Hi all, I am not the first to post on this issue but I wanted to get some advice about the appalling mess that Sallie Mae UK created when it went bust. They were a subsidiary of the American private loan company and they briefly funded postgraduate education in the UK for a year or two. I foolishly borrowed money in 2006-7. They folded and the debt was passed on to various companies: Eagle Consulting, Total Credit Financial Services and most recently, Capquest who I believe are a debt collection company. There has been the odd complicated statement with huge interest added over the years from each of the companies listed , but no attempts at contact, no paperwork or phone calls to arrange a schedule of payment and nobody checking when I actually finished my PhD studies. I haven't spoken to anybody from the company and I have only had one email exchange with them - in 2009, when they (Eagle consulting) sent me three letters saying I'd missed payments. I emailed to say I was still studying and they updated the system to show I would be finishing in 2010. If that had happened, my first payments would have been due after a nine month deferral, so autumn 2010. Due to dropping to part time status, I actually submitted my thesis in summer 2013 but they didn't know that since they never asked again! My question is this: how does one establish a cause of action for a private student loan? Is there any way of establishing this is a statute barred debt or not? If not, I will need to challenge them about the exorbitant interest they have levied over the years , as it was supposed to be interest free until nine months after graduation. To give you a clear picture, I had a letter from Capquest saying they would be managing my account on behalf of arrow global. They wanted all future payments to be paid to them and had set them in line with the last payment I made to total credit which they claimed was £899.99 per month. I've never made a payment or spoken to them. I sent them the standard statute barred Scotland letter in response, and I got a letter back saying 'we were informed you were due to finish your course of study on 22 May 2015. With your entitlement to a nine month payment holiday, this means you are not currently due to commence payments on the loan until February 2016.' I graduated from my PhD in July 2014, having finished fully by autumn 2013! They continue: 'The Limitations Act states that the time start to run from the 'cause of action' which for this type of account is when the creditor is able to take court action to recover the debt. This will usually be after one or two payments have been missed. Court action is not possible for this type of account unless the account has had a default notice (or been terminated). As no payments have actually fallen due this account cannot qualify as statute barred therefore the balance remains correct and due to be repaid by you as per the original conditions of the loan.' They say that - although they have added around 10k of interest to a 15k loan over the course of 8 years, when it should have been interest free! Any advice would be much appreciated.