Student Loans Company

[Capt_Crackers]

I've previously spoken to Student Loans Company, whom after paying arrears due to late acceptance of deferment I only owe "charges" to (£80), and I told them that the charges were unlawful and I would not pay them. Unfortunately, I had neglected to close my standing order for the arrears and have since had a further £25 taken from my account which is purely for these charges (which incidentally cost me a further £30 in charges from Barclays!! ). I phoned Student Loans today to explain that the charges are unlawful, that the OFT have stated they also find these charges unlawful, and why I'd be closing the standing order and refusing to pay these charges. The person on the phone told me that they hadn't taken the money, that I'd paid it to them (as if I didn't feel foolish enough already!) - but I repeated to him that I was contesting the charges on my account, not the standing order payment, and would be seeking to reclaim the £25 taken. He told me that I could look into reclaiming this charge and stop the standing order, but that the charges would continue to remain on my account, even though they're unlawful.

So are the OFT actually ever going to step in and do something about this?

[mahala]

I've been dealing with the SLC about reclaiming charges. To be honest, talking to them is a waste of time. You won't get through tom someone who knows what they're talking about re: unlawful charges and so will just get their standard responses.

If you know how much you've been charged in total, then send them a prelim letter - get it in writing! If this process shows anything, it shows you can't trust SLC to accurately summarise calls on their notepad - I found details of conversations which never took place!