Hi, everyone!

I'm new here so apologies if I have or if this has been answered before somewhere!

I had three student loans in 1995, 1997 and 1998.

I deferred paying them for years on end up to around 2010 when I moved abroad and my salary meant I could no longer do so.

However, I didn't pay the full amount they required because of my circumstances and eventually stopped paying altogether.

After being sent umpteen letters for Thesis and now Link Financial / Capquest,

I agreed to pay around 20 quid a month to each.

I then stumbled upon this website and read something about my loans being statute barred and the fact that I might not owe anything now as there was more than a six year period where nothing was paid.

Can someone just clarify this for me?

If I deferred for over six years are my loans considered statue barred or not?

Thanks!

To be statute barred, there has to be 6 years where you did not pay anything or acknowledge owing the debt. If you deferred the loan debt, it means that you acknowledged the debt.

So unlikely to be statute barred unless you can show no payment or deferment for a 6 year period.

If you are abroad and never intend coming back to the UK, then you might decide to just advise anyone chasing debts, that you are resident abroad. It is then up to them, whether they try to enforce the debt in a court where you live. It is pretty unlikely, as they have enough trouble enforcing debts in UK courts. The debt buyers of these old loans are very unlikely to incur costs in using foreign lawyers.

Thanks for replying!

Well, there was a period where I stopped deferring and didn't pay anything at all, but I can't remember how long that lasted.

I guess I could contact the SLC or Thesis to find out via an SAR.

will the fact that I deferred, paid some, then stopped completely (until last week) count if the period of me not paying or deferring was six years?

Or will me deferring and then paying some simply mean that the loan is not statute barred anymore?

I travel to the UK once a year but yes, I doubt they'd chase me where I am!

ANY period of 6 years without payment or deferment means it would be SB. Would not matter if you paid later, it would still be SB.

Doubt they will send an SAR response abroad. Don't get it sent to a UK address, as they will have it recorded as you being contactable in the UK.

If you contact SLC, just write to them asking for the years on record, where either no payment was made or the loan was not deferred.

OK thanks! I'll do that.

The six-year period has to be uninterrupted, right?

Yes, by payment or acknowledgement by you

Gotcha!

capquest on behalf of erudio [arrows DCA]

link on behalf of thesis [same lot trying to spoof you]

pers id ignore both of them if residing abroad.

unless you really want to upset them and simply write to each informing them you are resident abroad and will not be returning.

that way if they do sneak a backdoor CCJ whilst you are a known foreign resident you can hit them with a set aside that a winner

that way if they do sneak a backdoor CCJ whilst you are a known foreign resident you can hit them with a set aside that a winner

OK. I mean, they already know I'm abroad (they send letters here and call me too). Would I still need to write to them to remind them of that fact, or simply to say I have zero intention of returning to the UK?

If they know you are abroad, then no need to confirm this again. Any debt buyer can check UK records to see if you are active again in the UK.

On another forum that is nothing to do with these issues, i had a discussion with someone quite senior dealing with student loan debts. Apparently SLC have tried lots of different ways to enforce loan debts, but have found it very difficult and this is in regard to UK residents. They have sold on these student debts to debt buyers and these debt buyers have had problems as well. In fact so many problems, that they have so far not been interested in buying any more student debts, even though Goverment have been keen to sell more.

The UK has international agreements on UK student debts with countries like Australia, so in theory SLC could enforce debts in some countries. But i don't think they bother, beyond sending threatening letters. There is very little chance of a debt buyer enforcing a UK student debt abroad. They will just wait to see if a debtor returns to the UK.

And by returning to the UK, you mean to live/work etc, and not just to visit, right?

yep ignore them

we've not seen any CCJ's to foreign students to be honest

I had student loans from a similar period, they have been sold to Link Financial (see my thread). Link wrote to me a year before they became statute barred, then wrote five or six times more in the hope that I would contact them. I have not contacted them, and they last wrote to me in May last year. The debt buyers know the debt is unenforceable and give up chasing when they realise that the person they are chasing knows this.