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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to feel like phoning the student loans company and giving them this person's full details?

146 replies

bubblesinthesky · 27/04/2013 17:01

I was at university with someone in the mid 1990s when student loans were just being brought in. He took the full loans but always said he would never pay them back if he could help it. I've stayed in touch with him and recently I mentioned i was happy because I'd finally finished paying my loans back.

He laughed and told me the Student Loans Company had lost track of him years ago and there was no way they'd ever get the money back off him now. He has a really common name so I imagine he would be hard to track down.

AIBU to be considering telling them where he is or should I just leave it? It seems so unfair when he's earning way more than me and has a huge house that he's dodging them in this way while others are struggling to pay them back.

OP posts:
picnicbasketcase · 27/04/2013 19:36

I wouldn't do it, but if you feel it's the right thing to do rather than just doing it to be spiteful then fair enough. Do the Students Loans Company even have a 'shopping people' department?

FarBetterNow · 27/04/2013 20:11

OP: The replies would ALL be for shopping him, if he was falsely claiming unemployment benefit and working.
Isn't it odd that it is ok to do Student Loan fraud, but totally not ok to to do Benefit Fraud?
No doubt he can afford to pay it back, but has chosen not too.

Of course only scum bags living on council estates commit fraud, working middle class people just do creative accounting.

SmellsLikeWeenSpirits · 27/04/2013 20:20

Actually I don't think this is uncommon. I know a number of people who have never been contacted about their old student loans. As I understand it the student loans company was sold and bought a number of times over a fairly short period and it seems a chunk of records went missing somewhere

SmellsLikeWeenSpirits · 27/04/2013 20:21

Not that that makes it ok, but a 'they've never asked' is slightly different to actually, outright deception isn't it? A bit?

ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm · 27/04/2013 20:48

Depends if you are honest or not.

plinkyplonks · 27/04/2013 20:57

He may be declaring income that is under the SL threshold.. lots of people do this i.e. pay themselves 14k a year and invest the rest of the business earnings back into the business.

fancyabakeoff · 27/04/2013 21:30

Exactly what FarBetterNow said.

The hypocrisy makes me sick.

CSIJanner · 27/04/2013 21:38

If he took a v early student loan, then possibly he could have it written off after x amount of years, but if he has deferred at some point since finishing Uni, then he has acknowledged the loan and therefore has to pay within 6 years or they would haven take him to court to ay him back. This is true of any loan (Limitations Act 1980) but it will affect your credit rating and remain on file as a debt. I'm not even sure if they could recoup it from an estate after death.

YANBU to want him to the the moral and legal thing praying back a loan. A mortgage is a loan but I bethe pays his back. The difference is a mortgage is secured against his home which is a large tangible thing whose loss will affect him. The student loan is underwritten by the Government using taxes - it doesn't bother him as much as he's looking at the smaller picture. Whether you contact them with his details is up to you - personally, I probably would after bouncing the morals off DH. It's theft - just because its a company, doesn't make it right. If he couldn't afford it, then it's filling out papers once a year to defer.

thermalsinapril · 27/04/2013 21:46

Yes, tell them. It's not fair on everyone else if someone does this.

AKissIsNotAContract · 27/04/2013 22:03

OP: The replies would ALL be for shopping him, if he was falsely claiming unemployment benefit and working.

Mine wouldn't. I'm a higher rate tax payer and have never claimed benefits but there is no way I would shop someone. It just goes against everything I believe in.

JenaiMorris · 27/04/2013 22:04

SLC were rubbish. They took hefty repayments from my friend despite him having deferred and being on a very low income (pre NMW, so bloody low). They were also crap at tracking people.

Fuck 'em quite frankly.

Save the ire and righteous indignation for successive governments who've taken first grants and then free higher education away whilst reaping the benefits of their own fully funded degrees.

As an aside, those graduates who attended uni in the 80s not only received grants (subject to parental income) but could also claim housing benefit and dole in the holidays.

quoteunquote · 27/04/2013 22:06

amtoast12

No one who is self employed declares their true income - that's the main benefit of being self employed

Hmm

I don't appreciate your generalisation,

I certainly do declare my true income, as does my husband, why assume everyone is a corrupt or a thief ?

I can't be bothered to be dishonest it makes life far to complicated,

I don't want to live in a shit society, so happily pay into supporting my community , and I value myself worth, so lying about my income has never been on my agenda, it would be self defeating pointless short term gain behaviour.

So please do not imply that everyone who is self employed is a criminal, it's fucking rude.

OP, Just tell your friend that his behaviour made you feel like reporting him, and move on, maybe you can remain friends, and maybe he will take on board why you feel the way you do,

Education should be free, it's is and was a totally stupid decision to charge for education, we are all going to pay the price.

