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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that mums should get some sort of concession for student loan repayments?

323 replies

bubbleymummy · 29/05/2009 10:19

I just got my student loan statement and yet another big whack of interest has gone on. I haven't been able to make any payments since I went on maternity leave 3 years ago because I only worked PT after ds. Now I have ds2 and who knows when I'll be back to ft work. dh on the other hand has paid back over half of his. It just seems a bit discrimatory to me...most women will have to take a salary drop at some stage to have a family and won't hit the threshold for repayments while the interest just piles on...shouldn't we get a bit of a break?

OP posts:
Original poster
bubbleymummy · 31/05/2009 20:48

Thank you pavlov and ronaldinhio - you are putting this much better than I am - please come and write my posts for me! I am not saying I never want to pay back my debt or have it wiped clean or whatever - I do intend to pay it back. a break from the interest would just be nice...

sorry about the delay replying here - 11 week old on lap...

OP posts:
hercules1 · 31/05/2009 20:49

I'd like a break from the interest too please. Why should you get it and not me?

howtotellmum · 31/05/2009 20:49

How old were you when you had your first DC BG?

lockets · 31/05/2009 20:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

howtotellmum · 31/05/2009 20:50

sorry meant BM.

I think this is highly relevant.

pavlovthecat · 31/05/2009 20:54

like i said howto it is not my job to determine how the concession would be applied and to whom, the hours thing was just an off the top of my head thought, I would hope that politicians would give it a few more minutes thought than that (but would not expect it, given they are way to busy clearing their names to do any real work).

The details are details. The principles are that while it is ok to support and help those in high positions do their job with minimal financial hardship, this should also apply to those people also trying to do the job of raising the future children, and to give them a helping hand. Suspending interest for 5 years is hardly going to break the bank, not like er...well bailing out the banks!

violethill · 31/05/2009 20:54

riven talking EMA here- Well at least paying for bus fares is better than watching it being squandered on booze and fags like so many youngsters do......

But I damn well wish someone other than me would pay my dd's bus fares next year at £5.20 a day. If she sat on her arse doing jack shit she'd at least get Job Seekers Allowance, but if she decides to do A levels and go to Uni.... hey good old mum and dad can keep working their arses off.

funny ole world innit

scottishmummy · 31/05/2009 20:55

look some of you seem determined to read this as i tell you how to manage your own finances

not so

do what you want.its your personal business

but no amount of
oh ScottishMummy see it is like this
oh how you miss the point SM

will compel me at agree - i dont
and nor i suspect do you with me

pavlovthecat · 31/05/2009 20:56

and yes howto if a man was to stay at home why not?

hercules1 · 31/05/2009 20:58

I ask again can I have my interest put on hold too for 5 years? I work full time btw and am raising the next generation.

Original poster
bubbleymummy · 31/05/2009 20:59

hercules do you have a child under 5/ earn less than 15k / work p/t - if so then you should get one too.... why are mums so undervalued in society? why is it seen as a bad thing that I'm at home raising my children? I'm working p/t too and still paying taxes so it's not like I'm not contributing anything - I'm just not paying back my loan at the min.

howto - I was nearly 27 when I had Ds1 - he was a surprise albeit a pleasant one I really don't appreciate lectures about contraception btw - maybe because of my debt to society some of you think I should have terminated my pregancy?

OP posts:
howtotellmum · 31/05/2009 21:01

pavolv- I think you forget how we as a country have an huge personal tax burden as it is- and with the debt under labour that will still eb being paid off by our grandchildren, how the f...do you think there is any money left in the kitty- or in our pre-tax pockets- to fund anything else?

Are you living on another plante?

If people want to have a student loan and children they have to face the consequences- it's not up to everyone else to pay even more tax to help them even more out of the situation they have created for themselves.

They have already got a very cheap loan, subsidised by those of us who juggle families and work,- enough is enough.

pavlovthecat · 31/05/2009 21:01

hercules - why not?

scottishmummy · 31/05/2009 21:02

oh take that big ole cross off your back BM now you are just feeling sorry for yourself.

absolutely no one said anything about termination or debt to society,except you

hercules1 · 31/05/2009 21:02

I'm a mum too. You could work full time outside the home like I do with 2 kids. You choose not to. What makes you deserve no interest and me have to pay it?

howtotellmum · 31/05/2009 21:03

Ok BM- you had your child at 26 and after 5years in HE presumably you worked for 3 years first, or maybe less. Well, that was your choice, and why should I not lecture you about contraception- you want to use my taxes to make your life easier!

violethill · 31/05/2009 21:03

Now now bubbley... no one is suggesting that.

