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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think if you work for a company you should know what the hell you're talking about.

27 replies

FrenchRuby · 12/10/2013 13:29

Not sure if company is the right word? But student finance are royally just messing up everything and NO ONE I speak to seems to know what the hell they are talking about.
I made a mistake (completely hold my hands up, was my own fault) which lead to me having two student finance accounts and they needed to be merged into one, or one deleted.

Firstly, they didnt bother to tell me this, they just left it until I'd started and was waiting and waiting and waiting for my loan to come in (loan been approved). I finally phoned up and they told me it was my uni's fault. It took a week of me phoning everyday and finally my uni phoning up on my behalf for them to tell me the problem.

I then spent a total of 6 hours on the phone to them over the weekend being told something different by every single person I spoke to...

'Oh yes, you'll need to reapply'

'No, you don't need to reapply'

'It'll take 24hrs to sort out'

'It'll take 10 working days'

'it'll take 14 working days'

Then..

"oh your uni haven't confirmed your place yet'

'It won't be done for another 12 working days'

And finally today I phoned up and asked if my accounts had been merged yet, she checked both accounts and said yes they had or at least that one had been deleted because it wasn't on their systems (happy days!) and all I had to do was get my uni to confirm, brilliant, I can do that monday.

But here's the thing, I can still log into both accounts.... so this obviously means that one of the accounts wasn't deleted!!

I'm just so sick of worrying about this, I just want to get on with worrying about my uni work like everyone else.

WHy can't I get the same answer from anyone I talk to, literally no two people have actually said the same thing about what's going on.

OP posts:
filee777 · 12/10/2013 13:36

I'm having a similar problem with them

Every time I phone up I am given a different story and we are really really starting to struggle.

We have finally been told that our application will be 'processed' within 7 working days (this has been moved and moved) and that i will then be sent by second class post a letter detailing my payments and asking me to sign and return it. The last guy i spoke to was fairly reasonable and suggested that i keep an eye on my 'correspondence' page on the website and when i get the e-copy of the letter to print it, sign it and post it. Otherwise its going to be another number of weeks for the bloody thing to get here

After that I will have to chase the uni to make sure they have registered me as there (they can only do it after this piece of paper has been signed) and then they will do a 'national insurance number check' and finally release my money.

Should be three days after they receive my signed letter and the uni has verified me (apparently)

It sucks, I am here with you, its cold and we dont have enough wood for any more long fires and no way of supporting ourselves, we haven't been able to pay rent this month. Not good.

Original poster
FrenchRuby · 12/10/2013 13:39

I've wiped out all of my savings to pay for my daughters nursery fees and it's getting pretty desperate now.
I just don't understand how they can not know what's going on?
If I were you I'd send the thing back recorded delivery, costs a bit more but then they can't say they didn't get it.

OP posts:
filee777 · 12/10/2013 13:41

Yes we have had that.

At one point they were refusing to acknowledge that they had received my husbands P60 whilst saying they definitely received a form WHICH WE SENT IN THE SAME ENVELOPE. It was ludicrous.

They are absolutely imbeciles.

i will definitely send it back RD, have you already had your approval document?

Original poster
FrenchRuby · 12/10/2013 13:43

Yeah! It's all been approved, but then this two account thing messed it up, but they never told me! So I just kept waiting and waiting and they keep pushing the date back for when it will be sorted.

OP posts:
filee777 · 12/10/2013 14:01

See I've been told my student finance has been approved, but i've not been sent the form with a barcode on it yet, apparently that is the last form.

Pobblewhohasnotoes · 12/10/2013 14:05

Is this the student loan company? They are wankers.

Wait til they've overcharged you after the loan has been paid off and won't refund you until every wage slip from the last year has been sent to them, which they lose. Oh and then they can't refund you for another three months (and still gain interest on your money). Incompetent doesn't even describe them.

filee777 · 12/10/2013 14:07

This is my second student loan, the first being for a HND (2 years) I doubt I will ever pay them off :(

hettie · 12/10/2013 14:14

oh god .....student finance england.... where to even start Biscuit
All I can say is I am bloody glad this is the last year I will ever have to deal with them.... my sympathies OP

RevoltingPeasant · 12/10/2013 14:18

Sympathies OP. I am a lecturer and every year, it's the same. Always with people's funding being delayed, sometimes nearly to Xmas. Insane!

RevoltingPeasant · 12/10/2013 14:19

But your university may have a hardship fund if you are really struggling - contact the Welfare Office which is normally located in the Students' Union, in most places. Good luck.

Original poster
FrenchRuby · 12/10/2013 14:21

I have until December until I run out of money. The people on the phone don't seem to be at all bothered that they are ruining my life >:(

OP posts:
Original poster
FrenchRuby · 12/10/2013 14:23

revoltingpeasant the hardship fund doesn't even cover 1 months nursery fees :/
My dh said he's happy to cover the nursery fees all by himself until it's sorted but he shouldnt have too and it's leaving us very very very short each month.

