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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:
Stubbed56 · 29/04/2013 16:01

I would probably shop him, but only if the student loans co asked for details. In fact I sort of did this when the tax office asked for the previous owner's new address when I bought a house. I didn't really think of it as a moral question. Although this is slightly different as you might have to volunteer the info without being asked.

edwinamerckx · 29/04/2013 16:29

It used to be trivial to do a runner on student loans as when they were first introduced they were not payed back via tax and the SLC had no record of your NI number.

So all you had to do was move (which everyone does after university anyway) and change your bank account and you were debt free. I know loads of people who did this.

Vickibee · 29/04/2013 16:38

It you are Se there is a box on the end of year form that asks if you have a SL. If he fails to tick the box, then it is a fraudent return but they will catch up eventually. He will get a bill going back years asking for repayment. You can run but you can't hide

Vickibee · 29/04/2013 16:39

Student loans are not written off with bankruptcy I do believe

JenaiMorris · 29/04/2013 17:33

Thumb, I had friends who claimed both dole and HB in the holidays. And worked cash in hand. They were still broke Hmm

lougle · 29/04/2013 17:48

Student Loans are exempt from Bankruptcy. They persist through it. 'Tis the law.

BiteTheTopsOffIcedGems · 29/04/2013 17:48

I never understand why people that do things like running away from debt or commiting fraud feel the need to tell everyone they know.

greenformica · 29/04/2013 18:01

He may not have to pay it back anyway if he earns under a certain amount.

andubelievedthat · 29/04/2013 19:24

No , you seem to understand little ?> (doh) as "grassing someone up " >"dobbing them in it " is in my opinion a moral decision ,Q>why do you comer onto a website and ask others whether you should ? by the time you have read thru all these replies you could have "made that call " ,what is stopping you? and are yoiu going to tell him you did so?bet you do not.thats the thing with the public spirited tossers so prevalent these days ,they always HIDE ,as you will ,i repeat ,u are one very jelous individual who lacks the courage of your (faux) convictions ,otherwise you would not be on this site seeking encouragement/approval.

PickledInAPearTree · 29/04/2013 20:40

I think telling them would be plain weird. They do catch up with people and interest is chargeable in the interim.

samandi · 30/04/2013 09:47

Have to admit I find it very hard to get my head around people who think "not telling" puts them on some kind of higher moral ground. Where on earth does that attitude come from? School playgrounds?

Of course he should be reported. If he has been self-employed then he has been actively deceiving the Student Loans Company. It's behaviour like that that makes life harder and more expensive for everyone else - including new students who won't have the benefit of a free education and easy job progression, house buying etc. like someone of that generation.

ryanboy · 30/04/2013 10:52

I find it very hard to get my head around people who think "not telling" puts them on some kind of higher moral ground Where on earth does that attitude come from? School playgrounds?

Where does love thy neighbour come from? The bible?

ryanboy · 30/04/2013 10:52

You have higher moral values than Jesus, then samandi ?

FasterStronger · 30/04/2013 11:10

of course if everyone paid back their debts, it would be cheaper for the rest of us.

fewer defaulters = cheaper credit

melika · 30/04/2013 11:30

Am I being thick but don't they have his NI number and can tell he is earning?

GlassofRose · 30/04/2013 11:36

ryanboy - Jesus might about have been about forgiveness and compassion, but I'm pretty sure he'd say the right thing to do is actually pay the loan you took out...

jamtoast12 · 30/04/2013 13:04

melika

The loans were taken out in the 90s e system was totally different then and NI numbers etc weren't linked to loans. For payments to be taken you have to sign a direct debit agreement. The Slc have since sold loans from then across several different companies. I know I have 4 loans split across 3 companies! I defer my loans as I don't earn enough but if I moved etc they would have no link to me

Original poster
bubblesinthesky · 30/04/2013 14:25

Wow went away a bit and have just rechecked this thread. I am non the wiser about what to do as the view is quite split.

to be honest i'm not jealous of him. Im happy and settled with a lovely DP and two amazing children and he is still single. The money does not matter really but the pinciple does. I remember him saying he'd never pay it back and it didn't sit easily with me then. I also hate the idea that the money isn't going bakc into the system for people who really need it now

However it seems its a pointless issue now sa it looks like it may have been covered by the statue of limitations so they wouldn't be able to get it anyway.

By the way he's not exactly my friend its just we've stayed in touch because we have mutual friends. I saw him at a party

OP posts:
Floggingmolly · 30/04/2013 14:55

I'd shop him.

Southeastdweller · 30/04/2013 20:57

Not your friend even though you have his address? Hmm

JenaiMorris · 01/05/2013 08:43

I don't think it is covered by statute of limitations for some reason, although happy to be corrected.

Still think it'd be crap to inform whoever now deals with the debt though.

melika · 01/05/2013 09:22

Bubbles

I think by the power of deduction, he would know it was you. I know a few people who screw the system in one way or another and I have never dobbed them in. One day it will bite them in the bum.

I know it's not fair, but take credit for doing the right thing.

JenaiMorris · 01/05/2013 09:46

Speaking from experience, having debt hanging over you is horrible. You can have a good income on paper, but a few strokes of bad luck and some poor and/or stupid decisions can make a relatively small debt of a few thousand seem insurmountable.

They'll catch up with him eventually. In the meantime you really don't know what's going on behind the scenes, so whilst I understand people's righteous indignation, leave it.

Plus the whole HE funding thing is a fucking outrage. Our ire should be directed at successive governments whose members gleefully enjoyed it all for free then pulled up the ladder behind them, not at a few debt evaders.

playg · 01/05/2013 09:57

I used to run a company which consisted of just me. I paid myself wages that happened to be lower than the threshold for repaying student loans, and I received further money in the form of dividends.

I've always tried my best to book-keep properly and accurately, use a reputable accountant, and pay any money I owe to the government promptly - so I hope this doesn't come across too badly, but I didn't pay student loan as I believed I wasn't required to.

After about three years of doing this I got a letter from HMRC ... turns out the student loans payments are calculated on your entire income (so including dividend payments) and not just income from salaries as I had believed. I should've been calculating the required payments and including this on my self assessment form every year.

Luckily I had enough savings to be able to get together all those payments I'd been missing and pay what I owed in one lump sum, but I hate to think what would've happened if I hadn't been in the position to do that.

Btw. I do employ an accountant to do my self-assessment, and was angry with them for not asking me whether I had a student loan and making sure to include it, but then again I'm angry with myself for not taking the time to research the matter.

Anyways, my point is, your self-employed friend may 1) be liable for more repayments than he realises, 2) may eventually get a letter from HMRC.

fedupofnamechanging · 01/05/2013 09:59

The people who brought in student loans and scrapped dole during the holidays, were the very people who themselves benefitted from free education. Therefore, I consider the imposition of student loans to be fundamentally wrong and if people can avoid paying it back, then all power to them!

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