Hi, I have old style student loans. My income has always been below the level required for repayment. I had not recieved any mail from them for a few years. Then a few months ago i started recieving " we have lost contact with you get in touch" letters. they were sent to me then to my mum. This struck me as a little odd. They had not " lost contact" they simply hadnt been in touch. I emailed them enquiring as to what they wanted. They now are claiming i owe them 3 years worth of repayments. They say my last deferment expired in 2010. i emiled them back explaining that this was the first contact i had had from them , that they had not informed me of the arreas and that they had an admin problem at their end. Frank

Hello folks, Sorry for the possibly stupid question but it's causing me a bit of worry. I was at Uni from 2006-2010 and I'm now going to be emigrating to the US soon. As part of this my parents are giving me nearly a grand total of £30k in savings to go with me so I can be secure over there for a while. The question is, can the SLC dive into my bank account and rip out the £27k which I owe them? I'm currently below the threshold at which repayments start and of course when I make the move I'll inform them I'm moving overseas.

Hi, I'm sorry if this has been asked and answered before, but I've had a good scout through the masses of Link/SLC threads and although helpful, I can't find the answer to my situation so thought I'd just ask... I have a student loan taken out in 1995, which I had always deferred until my last deferrment in 2006 (I have the letter advising I need to defer before October 2007 to continue not having to pay). I heard nothing from them until June last year when I got a random letter which advised that Link now had the debt and they wanted it all in 21 days. I spoke to some nasty piece of work on the phone a few days later to advise I couldn't pay, and then wrote to the company to complain as the woman had tried to advise me to take out a credit card or loan to pay off the debt, and I knew that was illegal. I acknowledged the debt in writing at that point (dammit) and I'm pretty sure that I was just under the 6 years SB limit, meaning that I'm now liable. I have checked my credit file (thanks for the link to Noddle!) and there's nothing on there, I've never made any payments at all. I did make an offer to pay £30 a month but they refused that and said I could pay £120 a month instead as they thought that was 'fair'! I refused and upped my offer to £50 per month but they're still saying no. I just want to make sure that yes, it isn't SB'd so I am liable, and I'd like some advice on how I can get them to accept what I'm offering. I might be able to make a full & final settlement but have no idea how to work out what they're likely to accept. What I really need is someone to give me some sensible advice and clarity on this - especially as they're such devious ****s, before their incessant calls (which I now ignore!), letters and emails drive me mad! Sorry to ramble, and thanks so much for any help you can give, it really is appreciated

Hi My partner was offered a place on a degree course as a mature student and made an application to the Student Loan Company. In spite of making the application long in advance, they lost his information asked for him to resend the info. He made a number of calls to enquire about how it was progressing and they made a number of excuses from not being able to find paperwork to a backlog of work slowing applications down. As a result my partner started on his course and was there around five weeks when he received a letter from the SLC saying he was not entitled to anything as he had received financing twenty years earlier. As a result he had to withdraw from the course and the university is doggedly chasing him for fees. He is unable to pay anything as he receives no income whatsoever as I am supporting us both on my part time earnings while he looks for work. He is not eligable for JSA. This has been explained to the University and although they are sympathetic they are still pushing for payment. Surely the fault lies with the SLC losing the paperwork and the time they took processing. Where does he stand legally as he has no assetts whatsoever. Any advice would be appreciated

Dear CAG people I am in fear I am about to be under siege from our friends Rossendales The bailiffs or perhaps just some other thugs in their employment. I am copying the email I am sending to the SLC asking for them to call them off in desperation as I am on my own with this. cc of email to SLC 8/2/2013 after bailiffs preliminary drive-by . To ,,,,,, Is this amount of £6569.66 the full amount to repay for my student loans or just the interest? I believe you are mistaken with your statement "Your account was also due to be repaid in full 31st March 2011" . When I took out my student loan, I agreed to pay it back once I earned in excess of 80% of the average national wage. There was no duration attached to this condition. At no time have I earned more than this amount and this can be verified with HMRC. The fact that I have at times taken too long to prove the modesty of my income does not make my income any greater than that stated. The reason I have occasionally taken too long to defer repayments is that I am a dysthymic dyslexic with ADHD. I have had problems with late payments in the past and have previously been 'visited' by your friends Rossendales Bailiffs. I am known to them as a vulnerable single parent with mental health issues. As I have stated before, I fully intend to repay this debt to the Student's Loan Company as soon as I am in a position to do so. Please cease your engagement of heavy handed debt collectors immediately. Yours sincerely D Norman

Hello, Well the annual SLC hell arrived - deferment. I sent everything off in good time, recorded delivery, email, fax and also telephoned as every year they deny receipt so thought this year would be extra careful. I'm self employed and like many people at the moment, I on paper made a small loss overall in the previous tax year. I thought at least I don't have to pay the SLC. But no. They have rejected the application to defer on the basis that "the law states you need a minimum of XX per week to live on" and stating they will not defer my loans! I've communicated in writing that, as I am below the threshold for repayment, there are no payments due and I have no further information to give them. Now threatening legal action and accuring arrears at a scary rate. I've tried to complain to the Financial Ombudsman, who have so far in three months failed to respond at all. I'm actually considering letting them take me to court for the alleged arrears as I think there is a very good chance that they would loose on the basis that I am below the income threshold and also they have treated me unfairly and breached the CCA, I have a chance to have the loans written off. Any advice please? I would rather resolve but they are adamant that they will not defer on the basis of my tax return, accepted by the Tax office! Getting quite stressful really. Many thanks.

