student loans

[tonyseventy4]

hi guys.... just a question about student loans?!?!

i am entitled to defer on my loan !! but to due lack of communication between them and me , after me asking for deferment forms !! my account ended up being in 500 quid arrears !! they said it was arrears and i had to pay it , even altho i am allowed to defer it.... no other thing left !!!

just wondering if theres anyway of reclaiming these arrears back from them ???

cheers
tony

[blacksheep1979]

The arrears actually comes off your account, so you aren't out of pocket. However they will pay back all overpayments (or so they say).

They've done the same to me many times - 'forgotten' to send out deferment forms and I've been penalised, am at the moment in the process of claiming these charges back.

[jo5ephedward5]

How long have you been in arrears?

Deferment can be backdated for a maximum of three months only.
Any remaining arrears (repayments which have fallen due but not been met) are due for repayment. This means that if you apply late, you may be liable for some repayments.

taken from here: Deferring repayment of your student loan : Directgov - Education and learning

[danhall]

Hi

Just a word of warning - like most other large companies, the SLC have terrible internal communication and alot of procedures are kick started automatically by computer, so be VERY careful that your correspondence gets through to the correct person and overrides any of these.

I went abroad for a year and despite thinking that I had deferred, found out that the same had happened to me and I owed then £300-odd pounds. It resulted in Baliffs being sent to my home etc etc etc and God knows what it has done to my credit rating!!

So I would just try and sort it out as soon as you can.

Don't mean to scare u, but they are utter b*****ds!!!!!

Good Luck

[jayney71]

I've had an on-going problem with the SLC for years... it's two problems really:

The first problem arose when they didn't send me my deferment forms so when I realised I phoned them to ask for more. I filled them in with all the proof of income etc and they received them within the three month backdating period but decided to process them just after... making me one month in arrears!...
I've refused to pay this and tried to explain it all but all they do is whack on the charges and bombard me with letters and phone calls...

Last year I had another problem when they reckonned they hadn't received my proof of income (a letter from HR as I had just started new job), although they agreed they'd received my deferment form... hmmm. During a phone call a couple of weeks later they said they had in fact received the letter from HR but it was undated. This annoyed me... why didn't they tell me this before rather than saying they hadn't got it at all? I then send them a copy of my contract and 2 payslips and thought that would all be ok. Months later they say they didn't receive it so I was months in arrears... Now they won't leave me alone, and keep demanded money which I haven't got and don't believe I owe.

I've tried writing several times and no one's interested... what should I do next? Any advice would be muchly appreciated.

[Boff]

SLC are right dodgy b*****ds.

after several years of deferrments i forgot one year to send for the forms and so
they decided to take me to court and after conveniently writing to my mother to find details of an address for me they then proceeded, without bothering to contact me, to obtain a CCJ against me. without even sending me any papers.

luckily i have the letters still with the dates clearly showing that they made no attempt to contact me, between finding an address for me and taking the court action (which surprisingly enough i wasnt able to defend since i knew nothing about it).
and thanks to learning how the process is supposed to work on this site, i am now applying to the court to have that CCJ over turned.

[StoneLaughter]

Originally Posted by jo5ephedward5

How long have you been in arrears?

Deferment can be backdated for a maximum of three months only.
Any remaining arrears (repayments which have fallen due but not been met) are due for repayment. This means that if you apply late, you may be liable for some repayments.

taken from here: Deferring repayment of your student loan : Directgov - Education and learning

That's very helpful, WHEN THE CUSTOMER FORGOT TO DEFER.

However, what happened here was, the customer requested the relevant forms repeatedly and was not sent them, the arrears were therefore caused by SLC.

I would advise the OP to simply defer from now, refuse to pay the "arrears" and if necessary take the SLC to court to have the arrears deferred as they should have been. Totally shoddy behaviour from SLC AGAIN.

[rob_s]

after sending deferment form in last year they didnt process it for 6 months, so i was 700 quid in arrears and they were demanding payment.
my local MP sent a letter to the ceo and it all went away.
they didnt have any problems (with the same letters and info redated) this year funnily enough.