If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people

Confucius

ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmmmmmmmm · 27/04/2013 22:09

See, fraud and theft is actually striking a blow for todays students...

Advise somone not to pay what they owe to the government, and at the same time moan about cuts.

I wish I could say, unbelievable.Hmm

plinkyplonks · 27/04/2013 22:37

I think some of you are purposefully mis understanding. It's not that you get away with paying less tax ?! You set up your own business where you are the single employee, you set your income to 14k which means you won't trigger the SLC payments and instead the business retains the rest of the money. The people I know who have done this have now managed to take on new staff who all pay NI, tax etc on their incomes because they invested that money into their business instead of fleecing all the money out of the business. The upside is that they don't pay student loan but the downside is that they don't get to enjoy the full benefit of their potential income.. at the end of the day, would you want to earn 14k instead of 40k if you could choose? SLC payments are only £200 or so a month.. thats nothing compared to a £900 v £2100 per month pay packet.

Would you call parents who work part time because they are better off with a mix of benefits and income rather than working full time benefits cheats? Or tax avoiders?

The OP has no idea if the person she is speaking to is tellling the truth or not or what their real financial position is. If the person is taking home 40 k a year then it is up to him/her whether she choses to report him or not. Obviously he is probably going to guess it was him/her that reported them to SLC, so it's up to OP whether she is willing to risk her friendship on this. But what if he/she is wrong - she's going to ruin a friendship and basically slander an innocent person on this forum?

It's up to the OP what they want to do.. I'm not sure what benefit it is to put this on an internet forum when he has no opportunity to defend himself?

gallicgirl · 27/04/2013 22:46

I'm still deferring one of those old style loans. Just another 8 years to go before its written off.

For the record, I've worked for the government ever since I graduated and I'm not likely to ever earn over the deferment threshold.

ShellyBoobs · 27/04/2013 22:53

I wish I was shocked that a lot of MNers think it's ok to defraud public finances but unfortunately "it's none of your business" seems to be the stock answer to many questions here.

Obviously when there are cuts because there's no money left then all hell breaks loose but hey, there's no connection between too little money coming in and having to make cuts to public spending, is there?

Confused

If you saw someone stealing from a hospital would you say nothing?

It's the same thing.

gallicgirl · 27/04/2013 23:02

Does the money for repaid student loans go into government coffers it is it kept by the finance companies? I know my loan has been sold a couple if times to a new company so I'd be surprised if it goes to the government.

BadgersNadgers · 27/04/2013 23:13

OP, how do you know what he earns? Unless you're his accountant or his mother you haven't got a clue. He was probably just spraying shite to talk himself up and you've got your arse in your hand about it.

KareninsGirl · 27/04/2013 23:35

Don't shop him.

Student loans are disgusting and unnecessary. There are other ways to finance FE.

I really feel for students nowadays.

thermalsinapril · 28/04/2013 00:18

there is no way I would shop someone. It just goes against everything I believe in.

What do you believe in? Letting people getting away with things at the expense of others?

GlassofRose · 28/04/2013 10:51

Yes, the price of student loans are disgusting kareninsgirl!

So why would you think it's okay to allow people to get away with it when prices go up for honest paying students to cover the missing money created by those who don't pay back what they owe?!

Snoopingforsoup · 28/04/2013 11:05

I thought all debt over 6 years old was statute barred?
The problem lays with The Student Loans Company who should have done everything possible to catch him in that 6 year window.
It's sickening that some people get away with it - but I suspect he has.
Let it go and maybe get some friends with less dubious moral standards.

jamtoast12 · 28/04/2013 11:13

Glassofrose

Prices are set, they don't go up for those paying, you only pay your own personal debt? I borrowed 5k and it incurrs infalation costs. whether you do or don't pay doesn't directly affect anyone else in terms of their payments.

Of course in the long term, the way the loans are administered etc is affected by lots not paying but that includes the thousands of people who genuinely don't earn enough and the government admit freely that the majority of new applicants will never repay their loans. They are relying on the top earners to do that which in itself is not a fair principal.

prettypleasewithsugarontop · 28/04/2013 11:32

They can't lose track, you're tracked through your NI number which you have to give to your employer to pay tax

hermioneweasley · 28/04/2013 11:43

There is no magic pot of money - if he doesn't pay it back when he has hit the threshold he is stealing from the government. I would tell SLC where he is. No better than tax evasion or anything else which is taking from the government purse things you are not entitled to.

Can't believe the "none of your business attitude" or the "I disagree with fees so it's ok". My taxes get spent on plenty of things I don't agree with - woukd the same people say it's ok for me to lie and avoid on this basis?

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