Hi, I just wanted to update this in case anyone is interested. I wrote to the national debtline who gave the following advice: A student loan is a debt under statute, this means that the Limitations Act (LA)1980 does apply. The limitations period on this debt is 6 years and not 12 years. However, as this is a new style student loan, HMRC can deduct repayments directly from your PAYE even if the debt is statute barred, which only allows you to defend the matter if it is taken through the courts. It will be up to you whether you want to contact SLC or wait for them to contact you. If they did find you, they could start to recover the debt through your PAYE. If they were unable to find you, there is a possibility that they may treat this as a bad debt and sell it onto a debt collection agency (DCA). If this was to happen, the DCA would then try to recover the debt from you. If 6 years have passed with no written acknowledgment and no part payment you can then use the statute barred argument. If the DCA were to start court action, this can be used as a defence, however we would recommend that you get legal advice and take into account the additional costs that may be involved if your defence is unsuccessful. Can anyone comment on this course of action?: Wait until I am contacted by SLC. Reply with the statute barred letter that has been posted on these forums. Presumably if the debt is statute debarred then the SLC will not be able to sell the debt on to a debt collection agency, nor claim any fees for doing so? Or am I being incredibly naive?

Thank you. It looks like I don't really have a case then unless I can put them off for another six years...

Thank you tiglet, I hadn't heard of that. I see from Law relating to debts: statute-barred debts that Under the Limitations Act 1980 the time limits are in simple contracts, 6 years in contracts under seal, 12 years. Does anyone know whether the new style loans are definitely 'contracts under seal'. If they aren't, has anyone successfully had their new style student loan successfully statute debarred?

Hi hackers0ns - how did you get on? I'm in a similar position (well, it's coming up to 6 years since I last had a payment from the student loan company). I have not acknowledged the loan since then and I have moved several times. The SLC finally wrote to my parents before xmas (2007) to get my new address. I have been in full-time employment for some time and the last I heard from the SLC was about 5 years ago saying that they couldn't match my national insurance number to any tax record - I've no idea why. I didn't respond. Has anyone had a new style student loan statute debarred? Presumably the SLC wouldn't be able to start deducting from my wages as they can't match my records. Any help gratefully recieved. Thanks.