And no one is saying it's a bad thing for you to stay at home - it's a choice!

I raised my children too, like hercules, like every damn mother and father. I worked full time while doing it, and for a few years was spending 90% of my earnings on childcare out of taxed income. No one offered to defer interest on any of our loans during this time! Yet we probably had less disposable income than you have!

You really don't want to accept this do you? You are making a choice to not work at the moment. You knew when you signed up for the loan what the conditions were. So why try to backtrack now?

Original poster
bubbleymummy · 31/05/2009 21:07

hercules, I don't know how much you earn so maybe it makes sense for you to work with 2 kids - it just doesn't for me in relation to childcare etc.

sm - not feeling sorry for myself at all - some comments were made earlier about not knowing about contraception and waiting until your loan is paid off to have children - doesn't always work like that.

OP posts:
pavlovthecat · 31/05/2009 21:08

howto well no, I don't expect, after paying for war, the banks fiasco to the tune of billions of £s, and the hundreds of thousands of £s (or more) on MP expenses that should not have been paid (given some of these have probably claimed for decades these overpayments) we will not have enough money. Although, the tax burden would be offset a little by all the millions (maybe even billions) of pounds of unclaimed benefits each year from people who do not get what they are actually entitled to (mainly as the government wait for those who have the wherewithall to go and find out about what they can get, to claim, and let the others fend for themselves).

Oh and there is also that fact that as we grow older we will pay tax for longer, given that by the time our children retire there is unlikely to be any version of a pension and they will be expected to retire at 70, if not 75. Thats a good few years of tax returns.

hercules1 · 31/05/2009 21:09

Your dh works does he not? Why cant childcare come out of both wages??
As I said earlier when dd was born we couldnt afford 2 lots of childcare to dh worked nights for a few years.

violethill · 31/05/2009 21:12

bubbley - again, individual choice comes into it.

Some of my friends thought I was mad to pay 90% of my income on childcare. They said they wouldn't do it. And I know (a few) people now who don't work, or wouldn't work for the minimum wage because it's not much more than benefits, or people who are very very careful to not work above a certain number of hours a week so they can maximise benefits etc. People have different opinions on what they are prepared to do.

You have decided to stay at home because you don't want to work and have to spend a lot of your earnings on childcare. Fine. But why should you have preferential treatment just because you've made that choice?
There will be thousands of people out there earning 15k or well above who no doubt have less money in their pocket for spending than you do.

howtotellmum · 31/05/2009 21:13

I think that you forget there are there other ways that your finances can be hit- I didn't have a student loan to repay, having left uni in the 1970s- however, I was a SAHM for many years which has depleted our potential household income by more than I care to think. Certainly £100Ks. But that was my choice- I don't expect the tax payer to somehow help make up the difference, or provide me with some sort of adjustment because i made a choice not to work for a while- and my career never took off again. My choice.

I suppose what I am saying is that having kids makes a difference to most people's incomes, whether you have a loan or not,whether you work and spend it on childcare, or whether you stay at home.

I also think that those of you who are suggesting further concessions need to get real- have you no idea of this country's debt mountain and how long it is going to take to repay that?

There is only so much in the kitty. I bet if you had to make a choice between funding cancer drugs and concessions on student loans you would choose the former- well, those are the realities.

scottishmummy · 31/05/2009 21:13

what is your degre in BM.will it be straight forward to get related work when children go to school

Original poster
bubbleymummy · 31/05/2009 21:14

we'd be worse off financially hercules - childcare etc. will cost more than my salary - so i guess it is my choice to have more money and more time with my children when they are babies and worry about the slc in a few years. still don't think it's a fair repayment system tho I think there are much fairer alternatives - maybe the slc needs some competition.

OP posts:
hercules1 · 31/05/2009 21:16

But surely childcare comes out of both your salaries??

As other posters have said you could work and build up your wage to earn more in the future - lots of people do it.

Because you choose not to do this you cant say the system is unfair because it's charging you the same as teh rest of us who do work full time.

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