Farking student loans muppets

[Indith]

The slightly trained monkeys at Student Loans have just decided that they made a mistake in my application for finance this year and that due to Dp earning more than me (no shit Sherlock, he has a job and I am a student) Ds is dependent on him, not me and I should never have been given the Child Care Grant. So I have to pay it back.

Given that it is almost the end of the year it should come as no surprise that I have spent the money on, wait for it...Crèche!

We are not too strapped for cash, but were both students when ds was born, dp has been working since September and obviously has his own loan repayments coming off his salary. We get CTC but now that we are into the new financial year get only a very small amount of WTC. The really annoying part of all of this is that I don't mind not being given the grant, if those are the rules then that is fine by me but they should have worked that out at the start of the year! Until April we would have been able to get the Child Care element of the WTC but didn't because the LEA was paying (and LEA pay 85% rather than 75%) so paying this back is going to leave us seriously out of pocket.

Like I say we are not stupidly strapped for cash but we still do have our budgets and I can't just make all of the money I have spent on child care over the year appear out of the ether!

Have asked what their complaints procedure is and have no intention of paying anything until I've exhausted every avenue. They admitted it is their mistake FGS and "apologise for any inconvenience and upset caused".

Offer to pay back the money weekly at a rate you can manage, even if it's only a few pounds and then get on to your MP and complain.

Yes, they should come to an agreement with you to pay it back in instalments (without interest, as they have admitted they made a mistake - so why should they profit?). It might be worth making a phone call to CAB for advice.

Good luck

Just really, really annoys me that I have to pay it back at all, even TC don't have to be paid back if they admit that it is their mistake! Plus my loan is gathering over £70 a month interest alone let alone getting to paying anything on top of that.

Sometimes these money advice places/CAB can get them to write things off, it might be worth a go...

I used to work for SLC part time, and here's the irony, I needed the extra cash to pay off my Student Loan

I speak from experience when I say that there are a lot of first class eejits there

Shall certainly give the CAB a ring then. Agree on the muppets, I gave up calling the central number a looooong time ago, they never knew what was going on. Always just call my local office direct.

It's run by a bunch of $%£$%£! For some strange reason they had been sending deferment papers for my loan to a house I lived in 10 YEARS ago, despite the fact that I have had a loan at my current address, me phoning several times etc. As a result I now have a load of fines etcI sympathise, they really are crap. I would go and see the CAB. Good luck!

avenanap, it is the rotten computer system that does that, they will need to 'link up' all of the accounts (each loan has a different number) and whoever you have spoken to hasn't had enough brain cells to work it out. It might be worth giving someone the a/c number for each loan over the phone, so's they change the address for each one.

Unfortunately, it's pot luck who you get on the phone. They can reverse the fines quite easily, they'll put up a little bit of a fight, saying it's your responsibility to change your address, but the mere fact you've supplied them with a more recent one is your 'trump card' and if they refuse to reverse your fines, do ask for their manager, the longer you keep them on the phone complaining, the more likely it is you'll get your fines reversed.

Part of the problem there is that the first person to answer the phone has a call target, so the quicker you 'process' someone, the more calls you're seen to have taken, never mind that they balls up half of the accounts by not spending enough time to sort it probably.

They sent it to a collection agency (which is part of the Student Loan Company). I owe £1500 in fines and missed payments because they were sending all the paperwork to the wrong address. I did try to complain but I didn't get anywhere. They did have my current address though because I have had a student loan whilst I've been here and have the paperwork from them to prove it! I shall try again. I need to get a student loan next year as I want to do medicine. They won't let me have one if I owe them this. Bastards!

It's more complicated when it goes to Agency status, but again I'd recommend the CAB or Moneymatters, or other such company. Ask them how you can get it out of agency status, and if you can come to an agreement to pay something monthly and make sure you have a current deferral for EVERY loan.

Good luck, I hope you manage to get some of the fines overturned.

Thankyou. (((sniff)))

Ouch, good luck!

Indith they shouldnt be charging you that much intrest!!! A student loan is supposed to be really low intrest because there is no garente when you will be able to pay it bk. If i were you i would phone up and see if you can talk to someone more senior who perhaps has their head screwed on... at the endof the day its their mistake and you have spent it. How the hell are you supposed to pay it bk when that is your income! Are they thick!!! They took ages processing my application last year for my student loan. Im a single parent on my own and it got to the point where i couldnt afford to buy baaby milk and nappies and was paying at the tills in morrisons will pennies out of a money box... im not kidding. Was really humiliating but everytime you ring them up u get some pillock who thinks their really smart chatting to you like your an idiot! They always have someone else to blame for the delay and send you round in circles... i give up with the idiots, Thank god i only have 1 more year left. I just hope that they manage to process my application in time this time. As i now have rent to pay and another child to support... Have no idea what i will do if they cock it up again!
I hate them!!!!

Well it is being investigated by the complaints people so shall see what happens.

Charlotte the interest rate is what it is I'm afraid and that is 4.8% which when you owe a lot at the end of 5 years of degree amounts to a heck of a lot of interest!

Personally I think the loans should be interest free, I'm not saying bring back grants for all as I accept that we couldn't continue to finance our universities that way but to be charging 4.8% is terrible. Dp is in a good job and earns a decent salary but his repayments will pretty much only cover interest.

dear god!!! See this is my problem... im nieve... i was told the rates were low so i believed them. I have only got 2 years worth of loans and have been lucky enough to get quite a few grants but still that rate of intrest is shocking! Infact its criminal. How the hell are you supposed to get through uni without the loan? I certainly couldnt. I have been pregnant on both years of my degree course and so having a job has been completely inconcievable whilst trying to keep up with commuting and the assignments.
I think that they should be intrest free as well. Why should someone benefit from that nesecity of our everyday living. I dont have a problem with the idea of a loan and paying it bk but i do with the intrest. Its frightening tho that you have to worry about these things whilst your trying to complete your education. What do the government want??? sorry gone off on a rant but i really do think its disgusting!