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.

Government will prosecute those who fail to repay their student loans on time, warns Jo Johnson The Government has warned it will prosecute graduates from across the UK and overseas who fail to pay their student loans back on time as part of a new strategy. In a statement from Minister for Universities Jo Johnson to the House of Commons, the politician said the new plans were needed to ensure the repayment system remains “fair, robust, and efficient” as the higher education system sees more people gain entry than ever before, due to a cap-lift on numbers. New plans come into place as the higher education system looks set to take on more students than ever before http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/government-will-prosecute-those-who-fail-to-repay-their-student-loans-on-time-warns-jo-johnson-a6869221.html Sign this petition to ask the UK Government not to make student debt a criminal offense https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/121888 Its all over the news papers/websites, not law yet but in legislation stage - partner countries (EU and AU) supply tax details and then UK prosecutes... don't ask me how The US have been sending in armed (police) thugs to get debtors to sign repayment plans

Good evening all, I'm hoping you can give me some advice on a Student loan I took out in 96 which has now been passed to a DCA in the last few months due to being sold by SLC (as was) and they are now starting to chase. I went to Uni as a mature student back in 93 and received a student loan for each of the three years of my BA(hons). Since 2006 I haven't paid a penny or acknowledged the debt. HOWEVER, I did send back the deferment forms proving I wasn't earning enough. So, does this count as acknowledging the debt? Or can I assume it's now SB? Also, would there be any mileage in sending a 'prove it' letter or CCA/SAR to the DCA as I'm sure now twenty years later they'd be hard pushed to produce any sort of agreement I'd originally signed? Any advice really appreciated as the debt remaining on the Student Loan is 'relatively' small, but still I can't afford it, but what worries me more is the charges a DCA then CCJ/Bailiffs, etc might legally add. And I don't believe in burying my head in the sand unless absolutely necessary.

I also have this letter from SLC about them being non compliant and giving me reduction, but it doesn't say that Eruido or anyone else is taking over. There's no mention of it being sold. I have not been informed of this. Then I got the Erudio deferment pack. A few years ago the SLC refused me my legal rights to deferment and refused over the phone to send me a deferment form, saying that I could only defer for so long and that time had come to an end and now I had to start paying it back. I argued that i wasn't earning the threshold and was told that didn't I still had to start paying it back. I was scared I didn't know what to do, so I left it. Consequently, cos I didn't defer, Got harrassed for a few years by debt companies for arrears that had built up cos I hadn't deferred. I would say that refusing my legal rights to deferment is motion enough for statute barred. Has anyone else had this particular problem of the SLC lying to them by refusing to send out a deferment form?

I got a letter today from a Student Loans company demanding a little under £5,000. (This isn't the normal Student Loans Company but a company that buys Student Loans.) I have 3 pre 1998 Student Loans (old-style loans). After I left Uni I deferred for a year or two but then I got ill (mental health issues) and even though I wasn't earning anything/enough to pay back the loans I stopped deferring them. I got letters for a while which I ignored and after a while I even stopped opening letters that looked like bills/debt letters etc. After a while the letters stopped coming and I haven't heard anything about student loans for years and years. (Although not totally better I am recovering slowly and do now open my post!) As I haven't ever paid this debt and haven't acknowledged it for 6+ years I was going to use the Limitations Act to say they were Statute Barred. However I was searching a pile of old unopened post today to try and find more details about my student loans as the reference number on the letter is not a student loan number. I did eventually find some student loan paperwork and the 3 loan numbers I have are all different to the referance number on the letter, but the amount seems about right if you added them altogether and added some costs on. while doing this I came across a CCJ for my student loans that was decided in their favour by default as I didn't respond to the claim. This CCJ is dated 2001. I did not know I had this CCJ until today. The amount on the CCJ is about £500 less than what they are now asking for. They have not enforced this CCJ. I have never had bailiffs come round. I have only lived here and at my parents house since leaving Uni, so it's not like they couldn't find me. Now I'm not sure what to do. I can't use the statute barred route because of the CCJ. (Kind of wish I'd never found the CCJ letter - the CCJ does not appear on my credit report, so if I hadn't found the letter I wouldn't have known about it). However from reading forums online/calling helplines I have discovered that CCJ's that are over 6 years old cannot be enforced unless they go back to court again. The general consensus seems to be that courts rarely let them renew the CCJ as they should have enforced it sooner. Some forums advise asking for a copy of the original CCJ, then if they cannot provide this, they say you can the go down the Statute Barred/Limitations act route as when you do this the creditor has to prove that there's been a CCJ & been payment/acknowledgement, and as they can't do that the debt then cannot be enforced. If this is true please could someone talk me through how to do it? Doesn't asking for an original CCJ document prove that you know there was a CCJ destroying the whole statute barred argument? Or can I just request all documentation - would the CCJ be included in this? Other places advise that I should just write saying I do not acknowledge the debt and accept no liability for it and therefore won't be paying it, then wait and see what happens. Other advice was just wait till the bailiffs come, don't let them in (advisor said they have no right to come in), and then apply to court to vary the CCJ to an amount that I can afford. (They said I shouldn't do this yet, as I might end up paying money I don't have to. This is because when they apply to renew the CCJ they might be turned down). How can I tell if they have been back to court to get the CCJ renewed? Are they allowed to chase me now if they haven't already got the CCJ renewed? Would I be told if they were planning to go to court to renew the CCJ, in which case could I defend myself from it? Sorry it's such a long post, but I think that explains everything. Hope it all makes sense. I'm really confused and very stressed about this. Please can someone help me with this and advise what I should do and if possible point me in the direction of sample letters? Thank you very much

