Student Loan help
Discussion
I finished Uni in 2002. My first real job was over the 15k start limit and has been ever since. However I have never paid a penny back. They just haven deducted it from my wages (for the first 4 years I thought it just came out in your NI payments, yes I am stupid).
I got a letter from them this week with internet login details, so they know who I am and where I live. It also looks like the loan isn’t accruing any interest.
If I fess up and tell them, will they hit me with back payments? If I keep quite and the find out down the road will it be worse?
What should I do?
I got a letter from them this week with internet login details, so they know who I am and where I live. It also looks like the loan isn’t accruing any interest.
If I fess up and tell them, will they hit me with back payments? If I keep quite and the find out down the road will it be worse?
What should I do?
Sarkmeister said:
I wish they forgot to take my payments, im paying out about £200 a month at the moment, but it doesnt seem to be going down.......
Thats because the tax office collect it and only pass it onto the SLC once a year! For this reason it is important to keep records of what you have paid - I know more than a handful of people who have overpaid and struggled to get the money back!
they will know, don't worry about that. you only get an annual statement, or at least i do [2003 grad].
i thought the threshold was 17k though? if sarky's paying £200 a mth then i would say that comes with a salary large enough not to worry about it!
anyone know what the current interest rate is? last time i checked it was 3.1% but as it its always been below BOE surely it must be near zero by now?
i thought the threshold was 17k though? if sarky's paying £200 a mth then i would say that comes with a salary large enough not to worry about it!
anyone know what the current interest rate is? last time i checked it was 3.1% but as it its always been below BOE surely it must be near zero by now?
We had a few cases in the office over the last 5 years of people who weren't having deductions for their loans - they all were caught up with in the end. You will end up paying for it, so it's just a case of choosing scraping away at it now, or having bigger deductions for a shorter period of time in future as your income rises. I had well over £1k taken as a deduction on bonus month, but settled my balance a few months later. Took me 4 years to pay off roughly 10k...
shirt said:
anyone know what the current interest rate is? last time i checked it was 3.1% but as it its always been below BOE surely it must be near zero by now?
It's currently 2.5% according to this: http://www.studentloanrepayment.co.uk/portal/page?...S1MMA said:
We had a few cases in the office over the last 5 years of people who weren't having deductions for their loans - they all were caught up with in the end. You will end up paying for it, so it's just a case of choosing scraping away at it now, or having bigger deductions for a shorter period of time in future as your income rises. I had well over £1k taken as a deduction on bonus month, but settled my balance a few months later. Took me 4 years to pay off roughly 10k...
If you have the cash to clear it, can you just pay it off and stop deductions? The money's not exactly reaping rewards in the bank.
Overpayment is a pain in the a$$ with these.....
I rather foolishly decided to pay mine off in one hit - eventually got them to calculate the balance after I sent them my P60 and lots of payslips. Paid the balance - and then they kept taking the payments for the next quarter that took me about a year to get back off them..........a really really stupid system.
I rather foolishly decided to pay mine off in one hit - eventually got them to calculate the balance after I sent them my P60 and lots of payslips. Paid the balance - and then they kept taking the payments for the next quarter that took me about a year to get back off them..........a really really stupid system.
Doesn't make much sense to over pay, as it's free credit, assuming they stay true to their promise of keeping it below inflation. The only benefit to overpaying that you get it cleared faster, but it doesn't cost you more if you just pay the minimum. If you can afford more than the minimum each month, invest it in something with guaranteed returns rather than overpaying, you'll get something extra then.
Justin_Tvr said:
It comes out of my salary before tax so your barely notice the repayments... Waiting on my next statement from them to see if I am making any progress paying it back. I didnt see the point in trying to pay it all back off straight away as its the cheapest loan you will ever get!!
Justin, I think it's actually after tax mate - so if you pay £300 a month, you'll get that much more in your after tax pay when you pay it off. Makes sense, as a loan is not a benefit which you can get a tax deduction on I don't think....You can pay it off in one go if you want to, although when mine ended they stopped the deductions just fine, didn't overpay any months. I had to sort it all out though...
