Q&A with Nichola Malton from the Student Loans Company -ANSWERS BACK

Why is the online application process so difficult with so many computer lockups we eventually had to phone for a postal form?

I am having to defer as my uncle was terminally ill but sadly passed away recently. I want to redo my second semester (Jan - July 12) and start again January 13. What happens to my payments for April/September?

I am currently a 29 year old mature student and a mum of a 6 year old boy and i have a disabled partner. I must say that Student Finance England have made the whole experience of being a student the most awful time ever. There phone lines take ages to answer, there system is "always down" the staff on the phone are none the wiser as to what the assessors need and the assessors dont take phone calls. The lose important documents ALL the time and send threatening letters. They finally confirmed my grant, then 4 months later told them i owe them £4500 without so much as a letter explaining why. They have taken all my grants off me and expect a cheque for £1800 in the post to them. They sent this without the courtesy of sending a letter explaining that they still required documents (every single document they requested had already been sent to them but conveniently lost!)

The assessors are anally retentive unhelpful people who is no help to mature students or mums. They ask for documents that there is simply no way of getting and then they attempt to take on the role of the tax office in investigating matters that have no issue to them. They described my partner's tax code as "funky". Which to be honest given the fact the Head of the Student Loan company has just resigned and been caught defrauding the tax system they are one complete joke. Everytime you try to complain they say "well we have got 50,000 claims to deal with".. to be honest mr no knowledge phone operator your company made its bed by promising pront dealings with potential students, now LIE IN IT!!

They have made these two years HELL and i dread having to apply for third year funding.

My Advice is get a bank loan to go through Uni because i am now on anti-depressants due to this lot.

Do you still have unreasonable and agressive methods of 'attempting' to recover payments from people who earn nothing, not even benefits, and as such cannot prove this?

I had to drop out of university due to simply not being able to borrow enough to cover my rent, let alone the cost of living too. I lived with my mother, begged a well known bank for a loan and continued my degree with the open university.

Even though I was studying the same amount as a full-time student the student loans company would not recognise this as full-time education, and as such demanded that because I could not produce benefit documents I would have to be subjected to regular bailiff threats.

I eventually finished my degree and got a well paid job which enabled me to pay back the money in one go. It was never my intention to 'not' pay it back.

What safeguarding policies and procedures do you have to ensure that no-one else is put through such an ordeal now?

Your computer system is a mess! I had a problem where you 'lost me' for 5 years. You were sending deferment letters and debt collection letters to a very old address, despite the fact that had moved twice since then, received student loans whilst in these other addresses and I was receiving letters and a student loan whilst I have lived at my current address.
I've tried to sort this out on many occasions and have been told that it's my fault as I should have told you that I've moved. I did. Hence the fact that I've had student loans from you whilst in my current address. I also received letters from collection agencies which are stressful. I now disabled and, to be honest, it's the last thing that I need. I send deferment papers back to you and I hear nothing. I then get a letter stating that I now owe you X amount as it appears that you've not received them.

From September 2012 I'll have 2 of my children at university. I can't see anywhere on the forms where you can record this. Is this a consideration when calculating the maintenance loan?

Hello, i droped my course and university this year(1st) and firmed my possition in different uni and course for next year. However when i try to follow the guidelines that your site gives i cant change my application online.the button to edit inside my account is not there. How do i let you know that i changed?fill in the form you have send to me ans write down all changes?
Thank you

Why is my son (23) still not considered an independent student? Having worked full-time since age 20 and now living with his working partner (this past few months) he still has to give mine and his father's income for assessment. He is self supporting to everyone but Student Finance.

Why do the slc charge £25 to send out letters saying you are late repaying when in fact it is them who are late in processing your deferment?

When parents are self-employed there are good income years and bad years. Why has my daughter's loan been assessed on the same 'high' income year twice.

She's in her second year. We've been asked for and have submitted four years' of figures so far and you've used only one of them two years running - the highest of the four. We haven't yet applied for a loan for academic year 2012-13.
By the time she was notified of the loan assessment for the current academic year the term had already begun and she was committed to accommodation which she could have afforded if you had used the year's figures you said you were going to use.

And you'll probably reply that we can submit a current year assessment form for the academic year 2012-13 but we can't predict at this point in the year what our actual income will be for the tax year ending April 2013.

What arrangements are in place for HM Forces kids whose parents are overseas, and for UK kids whose parents are UK taxpayers, but are working abroad (non HM Forces/crown servants)?

And what do you do about students who's parents are unable to contribute to their children's university for reasons of priority, neglegence, other financial committments etc.?

Do they just not get to go to university?

Why do you require evidence that someone who has previously been married is now living alone, but don't require proof that someone who has never been married lives alone? Are people who have been married before more likely to lie .

