Hi - Duty4you - was the advice to just ignore it directed at me? I have not sent the CCA/SAR request yet, as I'm waiting to see if the SLC contacts me again. Credit rating is not an issue for me at present, but I feel that I should at least do something about this; they are unlikely to forget about the debt, and as far as I'm concerned I have done nothing wrong and can prove that I earn below the repayment threshold. many thanks.

hi - no plans whatsoever to return. One thing that prompted me to seek out this forum is that a person here in a similar position received a letter from the local unit of EOS Debt Solutions demanding payment. So, I'm also wondering how long the arm of the SLC and its DCAs can extend, many thanks again

hi Andy, thanks for the reply roughly 9 months ago as i recall. A statement. What is interesting is that i have three loans outstanding (91,92,93) but all recent correspondence refers only to the first loan. My position, which is probably naive i admit, is that I contest the arrears and wish to continue to defer as I still earn under the SLC's threshold.

so, I have decided that I need to sort this out one way or the other, and I'd be grateful for advice on the appropriate course of action. As stated below, I have no real idea what the SLC thinks I owe them at this point so, after looking at a lot of previous threads, I believe I should kick off with the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) request - as below (these letters are C&P from a previous thread) Student Loans Company Limited, 100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, Scotland. G2 7JD. SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST. Re: Account Number: XXXXX Dear Sir/Madam, I hereby make a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act 1998 and request that the Student Loans Company Ltd. supply me with the following: 1) a complete list of transactions and charges relating to my history with your organisation (trading as either the Student Loans Company, Smith Lawson & Co [which I understand to be one and the same], or any other name); 2) where there has been any event in my account history which has required manual intervention, disclosure of any indications, notes or other evidence by any member of staff or any other person, which either caused or resulted in manual interventions in relation to my business with you (If you are unable to supply this data because there has been no such manual intervention, then please be so kind as to confirm this in your response); 3) records of decisions and communications relating to any changes to my credit status/history made by your organisation. I enclose a cheque for the statutory maximum fee of £10 for which I would like a receipt by return of post. As per the Data Protection Act 1998 you have 40 days from the date of this letter in which to comply with this request. Failure to do so fully will be reported to the Information Commissioner and I will seek compensation through the Courts. Yours faithfully xxxxxxx And also the CAA request as follows: Student Loans Company Limited, 100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, Scotland. G2 7JD. CONSUMER CREDIT ACT REQUEST Re: Account Number: XXXXXXXXXXXX Dear Sir/Madam, I hereby request a true copy of the signed agreement for the above account [or accounts if more than one] under the terms of Section 77(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, enclosing the statutory maximum fee of £1 per account in the form of a cheque. As outlined in the Act you have 12 days from the date of this letter in which to comply with this request. Failure to do so is a criminal offence under the Act and as such will, in the event of none-compliance, be pursued further with the relevant legal authority. Yours faithfully xxxxxxxx Now, I have two problems. Firstly, I live in a country that does not issue chequebooks and I do not have a UK bank account - should I include cash and send recorded delivery/TNT? Secondly, would I be better getting a friend to post the letters from the UK using their return address, or would that somehow implicate them in this sorry mess? Finally, I note that many people suggest writing 'This account is in dispute' at the top of the letters..is this necessary and, or, correct? Apologies for seemingly talking to myself, I'm just a bit lost and need to be pointed in the right direction, many thanks in advance

Further to the above - I note that other people with similar problems have been advised to go down the CCA/S.A.R route with SLC. Would this be the right place for me to start, as I have no copies of the correspondence and at this point am unsure exactly how much the SLC thinks I owe them. If so, how do I go about this in the correct manner? many thanks.

Firstly, I have read all the previous forum entries on SLC and various charges and collection issues, and whilst they have been extremely informative I have found nothing that relates directly to my situation, hence this post. So, first a little background. I took three loans from the SLC during 91-94. In 95 I left the UK for work and have stayed abroad ever since. Initially I simply ignored the letters the SLC sent to my parents UK address, but eventually I contacted the company and asked them to send future correspondence to my address overseas, simply as I did not want the SLC or any of its agents hassling my family. I then applied for deferment on the first loan repayment, supplying the SLC with written confirmation of my earnings, and deferment was duly granted. I did this for several years and all seemed fine; we had simply settled into a nice rhythm it seemed - they sent deferment papers, I sent them back and they were approved. Then, roughly seven years ago I received a letter stating that I owed arrears. I queried this, stating that as per usual I had sent my deferment form back the day after i had received it. The SLC pressed ahead regardless, stating that I owe them money, but did however grant deferment. The following year I received a demand for repayment, and a demand for arrears, plus interest, and a host of other charges (20 pound letters etc). Again I queried this, and sent the SLC a letter stating that I did not acknowledge the arrears and that my deferment was still valid. (After a while i realised the problem - the SLC was posting my deferment form with a second class stamp, and by the time it arrived in my corner of Eastern Europe the deadline to return it had already passed. This I pointed out in my letter, and asked that they make a note of this and pay for postage that might ensure I received the form in good time.) Correspondence then dried up from their side, and, I admit, stupidly, forgot about the alleged debt. Fast forward to around 2004 and a whole barrage of letters from the SLC demanding immediate repayment on the 91 loan, and no more deferment forms for the 92 or 93 loans. I called them and reiterated that I had done nothing wrong, owed them nothing, and that as I did not earn over their threshold was entitled to defer again. The, admittedly very pleasant, person on the SLC help-desk said my concerns would be noted and a letter sent. Yet again, I received no written reply, but 6 months later a deluge of demands from a third party debt collector. They too dried up (i admit I just ignored them), then after another 6 months a futher deluge of letters from a second, and then a third UK debt collector. As it stands, I have received no correspondence from either a collections agency or the SLC in the last 12 months. I continue to earn less than the 23k threshold, and have done each and every year since i left the UK. I have documentation to prove this, but i suspect the time for talking to them is over and deferment is no longer an option. My worry now is that as the country I chose to make my home is now an EU member, they will sell the debt to a local agency and some lunk will come banging on my door to collect what is now a sizeable amount (roughly 5k GBP from recollection - all from an initial arrears charge of approx 250 GBP caused by the SLC's 2nd class postage....) Apologies for the long winded first post, but I'm at a loss about what to do. As I see it, I was following their instructions to the letter, then for some reason and without any real warning they went to defcon 4. I have not tried to hide from the debt - I could simply have chosen not to inform them of my true whereabouts - and have, in the initial phase, been nothing but compliant when asked to provide details of earnings in order to secure deferment. is there anything I can possibly do other than the obvious change of address?? many thanks in advance.