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Originally Posted by OldBear  I'd appreciate a hard factual answer on this one, too. There are threads here and there on this board, but I can't find one where someone actually got their charges back.
Anyone?
Thanks in advance.
OB  |
Whoops, missed this - I tend to monitor "Other Institutions" and stumbled on this by accident.
YES! The SLC has repaid every single debt it incurred to me by applying unlawful penalty charges. Up until 2005 I'd fight the attempt to apply a charge, because the SLC's claims were demonstrably false (they'd claim I hadn't replied to a letter, I'd tell them they signed for it, etc). On every occasion the SLC withdrew its charge.
In 2005 the SLC claimed to have sent me two letters, and that I'd ignored them. I couldn't be bothered fighting, so just paid the charge and asked for a deferment form as I hadn't received it. The SLC ignored this letter (by their own admission - I got them to own up to that!) and increased (!) the charge. I got smart, discovered this website, demanded my money be returned, threatened court action, got my money back. I rinsed-and-repeated the following year.
My advice is: pay the charge, send a letter with payment requesting proof of the actual- or liquidated-costs incurred by the SLC as a result of your alleged breach of contract (set a deadline for their response), follow up with a letter-before-action (you have 10 days to respond or I sue), then sue. I've - sadly - never reached the "sue" stage... the SLC are cowards and bullies who don't want the bright lights of legal scrutiny glaring down on them.
Best of luck!
PS. Always send letters "recorded" or "registered" - the SLC will lose them otherwise (it may lose them regardless, but it's amusing watching them try to deny receiving a letter when the Royal Mail swear blind that the letter was signed for). Never phone or fax them - I had a colleague who showed me a 4 page fax she was sending to the SLC - the first 3 pages consisted of fax-cover sheets from the previous 9 times she had sent the same fax - the SLC "lost" it each time.
Student Loans Company 