Hi Guys, so far I've found CAG to be fantastic. I got a letter back in July this year from Link Outsourcing about my student loan from 1991 which freaked me right out. Thanks to this site I found out that it was definitely Statute Barred, I read loads of interesting threads and got appropriate wording and sent off a letter as recommeded. I heard nothing so assumed after what is approaching 4 weeks that they had dropped the whole thing and now low an behold I receive a letter from them today. They are now stating that the account can not be cancelled under the Limitations Act 1980 because a CCJ was secured against me by Student Loans Co in Aug 2000 and transferred from Northampton County Court to Shoreditch County Court - they cite a claim number. They state that they 'confirm that on payment of my Judgment balance my account will be repaid in full", and that I should contact them with proposals to redeem the reaming balance of £4235 by return??? This sounds like a bunch of you know what to me - is it? To my knowledge I've never had a CCJ against me. I've certainly had no paperwork in any shape or form stating it. Further, since 2000 I've taken out mortgages, credit cards and bank loans without any hitch at all. In fact as far as I can tell I have a very healthy credit rating. My question is do I just disregards this letter or do I need to need to start delving into the matter. I don't want to start and endless sea of trouble and admin for myself. Can Link resurrect old CCJ's (if they exist) from when I lived in London many years ago. The last dealing I had with anything to do with student loans was back in 2002 (there was no mention of anything at this stage about them pursuing me) when I moved addresses to Gloucestershire, since then up until this year in July I've heard nothing from anyone. Quite frankly I'd forgotten all about it. Any advice will be useful.

Hello to all I have recieved a letter form link financial outsourcing this week over my outstanding student loan. i have had no contact with anyone ove the loan in almost 5 years due to my dire financail situation and i have been constantly moving around. The letter states that i must pay the full amount of almost £7k in full imediatley or face litigation. i called them staright away and told them and told them of my current situation which is that i am on jobseekers allowance, i have no savings and am currently living of the graces of my girlfriend while i look for full time work. i asked if there was anyway i could set up a payment plan as there is no way i could pay the full amount. their response was no and that i had 21 days to come up with the money they suggested i try borrowing the money from family or friends as this is what other people have done. what would do they live in where people have £7 to spare to loan someone. after a sleepless night and talk to my girlfriend i called tham back the next day to reitterate that i dont know how to get the full amonut to them. i also asked if i could pay them £1k now (which my girlfriend was able to scatch together for me to borrow) to show that i do want to get this resolved. and they still refused saying paying that money now is fine but i was still expected to pay the rest in 21days. i asked what would happen if i couldn't and they told me it would go to litigation. i said but im trying to come to arrange ment and surely going to court is going to cost you more money, they said quite blunty that i would have to pay all legal fees. so my quetion is are Link being unreasonable when i can prove my financial situation cannot allow me to pay this in full and i am willing to pay 15% of the debt now and set up a payment plan for the rest? i really fell like they are scare mongerng me into taking on another debt like a loan to pay thid one. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks......

