Is anyone else going to have a student loan until age 65 (Plan 1 pre 2006)?

[studentloanuntil65]

I have a Plan 1 student loan and had no idea that I’d have the debt till 65 when I took out the loan in 1998, at age 18.

I’ve never been a high earner and took time out of employment to look after our children due to the high cost of childcare and no family support.

The interest has snowballed, even while I was working, and I’m never going to clear it before I’m 65.

It feels very unfair when I’m seeing that people on the other loans have theirs wiped out after 25 or 30 years. I’m 46 and have already had this loan hanging over me for over 25 years.

I didn’t realise until seeing a BBC article this morning that other people on plan 1 (2006 onwards loans) get theirs wiped after 25 years! Mine would already have been wiped. And if I’d been a year older I’d have had a full grant as my parents were low earners.

No, I’m not having to pay it back, but it’s still a weight on my shoulders knowing that I owe it. When I became a SAHM they wrote to me and told me that my husband had to write a letter to them confirming that he was supporting me, with evidence via bank statements, which seemed a bit ridiculous as I’m supposed to pay the loan back via PAYE when I earn enough.

Is anyone else in the same boat with Plan 1?

Martin Lewis tells us to see it as a small tax - i just ignore it x

I started Uni in 1998 and got the maintenance loans for the 3 years. Still have loans and probably will until 65, but they don't 'hang over my head'
When I've earned enough some has been paid back, but a lot of time nothing has been paid.
I have absolutely no idea how much I owe nor do I care TBH. I just care how much I've been paid and how much I have left after bills.
The only debt I really care about ATM is my mortgage and credit card (which I pay as much as I can to avoid interest - I get 4 months to pay before any interest gets added)

The only way it impacts is affordability. If you’re paying £200 a month in student loan it is considered a commitment so does reduce affordability. That’s always been the case since the 2008 crash as far as I’m aware. If you’re not currently making any payments (or very minimal ones) it has little to no impact, the fact you could have £100,000 student debt against your name doesn’t matter one jot to a mortgage company if you’re not paying any of it back currently, the only way that matters is because if you’re not making payments you’re likely a lower earner and that of course impacts lending.

I was on the exact same plan. 1998-2001 undergrad (did a masters but quite incredibly was awarded a full grant and they paid that year of fees!).

i literally ignore it. I’ve occasionally earned enough to pay a bit off, but unlike you, I’m going to see it as a massive win if I get to 65 and have it written off. In a good year I load my pension instead to reduce liability and I’ll get that back plus gains in the future. Win.

I got mine in 2000, and am now 48 (I was 22). Its still there, I've paid one payment off, over 20 years ago.
I mostly just ignore it.

This is such the wrong attitude to give the OP students loans are nothing like a bank loan their terms of repayment are clear. If OP only meets the threshold to repay in a a few of the months then she is entitled to refund if she hasn’t earnt above the threshold over the tax year. Martin Lewis is always saying there is a large amounts of graduates who probably won’t repay their loan fully. Low income earners shouldn’t be encouraged to repay this when there is no need.

I actually have both plan 1 from my undergraduate degree (4 years max loan as no family support) and then plan 2 for my pgce (only 1 year, but also max maintenance loan and 3k fees). The way they allocate my repayments mean I’m mostly paying towards the plan 2 and that’ll be paid off just before it gets wiped, at which point I’ll be paying towards the plan 1 loan til I retire.

What? I’ve not said anywhere OP should pay back her loan?

Oh, and I’m in the “high enough to pay lots back but not enough to fully clear them” group which means I end up paying more back than people to earn 10k less than me AND I will pay more than those who earn 10k more than me 😂

You've over thought my comment. By 'use their degree' i mean having a job where theres a reasonable level of intellect required / benefit of having a degree, or even those aspirations, not that specific degree must be used. The point was if they never intended to use what they learnt, the experience, the skills etc then of course they should have to pay.

had no idea that I’d have the debt until 65

Why not? And would it have changed your decision?

I knew when my loan would be wiped when I took it out. It was never hidden info.

I also think you’re being a bit selective when looking at people on other loans who have it wiped and calling it unfair. They have much bigger loans than you or I, and I believe plan 2 are on higher interest rates as well.

