Student Loans Company - can I claim back charges?

[Nurselayer]

Although they are not a bank the Student Loans Company have been applying charges on my Loan account for letters that they have sent me. As these charges have been for 30quid each (I think), can I reclaim these fees just as I am reclaiming the fees that my banks have been unlawfully charging me?

Thanks

[dolly]

You certainly can

[melanieanne63]

For student loans do i do the same as i do for the banks? Thank you!

[mcvey123]

I received £90 back for 3 letters that they sent to me. They tried to deny that their fees were excessive and since they are a government body, they are not regulated by the same rules. I asked them if this was the case, who in the government (above them) could I complain to... The fees were refunded.

Good Luck

[melanieanne63]

Thanks for your replies but just need more information. I thought you need to send the court documents to an english address and the student loans company are based in Scotland, how did you work your way around this? Thank you

[mcvey123]

You need to write to them first, and ask for the charges be refunded as it obviously doesn't cost £20 for a letter and ask them to justify the cost applied to your account for a letter. remind them that you know that they are not a bank but that they are a government body and should exercise finanical integrity. Also ask them in your letter who regulates them in the event that you have to complain to a higher authority for refusal to refund the letter charges.

I am from northern ireland and when I apply to the northern ireland court service for small claims against e.g. abbey / capital one (who are in London) the court sends a separate sheet for this after the application has been received by them. I am not sure about scotland but I am sure that your local court should be able to tell you.

[physicsgraduate]

Could I write to them and argue obligatory "financial integrity" on the grounds that my loans has now gone to DCA, and the reason I failed to keep up to date with my deferments was the result of hardship I suffered in the past year whilst working abroad?

[noomill060]

Just phoned SLC collections dept regarding another matter, I asked which government department the SLC was accountable to, and who I could ultimately complain to.

I was told they were under the Dept of Education, so we can address any complaint about the SLC to our MP or the Secretary of State for Education if we so desire.

I then asked about their £20 charges and whether they were actually legally enforcable.

There was a short, awkward silence from the person I spoke to.

She then said "No"

This is a different answer I recieved back in September when I originally contacted them. Back then the muppet I spoke to claimed that the government let them charge what they like and that the charges were therefore legally enforceable.

Looks like the courts have told them otherwise....

[noomill060]

Took SLC to Court, they caved in and made an offer of settlement today.

noomill v Student Loan Company ***WON***

[welshy166]

Noomill,

This probably should be in a seperate thread but you seem to be a bit of an expert on SLC matters.

Anyway, knowing that my next SLC payment would mean that I would overpay by about £300 I thought I'd be pro-active and phoned up the SLC to get a calculation of how much was outstanding and paid off the balance by credit card. After 20 minutes of being on hold I paid and was at no point told by the muppet on the other line that the payment may take up to 2 months to process and HMRC would continue to take payment. I've got the letter of them saying they think it's paid up the day before HR had to put through the payroll and the payroll company said they couldn't stop the payments because of lack of notification from HMRC. So basically the SLC now have about £800 (and potentially more) of my money which I can't get back until the end of the tax year. Obviously they will not give it back with interest.

I want to be refunded the money as soon as possible even if it's just the payment I made over the phone after their misrepresentation. How would you suggest I approach this?

Any help greatly appreciated.