Hello I am new here. I probably wouldn't have stumbled across this site if it wasn't for 2 things... 1. Student Loan Company is doing what it does best and is using cowardice bully tactics, sending me automated letters and threats and being very annoying and incompetent 2. Today's news : the government has lost 2 cds containing personal and private data of 25 million people "The discs contained personal details including names, address, dates of birth, National Insurance numbers and, where relevant, bank details of 25 million people. "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7104840.stm I was about to reply to the umpteenth SLC letter this evening when I read about the "Child Benefit id fraud threat" and it made me realise that these are the same people, ultimately, that have access to my SLC data too.... so I started doing a search to find out about the Data Protection Act... And while I was at it I thought I would see if there were any other peeps less than satisfied with SLC... and it led me here So we'll see where we go from here... from what I've read I'm tempted to ignore the SLC from now on, as they are clearly incompetent, ignorant blundering idiots and a complete waste of time and energy. Either wait for them to take me to court which I would wager will never happen due to their own dis-organisation, too many cooks, etc OR it's time to roll up my sleeves and tackle them head on and threaten court action back...and put an end to this nonsense. Anyway hello to all, thanks for the info and help so far, got me thinking...! And good luck in your struggles. Do not be intimidated by bully tactics - don't let them win.

Hi Noomill, I am new to this site, but I have been reading your posts and saw that you took on SLC and won. Congratulations by the way, they can be intimidating (or try to be) SLC are chasing me at the min. I am not letting them stress me out for now (luckily they don't have my phone number!) So when they send a letter I just write back to them after a week or two and ask then to verify / explain why they think I owe them that amount, asking for statements / calculations etc which of course never materialise. Every now and again, the process starts over and gets as far as them threatening me with court. My question here is, what is so bad about "calling their bluff" so to speak? If they are as desperate as we believe that they do not want to go before a judge then surely we can all just sit back and wait for them to actually pick a court date themselves, which will never happen? Has the SLC ever taken anyone to court and won? I don't know much about the legal ins and outs but common sense seems to point towards SLC not being able to organise the proverbial in a brewery so why would anyone worry that they could actually make it to a court with any valid case even if their case WAS valid?! I am thinking about saving myself 30 mins per month and just ignoring them from now on. Or would you not advise that? Basically they overpaid me some grant money which I would have been happy to pay back straight away had it not been for their very rude and spiteful woman in cust serv. PLUS they tried demanding £176 more than it should have been so on a matter of principle I am not letting them have the original amount until they change their attitude, admit their error and apologise for being incompetent.