I know this has been aired here before but I need definitive advice on the topic. I am being approached by a company called Link Financial over pre-1998 Student Loans in the form of unsolicited phone calls. I have never paid any of the original loans back and submitted my last SLC deferrment form in 2003 (or perhaps 2002) I have since had no correspondence with either SLC or their collection agencies. I need definitive advice on whether this debt is statute barred and how solid my position is if I choose to use this route. I know there haven't been any CCJs against me in recent years as my credit rating was excellent when I was approved a mortgage in April this year. Hope you can help.

Hi guys, Got a quick query about an issue I've had regarding my pre 1997 student loans. My account has been passed to Thesis and I've been trying for quite some time to get copies of the credit agreements. They've sent me through unreadable copies a number of times, to which I requested further legible copies. I've now (much later - months) received copies of the agreement and terms and conditions that are readable but I've noticed a discrepancy between the various copies of the documents I've received. The earlier copies (without legible terms and conditions) have my signature on them but have not been signed by anybody from the Student Loans Company, whereas on the most recent copies (that are legible) a signature has appeared (and has been dated back to a time a few days after my dated signature) in the box designated to be signed my a representative of the Student Loans Company. There's no mistaking that this signature has been added after the initial copies were sent to me. In the earlier copies my own signature is perfectly noticeable, but the box which should be signed by SLC is unmistakably empty. All the photocopies of documents I've been sent have the word "original" on them so it doesn't appear that the reason signatures are missing is because they originally sent a duplicate of the original agreement. Hopefully this is a clear explanation...does anybody have an understanding of what this means? Thanks in advance.

I took out two student loans in 1992 & 1993. I deferred them for a number of years and in 2000 I moved house and forgot all about it. They eventually caught up with me by letter in about 2004ish and I called them and negotiated a repayment of £70/month. When the debt got sold to Thesis there was a period where I didn't pay them anything due to a lack of provision of details of how to pay on their part, but I did resume payments eventually. Last year the debt got passed on again, this time to FFHE, and once again I was told to change my standing order details. The details are hazy but I recall speaking to someone from FFHE last year, the standing order form they were going to send me never arrived and there was a brief delay where no payments were made. I started paying FFHE £70/month in July this year. There was only around £500 left so I was due to make a final payment in February 2011. I’ve been happily repaying this for several years albeit with a couple of brief interludes when they passed on the debt and changed their payment details. So I was naturally astonished and furious to receive a phone call two weeks ago from LINK, saying I was in breach of the agreement (because I spoke to someone in May but they didn’t receive a payment till July) and demanding immediate payment of the outstanding balance of around £260. They have contacted me several times since, threatening me with bailiffs and/or court action to recover the debt if I refuse to pay it now, in full. Continuing with my £70/month for the next 4 months is not an option. The woman from LINK suggested I seek advice from a solicitor. I haven’t received any correspondence whatsoever from them since May when I spoke to them to sort out the remaining payments and change the standing order details. Yet they say they’ve been trying to contact me. Well they can’t have been trying very hard – no letters, no phone calls, nothing. I would like to know: How can a debt I have been willingly repaying regularly have been passed to a DCA? Is it binding if I haven’t signed anything? How can I be in breach of an agreement I wasn’t aware of making? Are they not in breach of the Data Protection Act, since I never authorised my details to be sold/passed on? Can they issue a CCJ? How long would it take for them to get bailiffs or take me to court? Would it be before February? How can they suddenly demand this out of the blue with absolutely no prior correspondence when I’ve been paying? Will this affect my credit rating? My intention is to ignore them and just carry on paying the £70 until it’s paid off in February. Surely any court would throw it out as a complete waste of time to pursue a debt that’s almost honoured and where there is hard evidence that it’s regularly being repaid in substantial amounts? I’d just like to know where I stand legally and what I should do next time she calls, which I know won’t be long. She’s calling my mobile and home number. I could understand (a bit) if I wasn’t paying them anything but I am. Is this not harassment?

