Student Loan Company

[British Expat]

Hello all,

This is the first time I have visited a website like this and really am in awe of the invaluable information this website has to offer. Nonetheless, I am in need of some help.

I graduated from Uni. about a year ago with a small loan to help fund my final year of study, as I had a young family to look after, and emigrated to Korea. I decided that I would make payment to payoff my student loan which was stated at about 3900 pounds in May 2006. So far I have paid off 3000 pounds but to my knowledge, the SLC made a mistake in June. The 1k I paid off my loan in June was debited from my grant account and not my loan account thus showing an inbalance of +1k with my loan account. To date I have phoned them many times to ammend this error but it has almost been another month gone and no correction yet. Nevertheless, my loan account has been gaining an overcharge of interest since June. So my question is simple.

Would I be able to get deductions from my loan account for an overcharge of interest since June, much time on the phone in Korea incurring expensive telephone costs and stress involved in correcting this matter with them?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[MARTIN3030]

I think you need to send them a letter by recorded delivery.

Point out these mistakes and tell them you want it sorted out.

[British Expat]

Many thanks Martin3030 for your advice. I am writing up a letter now. Come to think of it, I shall also ask for all information et al they have on me due to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. To see if I have been in receipt of any charges which could be questionable.

Does anybody think it is expecting too much to ask for a deduction from my loan account due to the excessive interest charges, telephone costs and stress? I suppose if you don't ask you don't get.

Would I also be able to report the SLC to the Ombudsman due to these problems I have encountered so they don't affect future customers?

Thanks for any possible advice.

[MARTIN3030]

You could ask for a token payment to cover your inconveniences.

You should consider a complaint to the Fsa and trading standards.
This looks like a breach under the consumer credit act as regards your contract with them.

However both these organisations would expect you to have taken reasonable steps to resolve this before contacting them.

You could of course inform the lender that you will consider complaints to these if they dont resolve matters to your complete satisfaction.
My guess is that in itself should do the trick.

[StoneLaughter]

Just one point; the Freedom of Information Act doesn't apply here; you should do a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act 1998.

[MARTIN3030]

Well spotted Tom I forgot about that.

Good to see you again BTW!

[British Expat]

Well I have written up my letter and am in the process of mailing it to them. I shall let you know how things pan out. But in a nut shell, I requested for all my account info. and asked them to credit my acount by making a "token payment" to cover the costs I incurred. I also added that I would contact the FSA & TS to get them to sort this out asap and show that I am serious. Hopefully, I can forget this by Xmas. Didn't know paying your loan was such a big deal. Seriously, how on earth could they let me credit a grant account? It is a separate entity. Just doesn't compute.