My son got ripped off by the system some years ago. His college tutor advised him to redo year 2 of his course. So he took the advice, didn't complete the last few weeks of year 2, and intended to restart that year the following Sept (2007). However, the college converted into a university in the meantime and he was told during the Summer holidays that he couldn't retake year 2 as planned. He appealed and was told he could return at the end of the school year to retake only the bit he'd missed. The Student Loan Company (SLC) deemed that would amount to part-time education and so he would not be entitled to continue his student loan. Without the loan, he couldn't continue and so was forced to drop out. SLC then deemed that he'd intentionally dropped out and so was liable to repay the loan in full. I suspect that the SLC decision is perverse, but that's not the point of my post. Since leaving full-time education, he hasn't earned enough to take him over the payment threshold. He's now emigrated to Australia and set up his own business that's making insufficient profit to take him over the payment threshold. Unfortunately, SLC are demanding that evidence of his income be verified by an accountant or lawyer, which would incur significant professional fees. I have to ask why a copy of his tax return to the ATO would not be adequate and whether SLC have the right to demand that my son, effectively, spends a large proportion (more than he can afford) of his income on having his accounts professionally verified/audited when the only reason for doing so is SLC's demand? All help gratefully received.

Dear CAG members. This is my first post. Thanks so much for all the excellent information in the different threads sharing information and experiences of 'dealing with' SLC and co - it's been very informative and helpful, thank you. I have a situation and I would greatly appreciate some specific advice on next steps. Last week after nearly 12 years, I received a 'Notice of Sums in Arrears' letter from the SLC and I would like your help in order that I may deal with the situation in an intelligent manner and avoid making foolish mistakes. The history is: I have outstanding pre-1998 student loans. I deferred from 1996 until 1999 when the SLC lost my deferrment applications, placed my account in arrears and handed me over to a debt collection agency (can't remember which one). I tried to make repayments but then in 2000, I moved abroad and communications went from bad to worse - nothing I sent ever seemed to arrive, I no longer possessed the original paperwork that they kept asking for (as I had already sent it to them) and eventually it became logistically impossible to continue making payments to the UK. I wrote several subsequent letters but never heard back from them. Until, last Saturday... It seems elephants aren't the only ones with long memories and far from being written-down, my loan has instead been happily accruing monthly interest (and presumably other charges) in the intervening period to reach the now princely amount of £6,100 (of which £5,300 is considered 'in arrears' - why it isn't all in arrears, I don't know) - almost double the amount originally borrowed. As far as I know this is the only correspondance they have sent and there are no CCJs on my file. The amounts seem very high. I'm surpised they didn't wrtite the loan-off years ago. By coincidence, I only just returned back to the UK two months ago after all this time. Having read some of the longer threads here, I assume my account was returned to SLC from the private agency and they searched for me using the poll records where I'm registered as living (and looking back through all my mail I can see they first sent me a letter on 10 Feb this year and then an identical one (apart from the increased charges) exactly six months later on 10 August - which I imagine was an entirely computer generated exercise. All I can say is: thank heavens my Mother-in law is ex-directory and they haven't been able to phone her since they got the poll records! Anyway, I have the feeling that they are are going to get 'very interested' the moment I make contact with them and wanted to ask your help on how best, with your experience, you think I should to go about it. Best, Steve.

*SOLVED* Hi please could you offer any advice or direction. yesterday i received a letter (click for large) asking for outstanding arrears on my student loan. This has never happened before since i've always been able to defer and this time i had it deferred a number of years..i have a Debt Relief Order in place since last year and am on Long term Incapacity benefit..needless to say this is something i don't need.. Although its been passed to a DCA,is it worth contacting the student loans company and clarifying my position? thanks for any help you can offer.

