Student Loan Company - general

[nattydred]

OK

Sorry to be stupid but thought I would ask the obvious question.

I am happy repay the last £50 on my loan. I borrowed it, I owe it.

I am not happy with the £175 worth of charges levied on the account. Some of these I can prove were the result of misaddressed letters despite other letters being sent to the correct and provided addresses.

What os the process to attempt to prevent the attempted collection of these disputed charges? I have previously and repeatedly disputed both in phone calls and in writing.

I even offered (without prejudice) to pay off all charges at a fair £1.50 per letter (i.e. £1. SLC refused this offer.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks.

[emmaf01]

Had a funy conversation with the SLC thursday and friday of last week.
They say their charges have been ruled as fair by the OFT!
Understandably I have asked for further info regarding this supposed ruling!

They say they are going to send me details of this ruling, so if, and when, I receive this info from them I will be sure to share this with you all.

[Rebecca Bloomswood]

Is it right that if you spend more than 2 years outside U.K. your loan is written off? I know people who purport this to be the case, I wonder if anyone can clarify please?

[noomill060]

emma- I had an equally entertaining conversation with them just before Christmas.

I got through to one of their collection agents about a charge I had been given, despite my payment crossing with their £20 letter in the post. She cancelled the £20 and then I asked her straight out whether these charges were actually legally enforcable.

She said no, they werent!

[noomill060]

And no, their charges havent been ruled as fair by the OFT and no, you wont recieve anything in writing from the SLC confirming this.

[emmaf01]

oh- and I was so looking forward to that letter!

[mlphw]

Originally Posted by The_Badger

Forgot to say:
Cheques for the Subject Access Request and the CCA requests are made payable to "Student Loans Company"

In case anyone wasn't sure.

Also the address of the data controller (a legally required position for all institutions holding personal data under the Data Protection Act) for the Student Loans Company is:

Data Controller
Student Loans Co.Ltd,
21 St. Thomas Street,
Bristol.
BS1 6JS

You can address your Subject Access Request there as an alternative to that given in the Template above.

21 St. Thomas St. is also the address of Smith Lawson & Company Ltd. as mentioned above - so if you're dealing with that pseudo-branch of the Student Loans Company thats where to send information

Hiya,

Is this address the one to use for SLC rather than Honours Loans. Mine is the pre 1998 one with SLC but the address I had for them was Glasgow - maybe that is why I didn't get a response ! Shall I try a recorded one to this Bristol address as one last attempt before MCOL ?

Thanks

[emmaf01]

After all, considering their record on managing post, admin, etc- I don't think they can manage to transfer post from one office to another!

[The_Badger]

Hi Mlphw,

The address I sent stuff to was the Glasgow address for most of the letters - I just used the data controllers address for my Subject Access Request to get the information out of them on my account etc
The Data Controller is the named person under law who must be responsible for the implementation of the Data Protection Act in each company/institution.

So I figured that I might as well go to the organ grinder not the monkey as it where.

For the general letters (like the initial request for payment and then the Letter Before Action) you can use either but I tend to use the Glasgow address anyway.

The Badger

[Nick SPX]

I have received the data protection act info from Student Loans Co.
They sent me a load of computer print-outs that I simply can't ascertain when the charges were.

Anyone know how to decipher these...............HELP !

[mlphw]

Hi guys,

Does anyone know which address to file with Student Loans Company on MCOL ?

I finally got a response from them saying they wont pay any of my fines back so I think it's time for MCOL ! It's only about £200 but I want it back ! I thought for such a low amount they would have just paid it.

[livity]

Originally Posted by The_Badger

Signed for 1st class for a letter is only £1 and I'll be adding them to my claim the moment it gets to the county court claim stage - as its a "reasonable" cost. You can then ring up and find out the time and date the letter was recieved - which if the SLC/Bank/Credit Card deny you can remind them you have a Royal Chartered institutions evidence proving they are lying - tends to shut them up!