OP posts:
TheSporkforeatingkyriarchy · 12/10/2013 14:42

They don't seem to be bothered by much, do they?

Friend of mine wasn't told until a good month+ after he's completed his first year that they weren't going to pay the fees for that year, just the last two (because he's previously had funding for a degree). If they'd told him at any time during his first year, he could have gotten help from the University or worked more and saved, but due to the debt he's no longer enrolled and can't get any help from anyone. His life plans are completely ruined and he's having to go back to his parents. It's a total nightmare.

I can understand underlings in most companies not having the foggiest - managers not telling front staff things and so on - but Student Finance people really take the piss on lack of communication and not knowing what they're doing.

Original poster
FrenchRuby · 12/10/2013 14:55

They don't care at all.
One of the women I spoke to (and was really upset) was pretty much just like 'Well what do you want me to do about it, it's not my fault'

OP posts:
filee777 · 12/10/2013 15:01

They said that to me and I said 'could i speak to whoever's 'fault' it is and she pretended not to hear me and hung up!

Tossers!

IShallWearMidnight · 12/10/2013 15:08

DD1s first year application - we did it online but it didn't go through, which we didn't realise till all her friends were getting their confirmation letters. They kept telling us to click "submit" except we had, and it was now greyed out. So we had to resubmit everything on paper, then do some grovelling to the uni to let them accept her onto the course. Still waiting for the IT department to call us back Grin.

Second year application was even worse - we'd done a Current Year income assessment for first year, so needed to both confirm the income, AND apply for second year. But no-one on the helpline could understand what we were trying to do, and insisted that we needed to do a CYA for the second year as well. So we eventually pointed the senior manager to the part of their website which explained how CYA worked [sigh].

Third year went through smoothly for DD although they tried to refuse her BFs funding as "we don't fund masters courses". Well actually, there are one or two compressed masters courses which you do fund, here is the course code. "But I can't accept that, we do't fund masters courses". So he went online, screenshot his application, and sent them a copy of it in the post just to cover all bases.

Fingers crossed that next year's application works, as we won't be using the income figures they already have any more, plus it's a fourth year, so am expectig a lot of "computer says no". The we start all over again with DD2 Sad.

Original poster
FrenchRuby · 12/10/2013 15:24

I have a feeling I'll have problems all 3 years.

OP posts:
TerrorTerror · 12/10/2013 16:27

Someone I know had problems applying and had to certify she was eligible for a student loan by providing details of her DS's £20,000 income. Her DS was in Nursery! It seems once the problems start, you are more likely to get more cropping up every year. I had a problem when an accommodation grant I was entitled to hadn't gone through, so I had insufficient funds in my account when my rent was due out by direct debit. I had a right faff contacting student finance to sort it out, the woman was quite arsey with me as though it was my fault for not having enough money saved to pay my rent. Not everyone's parents can afford to bail them out. I was literally living off porridge and baked beans on toast for 2 months.

somewherewest · 12/10/2013 16:46

Why can't I get the same answer from anyone I talk to, literally no two people have actually said the same thing about what's going on

I wonder if you were getting temps? They're very widely used in call centre type roles and often haven't a clue (not their fault - they just aren't trained). I know from experience, having done two stints of temping within the past five years, and being put on the phones within ten minutes of showing up more than once. I used to find it really embarrassing to be honest.

Original poster
FrenchRuby · 12/10/2013 16:48

Probably! Who can I talk to that's not a temp though? None of them seem to know what's going on.

OP posts:
sashh · 12/10/2013 16:49

I have a feeling I'll have problems all 3 years

If you are lucky.

I found the best people to speak to were the staff at the council (although I don't know if that has changed) I'd spent weeks supplying and resupplying info that they claimed they had not got.

Eventually a council employee told me that they must have received it because they had received something else and the something else was on the reverse of the same piece of paper.

Who ever had scanned it had only scanned one side, when I insisted someone went and looked at the paper copy they found the information.

filee777 · 12/10/2013 16:51

My biggest worry is rent and the fact that we cannot afford a load of wood, it's getting cold and we only have the wood burner for heat.

I always feel more comfortable this time of year when I have wood :(

Original poster
FrenchRuby · 12/10/2013 16:56

Has your uni got a hardship loan? Mine has but it's not worth getting because it doesn't cover the nursery fees I need to pay.

OP posts:
filee777 · 12/10/2013 17:10

Maybe, I might have to ask about it on Monday because I don't know what else we can do, fortunately the nursery are cool with us owing them money, I need wood though :(

quoteunquote · 12/10/2013 17:16

It's totally fucked up, my son still hasn't had his through, he is in his fourth year, has no money and is facing legal action as he can't pay his rent, and has no food.

my friend's son has had to defer his second year, as he has not has any money,

we know of at least 45 students who have not had their money, they are all panicking, immensely stressful.

In my son's social group four of his friends have had to leave as they don't have anyone that can lend them any money.

Please contact your MP and complain, if we all do that, the shit company that is failing all students will pressurised.

I'm sure it is deliberate, in order to screw over those who need it most, no one can possible run a company this badly.

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