They did exactly the same to me mate. I always earnt over the threshold and yet they never deducted anything. This went on for 7 years! They phoned my Mum once as a Guarantor, and asked if she knew where I was. She said she didnt - good girl!
I then went off travelling for a year and when I came back had to fill in a P something or other, which asked if I had any outstanding Student Loans which werent paid off as of a certain date. I selected Yes, as I was a bit worried about back payuments being demanded if they did catch up with me eventually. After that the money started coming out as usual, but they never demanded any back payments. That said, I am paying about £350-400 a month at the moment, which hurts!
If I were you, and if the loan isn't accruing interest, I would just keep quiet. If they do find you just deny ever receiving the letter - it wont have been recorded delivery. They wont ask for anything in way of a bulk payment, so you may as well keep ducking it until they do catch up with you.
I then went off travelling for a year and when I came back had to fill in a P something or other, which asked if I had any outstanding Student Loans which werent paid off as of a certain date. I selected Yes, as I was a bit worried about back payuments being demanded if they did catch up with me eventually. After that the money started coming out as usual, but they never demanded any back payments. That said, I am paying about £350-400 a month at the moment, which hurts!
If I were you, and if the loan isn't accruing interest, I would just keep quiet. If they do find you just deny ever receiving the letter - it wont have been recorded delivery. They wont ask for anything in way of a bulk payment, so you may as well keep ducking it until they do catch up with you.
Edited by Metroarea on Wednesday 4th February 17:54
S1MMA said:
Justin_Tvr said:
It comes out of my salary before tax so your barely notice the repayments... Waiting on my next statement from them to see if I am making any progress paying it back. I didnt see the point in trying to pay it all back off straight away as its the cheapest loan you will ever get!!
Justin, I think it's actually after tax mate - so if you pay £300 a month, you'll get that much more in your after tax pay when you pay it off. Makes sense, as a loan is not a benefit which you can get a tax deduction on I don't think....You can pay it off in one go if you want to, although when mine ended they stopped the deductions just fine, didn't overpay any months. I had to sort it all out though...
Edited by Justin_Tvr on Wednesday 4th February 17:57
HappyS3owner said:
Paying £200 a month, most likely means he's earning on or over £40k from my maths.
I didn't pay for ages because I was a contractor, but sure enough they figured it out a few months after I went permanent and started taking money, they didn't expect any back payments though!
Your about right, around 33k+.I didn't pay for ages because I was a contractor, but sure enough they figured it out a few months after I went permanent and started taking money, they didn't expect any back payments though!
I've been paying it off without question per week (i'm a contractor), would it be wise to phone up and ask what i owe as i've been seriously paying my off quick time and have no idea?
CooperS said:
HappyS3owner said:
Paying £200 a month, most likely means he's earning on or over £40k from my maths.
I didn't pay for ages because I was a contractor, but sure enough they figured it out a few months after I went permanent and started taking money, they didn't expect any back payments though!
Your about right, around 33k+.I didn't pay for ages because I was a contractor, but sure enough they figured it out a few months after I went permanent and started taking money, they didn't expect any back payments though!
I've been paying it off without question per week (i'm a contractor), would it be wise to phone up and ask what i owe as i've been seriously paying my off quick time and have no idea?
Justin_Tvr said:
CooperS said:
HappyS3owner said:
Paying £200 a month, most likely means he's earning on or over £40k from my maths.
I didn't pay for ages because I was a contractor, but sure enough they figured it out a few months after I went permanent and started taking money, they didn't expect any back payments though!
Your about right, around 33k+.I didn't pay for ages because I was a contractor, but sure enough they figured it out a few months after I went permanent and started taking money, they didn't expect any back payments though!
I've been paying it off without question per week (i'm a contractor), would it be wise to phone up and ask what i owe as i've been seriously paying my off quick time and have no idea?
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