The student finance people are demanding MY customer reference number to support my daughters application - I took out one loan on paper in 1992

[CottonOn]

I of course have no idea what it is. It says it doesn’t matter how long ago it was and to use the customer number I was given even if it was completed ‘on paper’ (it was) The website says NO when I give it my ID details and tells me to call a 0300 number at 16p per minute and tells me the wait is at least 45 minutes. I’m not even in the UK this month so it will be astronomical. HELP! This can’t be normal - what am I missing? Other than ancient documents? I can’t see any other way. My husband is going to have the same problem.

Or is it just your questions in your section as a parent that you're talking about? Wasn't clear from what you've just said.

It was fine though. It was absolutely clear we were getting nowhere and going round in circles online, so we gave up, just did the forms on paper and sent them off.

No, this is the first question on a questionnaire that starts by saying x has applied for student finance and states you are the parent . It gives her name and then says you need to give your own details.

this has fried my brain a bit - have you got the time to tell me the best way to fix this? Just get the form? I’m scared stiff she won’t be able to pay rent day one.

Well I had to have a CRN as well as DD when we did it. I have never had a student loan. It was for all the correspondence etc.

I think you're confused tbh.

Hi again,
Having read this thread, I am going to print off the form, fill in and send it off asap.
Can't upload to account as can't get into account!
The sooner we get on with it the better I guess!
Good luck!

Just spoke to my sister and she had this problem 9yrs ago for her eldest...but she had her student loan paper work! I definitely don't!

Student loans co are bonkers, I'm sorry to hear it's getting worse 😩 DH once had to write a physical letter to "prove" he was financially supporting me because I dared to be a SAHM for a few years. A few months later they asked for another one in case my circumstances had changed. I called them and told them they hadn't. They said they still need a letter. I told them no. They insisted. We never sent them one. They never mentioned it again and the world didn't end.

This is madness! Doesn’t feel like progress if the only workaround is to submit paper forms rather than online. Not only do people not tend to keep paperwork for several decades, they move house, change name etc which makes matching people up reliably virtually impossible. NI number would be the most sensible data point.

indeed - I would happily give it to them. I’m thinking of sending in a GDPR request on what data they hold on me just to get my stupid customer number!!

respectfully 🙂 the problem is I already have a CRN because I have had a loan, but I’ll be darned if I know what it is. Honestly, I’ve spent quite a lot of time on this today, I’m pretty certain I’m up to speed 👍

Just phone them, I managed to get them to change my details by remembering an old address they had on file and now I can see my SL account again and receive statements.

OP is correct and it's very frustrating when people who haven't done this process yet for their DC are telling here she's wrong!

Everyone else who has done it (including me) will corroborate the OP that she is correct!

Hope you get it sorted quickly!

just blank out her name?

I keep trying to phone but I’m not in the UK until June and it’s a 0300 number saying it will be 45 minutes. It was 1992 and I borrowed 500 quid in total over 3 years 😳

It’s not like that - she had applied and given her parents details - she is the applicant and we are sent emails to support her application - we are still within her application officially.

did you mean to quote me?

i meant blank her name and post a screen shot of the message 🤷

If you Google pff2 it takes you to a form you can fill in with your kid’s details. It’s not a big deal.

I had this too. I couldn't get past their security on the phone because they asked me what address they had on file 30 years ago. I've moved about 20 times since then! I had to write to them in the post eventually. I questioned how that was more secure. They had no answer...

Bonkers.

Why do you need a screenshot of the message?

That's weird. We applied for the maximum loan from 2019-2023 and I didn't have to put that. I had a small student loan around 1992.

You can get a paper form to do it. My loan was from '93 and this was how I got round it. I did know the loans numbers but when I went to apply online it insisted that I must have an online account because I'd borrowed before, but it was before the days of the internet so there was no "online" then!

I had this too. I got through on the phone and they located me on the system and kept
trying to email me so I could log into my own student finance account but it just wouldn’t work. The adviser said she’d come across another similar case just before I called.

My DP had already done theirs online (no previous loans). The adviser was lovely and helpful and directed me to the form on the website and suggested I just fill in my details there and email it back.

Am still waiting to hear but she said it would be around 18 May.

It's asking the student, not the student's Mum.

I had the exact same thing. I had student loans in the late ‘90’s before the internet even existed. Ridiculously frustrating phone line with no option to sort it out. In the end I printed out and posted off the form required to support a students application. That said, there has been no update to SD’s account with them so who the hell knows what’s going on? This was 3 weeks ago.