When does my student loan expire?

[Semester]

I took out student loans in my last two years at Uni - 1991-2 and 1992-3 . Sadly for me, I have never earned enough to pay them back, and they now stand at just over 2k.

I recall reading that they would be cancelled after 25 years if not paid back, but I can't find that on any of the paperwork they send me each year, and nor can I remember if it is 25 years since taking the first one, or the end date of the last one.

Anyone know? Do you reckon they will tell me when 25 years is up, or just hopefully keep sending me the please pay letters?

2k seems like such small change now compared to what our children will have to shell out. Mind you a few years before me, people I know went travelling in the summer on the grants and claimed HB in the summer too! How things have changed .

Couldn't you just settle the debt and pay it back?

(1) Um, no actually, I can't.
(2) the SLC don't expect me to, as my monthly salary is way, way, way below their cut-off point
(3) Point of principle. When I applied to Uni, I was told I would get a grant (which I did for my first year), not that I would have to take out a loan.

Is that ok with you Cogito? Do you have an answer to the question i actually posed or did you just fancy being provocative?

There was a thread on here a couple of days back that said it was an urban myth that loans are ever written off... I thought it was 15 years...

I wasn't being provocative at all. Just thinking that you've had the benefit of the money for over 20 years and, as you say, it's not exactly a large amount. But if you can't afford it....

On MSE I remember reading (from Martin himself) that debts are cancelled either 25 years from the year of graduation or when you reach 65. They are also cancelled if you are unfit for work. HTH

I'm pretty sure they are written off. I think it might be 25 years. I'll see if I can find where I read it.

Thanks for the helpful responses. So, hopefully 5 years from now they will be cancelled? Yay!

Cognito I am not sure what you meant by your comment about 'having the benefit of the money for 20 years'. I got about £1000 over two years twenty years ago which was spent on my student accommodation, food and books when I was 19-21. While I may still have the odd book left from that time, the fact that my salary is stil so low suggests I have not been reaping the rewards of that sum for the past 20 years .

Do you have strong feelings about this?

Oh, and your '...' after the can't afford it statement is somewhat patronising and presumptive...

It gets written off when you reach the age of 50. If you ring SLC they should send you a copy of your original agreement if you need one - they did me, but it was so badly photocopied that I coudln't read it BUT they did say on the phone it was when you reach 50.

For students who studied and took out their student loans before 2010 the balance will be written off after 25 years. I'm not sure if this is from the date the loan was paid to you or the date that your studies finished. Either way the debt will be written off by 2018 unless you start earning enough to of it back before then. Repayments start being made once you are earning over 15k pa.

My student debt is a hell of a lot more than yours and due to ill health I haven't been able to pay any back yet.

Why not just give them a ring and then you will find out for sure.

You have one of the mortgage style loans based on the dates you said.

So the info you need is here.

www.studentloanrepayment.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=93,3867066&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

While SLC are a nightmare, the website is not bad now.

On the positive side for you, I went to uni 2001-2004 and those loans won't be cancelled until I retire, and the repayment threshold is £15k.

Current students are paying an interest rate of 6.6%.

There are big benefits to being older when it comes to uni costs. £2k in loans is nothing!

Ta for replies. Thanks for tracking down the link for me .
Not too long to wait then.

I am sorry that loans after mine got so much more punitive