Hi there, I’ve been reading these forums for some time now, and find them extremely helpful and informative . I have a long-standing loan for a substantial amount (student loan: over 30k including interest and counting) with Natwest. They’ve recently passed it on to Capquest, who have been inordinately unhelpful and obdurate to say the least. (Listening is not one of their strong points evidently.) I’ve sent the CCA request already, as well as deed of assignment request. The CCA came back already as requested, and the deed of assignment was not provided as they say they are acting on behalf of NatWest. I’ve offered Natwest token payments; offered a full and final settlement amount; and have made clear to them that I am in no position to repay such a vast amount, as I am unemployed. Moreover, Natwest refuse to freeze the interest charges, so the amount just keeps snowballing further. I’m not sure quite what to do at this point, except that I would like to have the matter passed back to Natwest, as CQ are very unreasonable and have already harassed me several times with nuisance calls and doorstep visit threats. Would it be best at this point to: • Offer token payments to Natwest again? • Offer a full and final settlement to Natwest again? • Actively petition for my own bankruptcy? (I am reluctant to do this, as I am afraid it may affect my career chances in the future). Any and all advice would be much appreciated. Cheers.

Hello, I hope that you can help with this query. I took a Student Loan in 1991. Did the original terms state that the loan would be cancelled after 20 years of continuous deferment (which I recall)? If so, do these terms still apply now, even though the period has been extended to 25 years? Is it possible to obtain a copy of the original terms of the contract? Many thanks

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!

Hi all, Some history: I have student loans from 98 to 2001. I was paying my student loan in the UK via pay as you earn system for 3 years. No problems. In 2004 I moved overseas and continued to get paid in the UK for almost a year, again no issues. I then moved overseas fully and completed the overseas assessment form shortly after. This was assessed at a set monthly rate, I guess based on my overseas income converted into pounds at that time. My only issues with this was that the only convenient way of paying it back is using my overseas master card and paying their fees plus an additional 2% from the student loans company. Also I was under the impression as the student loan was taken at source in the UK that it was from pre taxed money. Can someone please confirm this? I spoke with HRMC at the time and they said even if it was the case, as I was paying no UK tax due to no income I can't do anything about it, I'd just like to know if I'm paying a lot more than I would do in the UK. Now the issue: A year or 2 after me diligently calling to pay, and eventually them getting their act together enough to process payments online, the loan they sent a further assessment form. I believe I skipped filling it for a year, they then threatened arrears against a default rate, so I filled it. My salary hadn't changed much, just the overtime and exchange rate. But they came back saying my monthly payment was to be almost tripled. My understanding of this increase was because the exchange rate plummeted on the weak pound and the percentage they claim increases with the more you earn. So we discussed that this was unreasonable and they agreed I could continue to pay what I used to pay and a note would be added to my file. They wouldn't send me any written agreement. Now I'm getting already outdated letters from a Smith Lawson & Company (very clever name) saying they're acting for a client and wanting the difference between the assessed rate plus some admin charges otherwise legal action will be taken. They even include small print that they are the Student loan company, very nice of them. They haven't sent me a balance for a while so it was nice to hear from them. So my questions are, do I have a leg to stand on for these fees? Can they start legal proceedings on me? Also is there anyway of getting the amounts I have over paid back off the loan? e.g. the credit card fees and potentially the tax. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi Everyone, sorry i'm new to this site - but hope someone can help. I've just received several phone calls at my parents house, from a number that belongs to Link Financial. My mother took the details, and said that she'll pass on the details to me... It appears they are chasing me for my students loans which were taken out before 1998. I believe they're the 'old type top up' loans, and that serious changes were made from 1998 onwards. I kept deferring the loans, due to low income, until the summer of 2002 and then - due to minor illness, defaulted on the loans. I really need advice on how to deal with link financial about these loans - from what I read on this, and other sites, they're not the nicest people to talk too about old debts. a few questions I would like answer are: would these loans now be considered statue-barred? If so, can I check my credit rating - through a reference agency - without Link financial obtaining my new address from this process? and would the student loan turn up on this check? should I just leave the situation as it is - or if the loans are statue-barred can I stop being chased by link financial or anyone else. I'd really like to try and sort out my credit rating. any other advice on how to deal with Link financial would be really helpful thanks in advance, and for a great site, bob

