Student Loans Company and overseas debt recovery. What teeth do they have?

[TV license fairy]

Greetings one and all

 

I have read a lot and this is basically a polite enquiry for info that I have thus far been unable to locate. I am not by any means advocating this as a recommended course of action, I just would like to fully understand all of the implications. So please, no moral coaching necessary

 

My question is this. Suppose a British SLC customer with a post 98 loan who has not yet began repayments moves overseas to somewhere like Thailand or China, and then stays there without informing the SLC of her whereabouts what can the SLC do to recover the debt?

 

Thanks in advance

TVLF

[dx100uk]

nothing

 

however its worthy to tell them where you are

 

if you are never returning - no issues

 

dx

[TV license fairy]

nothing

 

however its worthy to tell them where you are

 

if you are never returning - no issues

 

dx

 

 

which implies there are issues if you do return, which means they can do a bit more than 'nothing'. No?

[renegadeimp]

Depends on the dates of the loan and when you return.

[unclebulgaria67]

which implies there are issues if you do return, which means they can do a bit more than 'nothing'. No?

 

If you returned, they would go after you for the debt and make you enter into repayments by using the county courts. It would be a civil matter, although you may have read that in New Zealand they are starting to look at deliberate non payment of a student loan, as almost a criminal issue, with people being stopped at airports. I cannot see this happening in the UK, but you never know.

 

What is for certain is that the loan outstanding will continue to grow and you should enter into some repayments if you can. You should certainly tell the student loan company that you are having to move abroad

[marmaris30]

As you probably know, if you go abroad then you're supposed to tell them about any income you receive so that they can assess your repayment level (which could be zero of course). If you don't do that then they'll assess a 'standard' repayment, as well as add penalty fees, and if you don't pay that then they might eventually try to take legal action. If you're hiding out in China (excluding Hong Kong) then they're unlikely to get very far!

 

However, but if/when you return, and start working in the UK, they'll find you via your NI number and have your employer deduct at the usual rate, which would also then trace you so they could recover amounts previously due.

 

Since your earnings in countries like Thailand could be quite low by UK standards, it is probably best to keep in touch with SLC and avoid racking up penalty fees and other unwelcome surprises. Your loan would accrue interest but is eventually cancelled (at age 50, I think). Have a look at the information on their website about overseas repayment - there are different repayment thresholds for each country.