I was planning on staying at home while studying at my local uni. I missed out on an A on one of my A’levels - getting a B instead - so wasn’t accepted onto the course. I had to go through clearing and visit various universities in a rush so it was a last minute move away from my city, with a last minute loan application once I arrived.

It was very different to how I imagine it would be nowadays - we were handed a form and asked to sign there and then, there was no time to take it away and go through it first.

I was 18, an introvert and had never fended for myself before or had any financial education. I didn’t get a place in halls as it was a last minute move, so everything was pretty stressful at the time.

It was a time when they were giving out free gifts to encourage you to take out credit cards - a very different time to now!

We’re all different. I’m a worrier, I worry about a lot of things that other people don’t 🙂

I did need a reasonable level of intellect for my jobs. I started off as an insurance underwriter and then worked in the civil service for years (so you could say otherwise I guess - getting this in before someone else comments on it 🙄).

I shouldn’t have mentioned being a SAHM on here, I should have realised that would affect some responses!

I didn’t have children until my mid 30s so spent 15+ years working before becoming a SAHM, for those of you that saw ‘SAHM’ and saw red.

But how much did you pay off on your student loan in that time? You didn’t just say you were a SAHM, you said you looked for easier work, however you shape it you have proactively chosen to minimise your income despite borrowing thousands to do a degree and the only downside to that is technically having debt to your name that no one is chasing you down for. I really don’t understand what your problem is?

If the cost of your degree is a bit of admin once a year then I think that’s fair, I’m not sure what else you can reasonably expect OP.

A bit irritating, sure, but you seem to think you’ve gotten a worse deal than others.

Your choices are to do the admin, pay off the loan, or accept on some months you will repay a bit of your loan and just leave it to happen.

That was the maximum I could borrow as a Scottish person studying in England with higher earning parents. My parents did give me financial support but plenty of people were in similar situations and having a job wasn't unusual.

I didn’t look for easier work, I chose not to progress to the next level in my job. For me, that would have meant presenting in court - which isn’t something I’d feel comfortable doing.

There are many others in exactly the same situation but having their debt wiped out after 25 years…

And during the same time, there were many students taking out the full loan who had no need for it, sticking into high interest savings accounts and benefiting from the interest - this was well publicised. All I did was borrow it to be able to continue my studies!

I’m not looking for a discussion on this though. As I’ve stated more than once.

I posted because of the news article today about the current campaign around plan 2 loans, which get wiped out after 30 years.

You don’t really get to decide what is discussed. That’s not how forum discussions work.

Youre coming across as very petulant and immature. I personally think you should be grateful you have effectively got an almost free degree despite having an easier career and choosing to be home with your children. You have one life to live, you can be the victim feeling sorry for yourself, or you can choose to be grateful. You may have just lost out on some things a few people older than you got in this context, but I would bloody well bet you have lucked out in other areas also, it’s just the way life is.

Yes the loans that are over £50,000 and have a much higher interest rate, I absolutely guarantee if you did today what you did in the 90s-00s you’ll have paid vastly more due to how much interest is added, even if you barely earned over the threshold.

I’ve paid one payment back as I did overtime one month! I just don’t think about it, it’s not a loan that goes against credit rating, it’s just there in the background and one day it’ll disappear.

Yes, me. Took it out in 1999. I was in a MW job after, and the only time any was paid off was when I did overtime (and about £9 at that).
I have no idea how much it is now. I used to get letters from SLC telling me to log in and let them know if I am working or not... but I never had an online account with them 🙄

So only £1k a year?! That’s so weird you weren’t entitled to the same as English students.

No, that’s not true. For people who never pay it off then plan 1 pay more. The threshold is lower for plan 1 and it doesn’t get wiped until much later.

If both my loans were plan 2 I would be paying less each month (so a person 5 years younger than me but in the same job / salary takes home more money than I do). And a plan 2 loan would be wiped in around 10 years time, while because of the plan 1 bit I’ll still be making payments in 23 years!

The total amount and interest are irrelevant unless you’re in the group who will pay it off (or would if the interest wasn’t mental).