To not pay off my student loan (current SAHM) even though we can afford it?

[SwissSarah]

I got my degree 10 years ago and have about £10K to pay from my student loan. I never earned enough to pay back any of it pre kids (did low paid community work) and have been a SAHM for 5 years and plan to be for at least the next 5. I anticipate never working full time and probably doing lots of voluntary stuff in the community as that's what I love doing. (DH earns well so no pressure to earn myself)

My DH thinks we should pay it back as I borrowed it. I think that I am contributing massively to my local community and giving back in so many other ways and if I'm not earning enough then I shouldn't worry about not paying it back. What do you think??

I still owe too. Although not much only one term but it is over 1K now. I never paid back as a SAHM. Couldn't afford too. But now I am back in retraining and once working will pay back.

I wouldn't worry about it. Just pay if and when you get a job. Lots of people will never repay.

But isn't INTEREST being added to it all the time, so the amount you owe is growing?? So if at any time you (or DH) CAN afford to pay it off, it could be best to clear the debt.

What a waste of an education if you never plan to get a job that pays well enough to pay it back.

No way would I pay it back. Thanks to a Tory government your children will likely pay 50k + for their higher education (realistically they're not going any where for decades). Put it aside for you kids to absolve any guilt.

Yes, you should pay it back.

I took out my student loans but didn't need them as I also had a decent part time job. Used the money as a deposit on a house. Graduated years ago. Not yet paid any of it back.

The whole point of them as opposed to grants was that 'it's OK, don't worry about it because as a graduate the extra you earn compared to someone who didn't go to uni will make up for having to pay tuition fees'.

However, having gone to uni when the government were desperately trying to get everyone to go has devalued the degree unless you are in certain career areas. Therefore, some of us, years after graduation, still aren't earning enough for the repayments to kick in. So there's no reason to start paying it back yet. In the 12 years since I graduated I haven't had a graduate level job, so for me, it's not been worth doing a degree yet. Most entry level graduate jobs seem to want your soul now, you're expected to work all hours, travel all over the place etc and with a family to look after I can't do that. So I'm stuck with crappy low paid admin jobs. Like hell am I going to pay back £14K of loans for the privilege of being able to earn my meagre salary. If I earn over the threshold of course I will, but until then, no chance. Why should my DH pay it off? It's not his loan.

I'll pay mine off if I ever earn enough, I don't think I will tbh as mine is one of the original ones...

YANBU! Do NOT pay off your student loan if there is any other form of debt you can pay off instead (eg. Mortgage!) or any potential future cause of expense that you can save up for now (eg. kids school fees, 12 months household income to protect against job loss - especially prudent given you are in a single income household).

Even then.... I'd choose to save or utilise your DH's income in some other way. He is benefiting from his university education and has presumably already paid his student loan off. If you ever work again (not an unrealistic prospect I suspect) then you too can pay yours off in the usual way, and it will have accrued some interest in the meantime to compensate for the delay in payment.

Please bear in mind that all the pre-1998 student loans have been sold off very cheaply to private companies, and there is a strong likelihood that this will happen with your student loan too. I wouldn't fret over it.

Hmm... part of me says if you can afford it, pay. Part of me says the rules mean you don't have to, so don't. I have a terrible case of fence sitters arse.

It's not a moral obligation, the terms are quite clear when you take out the loan - if you never earn enough then you never pay it back.

I bought my house using help to buy, the government 'lent' me nearly 30 grand. If I never sell my house I will never ever have to pay it back (I'm in Scotland), it's the same thing, I don't feel any obligation to pay it back because those were the terms of the loan.

I'd forget about it OP. And I say that as somebody who has spent the last 13 years paying back my student loan.

Presumably you will start to pay it back when you start earning enough. Is your husband offering to pay it all off now?

@senua I agree.

Moral responsibility trumped by "tax" laws. Doesn't wash when amazon do it though... or Starbucks. Tax is all of our responsibility.