Why is your system set up to make it difficult to actually speak to someone who knows what they're talking about? Why don't you request all the documents need when you process the application, instead of asking for one document, getting it back and then asking for another? Why is it currently taking over a month to respond to complaints (my assumption is that it's because you have so many because of the poor training and skills your staff appear to have)

I am currently helping my son complete his application, however I am concerned that so much is still 'yet to be confirmed'
Could you please tell me

1. When will final terms and conditions be published? Current one (which has no date or version number for reference) merely states to keep checking on the site. I am advising my son not to sign until clear terms and conditions are available.
   
2. Why has the maintenance loan for 2013/2014 been set at the same as 2012-2013 when we are still expected to have inflation at 3-5%? How are students expected to live on loans that do not keep up with prices.?
   
3. Given the above can you guarantee that tuition fees will not rise in 2013-2014? Why will interest still be at RPI plus 3% when loan is not increased by RPI?
   
4. Having read other comments on here about SFC lack of performance, what will SFC be doing to ensure my son has an error free 30 years with your organisation?
   
5. HMRC are moving towards Real Time Information over the next few years. What changes will be made within SFC to also offer students up to date information, interest, and payments at any point in any year?
   

Excellent questions MrsA. Hope to see some decent answers to them. Particularly regarding the interest. It's horrendous considering the current economic climate and smacks of racketeering TBH; we have no choice bit to borrow from SLC. You'd go bump in the private sector - too expensive and too incompetent. I realise that sounds harsh but I'm into my 5th year of dealings with my third child now and frankly I'm unimpressed.

I too am shocked at the interest rate on the maintenance loan - students starting in 2012 have indeed been royally screwed.

If my dd applies for the maintenance loan (in case) does she need to take it? Or can she just then not take it and then not be liable for the stealth interest rates?

I'd love to know if all other parents/students were aware just how much interest rates will be going up this year.

Doubt it goingmad. People get taken in by this 'it's just the same as a graduate tax' spin. Well I don't know of a tax that has interest added and that increases day-on-day when you are earning under the threshold.

(can you tell I'm pretty pissed off about it?)

My son is going to University this autumn. I am a housewife with no income from employment but my husband has earned income around £20,000 a year. I have question on filling in the income assessment application form 2011/2012 for the student maintenance grant and hope you can help. I made some capital gains on selling UK shares (within threshold limit £10,600 this year) and small winnings on lottery, premium bond and spread betting.

In the application form, there isn?t a question to fill in about these profits. I have seen an online tax consultant advice these profits won?t be taken into account for student maintenance grant purpose. Please advise whether I need to fill these in and what evidence you needed. Do I need to fill in self assess tax return form because HM Revenue & Customs only need self assess tax return on income or capital gains above a certain level but I was not. Also, can the losses from earlier years been used to deduct the gains. Thanks

I am about to have a baby. Would he get better support at university if we didn't put DHs name on the birth certificate?

Now that's what I call forward thinking Starlight!

I am a mature student. I was born in the UK and I have always been an English national. I worked in Australia from 08/02/09-07/03/09 on a temporary basis. on the application for student finance how should I answer the question:

'In the 3 years prior to the start of the first academic year of your course, did you live outside the UK at any time?' If I reply 'no' it asks me to provide my addresses, but asks for no other information, and then tells me I am not eligible for student finance.

This is in contrast to the definition an 'ordinary resident' set out on the direct.gov website:

'You?re 'ordinarily resident' in England if it?s where you normally live, even if you live abroad on a temporary basis.'

I have been in contact by phone and by email with the Student Finance Company about this but no one has been able to answer my query (apparently the managers have not yet received the training required to answer my query!).

Whilst I was in Australia I put all my UK affairs to the postal address of my family home in Devon, for that reason should I use that address to declare my address for the last three years when applying for student finance?

I would very much appreciate any advice you can offer on this matter.

I am a mature student. I was born in the UK and I have always been an English national. I worked in Australia from 08/02/09-07/03/11 on a temporary basis. on the application for student finance how should I answer the question:

'In the 3 years prior to the start of the first academic year of your course, did you live outside the UK at any time?' If I reply 'no' it asks me to provide my addresses, but asks for no other information, and then tells me I am not eligible for student finance.

This is in contrast to the definition an 'ordinary resident' set out on the direct.gov website:

'You?re 'ordinarily resident' in England if it?s where you normally live, even if you live abroad on a temporary basis.'

I have been in contact by phone and by email with the Student Finance Company about this but no one has been able to answer my query (apparently the managers have not yet received the training required to answer my query!).

Whilst I was in Australia I put all my UK affairs to the postal address of my family home in Devon, for that reason should I use that address to declare my address for the last three years when applying for student finance?

I would very much appreciate any advice you can offer on this matter.