I've read elswehere on here that £3 per letter would be a "Reasonable" and justifiable cost on all letters to the bank/credit card/SLC as you can explain the £3 as a direct cost to you - postage, paper, envelopes, ink, electricity for the computer and your time.
You can only add them to your claim once you get to the court claim stage as you have to show you've tried to resolve your complaint reasonably before hand.

Couldn't agree more - I've got into the habit of sending all letters to the SLC by registered post - it adds to the cost considerably if you follow through with the complaints department - but being able to tell the SLC the exact date and time the letter they claim not to have received was delivered is priceless.

Interesting idea, claiming back the £3 costs. I'm actually looking forward to the inevitable letter from the SLC now!

[livity]

Originally Posted by princess jane

I've sent everything to SLC recorded delivery and I've never had a problem with them not receiving letters.

Special delivery should nail it if you are feeling flush!

You've been lucky! I started on recorded delivery 10 years ago, thinking it might stop their silly games... it does make it amusing though, when they try and pretend they haven't received a letter.

[Erica_The_Penguin]

Hey Badger,

Thanks for all the info. you're a star! Just what I needed. The SLC have 'lost' approximately 50% of my letters as well, funny that! Now send them all 'signed for,' can't trust them at all.

As they have a habit of 'losing' documentation, not replying, taking documents as deferal evidence but saying three months later they are not valid, applying random charges to my account and then telling different 'stories' as to what those charges are for (I have their letters to prove it)....I now joke to my friends that they are my 'penfriends.'

Recently they have tried to charge me about £200.00 to my account for letters going back to 2003. (They just applied these charges with no letter of explanation). Which is weird cos why are they only trying to charge for them now? I believe I might have aready been charged for them and they are trying to charge me again, years later. Anyway apparently they are charging about £15.00 or £20.00 per letter.

Will have to ask them for all my statements to check. To be honest they are not very easy to understand.

Has anyone else had any luck reclaiming money from them? Not the easiest job in the world as they play hardball.

Erica

[Erica_The_Penguin]

Hi, it's me Erica again,

About the charges for letters, I rang them up furious that charges had been applied to my account without explanation as I'm sure it breaks the banking code and probably goes against other regulations as well.

I demanded a full breakdown of what these charges were for, cos otherwise I would not be paying them!! Someone sent me an amateur computer printout of letters and codes and annotated in ink next to them figures like £20.00 and £15.00. I then rang up and had another rant because if I added up the sum of what they wrote on the statements it didn't add up to what they were biling me for. I also said surely these charges aren't legal!?!

Anyway a couple of weeks later I had a standard computer generated letter saying that I owed them £200.00 in charges and yet this time the letter said they were for actually for deferring my loans late!

So, the SLC are actually contradicting themselves, only one of their explanations are right. I just think it's funny that they are so desperate to get extra money out of me that they will still keep trying to apply the same £200.00 charge to my account but when I suggested the first reason wasn't legal, they make a new reason up!

Erica

[morrie]

I think one of the problems with the Student Loans help on this site is that there are so many different Terms and Conditions flying around including the confusion of the pre/post 1998 saga. It is hard to understand each individuals situation in relation to the T&Cs - for example in my T&Cs there is no provision for the SLC to add anything apart from interest to my loan account - however when a cheque is paid into my loan account they have deducted numerous charges for letters. I am sure this is in no way legal.

It has also come to my notice through correspondence with the SLC that they too are highly confused as to which T&Cs relate to my loan. My fight still goes on - could write a highly amusing book about the SLC adventures !

[emmaf01]

I managed to get them to send me the original loan agreements for my (pre-199 loans. Three are in order but one (for 1993) is not even signed by the SLC. So, as per the CCA, it takes a court order to be enforcable!

I've already sent them a lba on the charges from 1998 to the present, so it is mcol soon for these. And I still haven't received the response to my Subject Access Request.

I'm really looking forward to my court claim for this.

[tobciocc]

I've just had my Subject Access Request back, looks like last year they charged 20 pounds for a late payement and a further 20 pounds for the letter telling me I was late. Added to which they cancelled my repayme