not student finance money, we still had to give it back, we paid it back to stop the harassing phone calls, we have just got an email after demanding and investigation, they have admitted they have made a mistake, no mention of whether we will get the money back that we sent in to get them off our back, now we feel so annoyed with this system that someone like ML needs to take it up with the powers that be, I will be contacting my local MP and forwarding all my evidence that we have gathered.0
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