Unless you just fancied a cushy 3 years at uni doing something useless before you became a net drain. Best to be upfront about these things... they sound like excuses otherwise.

By the way, to those saying it doesn't affect your mortgage - that's not actually true. It depends on the lender. I took out a mortgage last year and one lender took the SL deductions from my salary into account when calculating affordability.

I am amazed at the number of people who had the opportunity to go to university, then not get a job at the end that pays enough to pay back the loan. What on earth were you studying? Was it worth while? Did you feel it was several years well spent? I didn't go to uni - went straight out to work after A levels although I had good enough grades to go. Had bills to pay ...

Why on Earth would you pay it back when it's not required?

You're not earning enough to be paying it back, you're not required to pay it back! Don't throw away money when you don't need to! You never know what's around the corner!

I've taken out every loan and grant I can get and I doubt I'll ever earn enough to pay it back in the future.

Thinking about it OP. I bet you couldn't pay it off even if you wanted to.

I moved to the USA and earn the equivalent of £50k I have been trying to contact the SLC for 3 years to organize overseas payments. I have pretty much given up. The SLC is so useless, Emails and phone calls have a 90 day turn around time!!

No love lost here for the student loans company. I was paying it back when i was earning enough before kids. Then i wasn't working and they demanded a letter from my husband to say he was providing for me (maybe I was the only woman in her thirties to ever have children and be supported by her husband)
More recently they sent me a letter saying (to paraphrase!) 'We know you are working. Hmrc told us so. And if you are earning enough then we are going to take some student loan payments.' Well yes, I know. That's how it works. So what's with the bloody letter?!
Anyway, not earning anywhere near enough for any payments so until I am they can bugger off.

So we paid for you to do a degree that you chose not to use and we have to swallow the cost for you. Good job we're not all the same or the country would implode.

Thanks for all your comments.

My degree was in community and family work so the work I went on to do in this field did not pay well.

It's not that my husband has offered to pay it off, it's more than we want to make a decision together on how we use our joint finances. (We have one shared bank account)

It seems like the general consensus is that I'm not legally entitled to pay but am morally obliged to.

It's a deferred tax, so I'd not pay until I had to, same as with VAT and income tax. Keep working for your community ......... chances are you'll be plugging gaps in what the state should be providing and then spend any money you have on and with your family. Good luck.

You were given the help of a student loan, paying it back will enable someone else to gain further education and so on. What if everyone just said I'm not going to bother paying my student loan back?

Well, what if? In practical terms they can't anyway because it gets taken out of earnings. Plenty of people are unable to repay student loans, or don't pay for a long time,s for good reasons. Student loans were put in place by people who not only had free university educations but grants as well, so the system coped with precisely no-one paying back. There was a sensible calculation that if degrees helped people to earn more we would benefit by virtue of the extra tax earned.

I don't think one person paying off their loan helps another person go on to study, I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that.

I've made payments on mine when I should (as per the agreement) but if you are eligible to defer, do.

Like a pp said Martin Lewis advises not paying it back until you need to - prioritise higher interest, non deferrable debts.

I must add a cynical laugh at the poster saying it was a waste of education if you don't have a job to pay it back with. Education isn't just about getting paid, it's valuable life experience & skips that can be used in many non profit ways that benefit society - just like the volunteering you mentioned. The amount of money saved by the government by services provided free from volunteer skills & experience is massive so do not feel guilty at all.

Just follow the rules that's your only 'moral obligation'. I've had years where I've paid back big chunks and years when I've paid nothing due to being a SAHM. If you have that amount of extra money spare each month put it away in savings for your DCs future further education.

The loans are owned by a private company now aren't they? So it's not like the OP paying it back or not has any direct impact on future students. I too see it very much as a graduate tax. I think I will pay it all back eventually but in the years where I need time off to look after my DC I am glad it's not a debt to worry about.