Hi there, In my 2nd year of uni I left in Dec 2001 but received my 2nd grant payment in Jan 2002. I never heard anything about this until I received a phone call about it a few months ago and now a letter dated 30th June 2012 requesting payment in full, £1450. My question is, before I contact them to make offer of payment within my means, is this not covered by the Limitations Act in that after 6 years they cannot pursue me for this date? I am aware that Student Loans post 1998 are exempt, I have a student loan also which is paid through my salary when I am working. However this is a grant. Your advice appreciated. Cheers, Maxine

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Hi, Firstly, what a great forum with helpful knowledgeable people! I'd like to ask for advise too please: Background: I have 5 old style 93-97 loans. From 98 until 2005 I've lived in the UK but I've never earned the amount to repay so have successfully deferred every year For the last 7 years I've lived in the Caribbean, financially supported by my wife so continued deferring successfully. Since being abroad my mother has been the postal contact for SLC for forms, etc. In 2011 I completed my forms as usual, with my mother's new address, as my mother was here visiting me at the same time she took the deferment forms back to the UK to post. In 2012 I contacted them to see if I could defer online. Whilst I was talking to them they said they wanted to transfer me to 'trace' department to update my contact details. Whilst talking to 'trace' they said that they hadn't received my 2011 deferment forms and therefore hadn't received my mother's new address to post letters to, so there were arrears outstanding. I explained they must be lost by Royal Mail or somewhere in house at SLC. Soon after I was told my file was being transferred to Buchanen, Clarke and Wells to recover the debt and that I was to contact them. I contacted them by email and whilst waiting for a reply my mother received a letter from SLC saying my file had been transferred to Smith Lawson Company to recover the debts and had been charged an extra GBP 60 for the pleasure, despite me doing as advised by SLC to contact BCW. So, my questions to those knowledgeable people are: As I'm not earning any money and live abroad what 'legal proceedings' can they take towards me? Would my mother's address get bad credit rating as this is where my letters are being sent? Say I move back to Europe (but not UK) in the future and I got bad credit rating from this mess, would I get bad credit rating in Europe too? Any other advise, until I can afford to pay back what I owe? Thank you very much in advance, and apologies for the long winded explanation but I wanted to give as much info as possible.

Hi All, I have 3 Statute Barred (1992 - 1996) accounts with SLC. I have been paying 1 of them off - [before I found CAG alas] - through a direct debit with Wescot Credit. I have now recieved CCA's for all 3 accounts, but I am concerned that Wecsot or SLC have extended my repayment period without my knowledge, to start repaying one or both of the other accounts, that I have not acknowledged. If this has happened, is it allowed? SAR request sent to SLC - awaiting reply. Any help or advice would be gratefully received cyclist

I know it might be too early to worry, but here goes. I am a final year student (4th yr), an EU citizen, and I first applied for student finance in my second year (2007-2008). I got the full Maintenance Loan and Grant for 2008-2009. Applied again next year. Got the same support for 2009-2010. This year, when I applied, I received the first instalment of Maintenance Loan and Grant, and then, all of a sudden, my application was transferred from Birmingham LEA to the central SLC office, something called Migrant Worker Team. After a long documents' battle, the "team" decided I was not eligible for support NEITHER this year, NOR the last year . They cancelled both of my applications (but not the 2007-8). Now I received a letter saying I owe the SLC nearly 4000 pounds in overpaid grant (about 900 for that first installment I received this year, and 3100 for the full payment of grant I received last academic year). The letter says that this money will be deduced from any further support I am eligible for (which is nil), or recovered at the end of my course. I assume this "overpayment" will not be "recovered" as a loan, but in one instalment, as it is a grant. Do they have a right to cancel my application from a year ago and demand me paying the "overpayments" if it was THEIR mistake, not noticing I was " ineligible" last year? I got the confirmation and scheduling of payments, and all sorts of other correspondence... Last year, they even sent me a letter similar to one which this year led to my application being cancelled (something along the lines "please send us some documents because we need additional evidence") ; but they NEVER did anything about it, simply sent me another one confirming the payment dates! In a few words, got the money, and after a year they decided "actually, we shouldn't have sent you this money, so give it back." I don't really know the rules surrounding that, can anyone give some advice on what my options are? I would like to get some basic information on how to deal with this, before going to a solicitor or seeking official legal advice. I don't really know if it is necessary in this case, seeking advice from a solicitor, so I figured this forum would be a good starting point... I guess I could snoop around and find that 900 quid they overpaid me this year, but I simply can't afford paying three thousand in one go... Thanks in advance for any advice!

Today Saturday 4th December Link Financial Just Called To ask about the balance on my 98' loan. The Loan was definately applied for after July 98'. I must have applied for it when I got into second year. They Say I owe £2500. I have heard nothing from SLC since 2004 at least. The lady at link said that there was a £4.90 payment made within the last 6 years when I said that I will status Bar the account. I have never made such payment. Have i made a mistake by even talking to them?? She confirmed my parents address where I have been looking after my late brother. This is how they have traced me... here is the background. My younger brother died 1 month ago and I was in charge of his affairs. His Student loan has been waived. I had completely forgot that I had a balance on my loan. The SLC contacted me last week to confirm my address. They must have seen the address from the letter I sent them with his Death Certificate. They have not previously been in contact with me since at least 2004 and my address has changed a number of times since. The have made attempts to contact my parents home while I have been away, but the address the have for me now I left in 2005. My question is what can I do? This is a difficult time for me and my family and I don't need Link calling every 2 minutes. The loan in question was a 1998 loan. What status Barred letter can I send on Monday? or do I wait for something to come in the post? I have no written correspondence from them or the SLC. What do I do now? I really don't have 2.5k and I don't really earn that much.