Hi All, Firstly, I would implore any other first-time posters to write any lengthy posts like these in a separate program and copy paste, as I just spent ages writing this, only to lose it all when I hit “Preview Post” as I had been logged out!!! :mad2: You never know, maybe this version is more concise!: Been reading this site quite a lot recently due to recent contact with Link. The sheer size and number of threads is a little overwhelming - especially for a "forum novice"! I'm after a little advice on my situation, so here's the rundown: 1995/96, 1996/97, 1997/98 - I took out three student loans. 1998, 1999 - I deferred payment. After this, things get a bit hazy (it was a long time ago!), suffice to say that I lost contact/failed to defer (between 1998 and 2007, I lived at 13 addresses!). Sometime in 2002 I was contacted by the "Student Loans Company" (I presume by this point, this was actually "Thesis"?). They said I had defaulted on the loan (a sum of about £4,400), and that interest had been frozen, but that I had to start making payments. As I was on benefits at the time, I set up a DD for £5/month. After this, I must admit, I just forgot about it, and the £5/month has been going out ever since. Last month, I took a call on my mobile that turned out to be from Link Financial. They asserted that I now owed them payment in full, as I had failed to pay off the balance within 60 months. They also stated that the balance was now about £5,600 (not exact figures, I don't have the paperwork to hand) due to interest and charges (I didn't think you could accrue interest on a defaulted loan?) As I had no idea of Link's DCA pedigree, I started off trying to come to some arrangement with them, saying that I would like to arrange to increase my payments and come to some payment plan agreement. This is when all the usual harassment tactics came into play, such as threatening "Bailiffs", "House attachment", "Criminal proceedings", etc. if I did not pay in full. This is when I started doing some internet research on my rights in general, and realised they had no grounds to make these threats. The last contact I had with them, just before I started reading these forums, I told them I may be in a position to pay a lump sum of £1000 when my next invoice was paid. This was mainly to get them off my back for a bit. I am possibly in a better situation than most, in that I could find the money and have done with it (though £5.5K is a lot of money in anyone’s eyes), though that hasn’t made me feel any less stressed about the situation, and makes me really angry when I think of all those who are in much worse positions and have to deal with these heavy-handed thugs. The long and the short of it is that I took the credit in the first place, and do not feel that I should be exempt from repayment. But I have endured 6 years of CCJ’s and bad credit in the past, due to my complete financial ignorance around my student days, and I would rather not go back there. Ideally, I would like to come to an agreed (greatly reduced) sum that I can pay off in full, and walk away knowing that the debt is settled (especially as I balk at the “interest and charges” that they say have accrued). Any advice on how to move forward?

I hope I get some help with this. A while ago I received a demand out of the blue form a company called CSL (Credit solutions Ltd) for immediate payment of several £X000 for a student loan taken out before 1998. Naively, I phoned them up and was bullied into making an immediate payment for £x and into making additional monthly payments of £x (Then confirmed in a letter from CSL). A short while later they tried to take £(X+more than agreed) out of my account by direct debit. My partner (who happens to have successfully claimed back several thousand pounds from Barclays Bank for bank charges ) immediately saw the irregularity of this. She advised that this debt is statute barred because no contact has been made since the year 2000. I was also advised that the payment I had made did not affect the statute barred status and I was not obliged to continue payments as they had no legal right to continue pressing for payment. The 'statute barred' letter has been sent to both SLC and CSL by recorded delivery. I have since received a 'postcard' from Mr White confirming that he will be visiting our address on an unspecified Wednesday and also several recorded telephone messages asking me to call them. I have then contacted them by telephone to reiterate the fact that the debt is statute barred and therefore I will not be making further payment, only to be told that it is not statute barred because it is a Government backed scheme and therefore the rules are different! I was also told that I had to prove it was statute barred. I made it quite clear I did not agree and told them that I expect no further correspondence except via letter to confirm that they would take no further action. Today I have received a demand for full payment within 72 hours, failure to do so will result in the immediate delivery of papers to the SLC to start legal proceedings. The alleged loan is pre 1998 and since the year 2000 I have had no contact from the SLC, nor have I communicated with them. I have been on the electoral register in the UK for the past decade and during my last correspondence with the SLC I gave them an address for correspondence. No correspondence has been received. The way these ******* have behaved has really got my back up. They have been aggressive, abusive, threatening and devious and yet when I politely called one of them a bonehead he couldn't cope and hung up!!! I will greatly appreciate any help or advice you can offer me regarding this. Thanks. WILLIAM HUGH PIERCE WILL PIERCE