Hi. My son is in his early thirties and is still being chased by SLC. Circumstances such as three times redundant, and poorly paid jobs have caused it to last this long. We have been having a fierce battle with them and refuse to aknowledge Smith Lawson as it is purely a 'Frightener' which we saw through. I am interested in the charges which appear to be illegal. We did not know that. Now we will persue this. We succumed to paying the 'non-payment' debt which includes the charges, even though my son is adamant he filled in all the deferrment forms. I get the impression that they take no notice of the letters they receive. We always stipulate that we will not recognise any letter that is not personal ie. Standard letters. They eventually complied with this. I notice that tempers rise on this site, well no wonder when we have to live with the SLC. So please do not lose your rag with me, (at 67 I dont deserve it), when I repeat something which I gathered from Barclays ( we have the same problem with them and their loans dept) and I wonder if the same applies to the SLC. The signatories on letter do not exist, therefore its impossible to speak to them on the phone. It does not matter what address you send the letter to they are all sent to the call centre. The letters are opened by some faceless person who then decides which bit of your letter is relevant, that is then put onto the computer on your account. So when you ring up and try to find out why your question has not been answered, that operative has no idea of the full content of your letter. Is it any wonder we are all banging our heads agains a wall. I agree they are the most incompetant organisation ( Ha!) I have ever come accross. I pity all students who have to deal with them. Surely there should be another body of people who can offer a much better loan service. Still I suppose if its part of some government body what can we expect!.