Statute Barred Student Loan Repayments Taken

[mrshortt1977]

Hi there,

 

I have an old student loan from 1996-1999. I informed the SLC/Student Finance that the debt was statues barred three years ago and they left me alone.

 

I started working for the NHS four months ago and today's payslip has a deduction for Student Loan repayment on it. I have never given permission for anyone to do this as I do not acknowledge the debt.

 

Where do I stand?

 

 

Many thanks,

 

M

[fkofilee]

Hi mrshortt1977 and welcome back to CAG.

 

This is a very interesting question? Should i assume this is one of the old style loans?

 

You should speak to the SLC (if that is who is still collecting this) in that case. However it is my understanding that even though it has become SB they can still potentially take it through other means IE PAYE.

I will ask someone else to have a look at this for you as its not my forte im afraid.

[mrshortt1977]

Thank you! Yeah it's the old-style loan. They didn't write to me about it for a number of years and I had no contact with them since I sent them the standard 'Statute Barred' letter stating that they weren't allowed to pursue me for it, and they stopped writing and sending me statements etc. Then today there's been deduction. I'm confused and concerned!

[AndyOrch]

Dont they need a CCJ first to enforce by way of an attachment of earnings?

[fkofilee]

Thank you! Yeah it's the old-style loan. They didn't write to me about it for a number of years and I had no contact with them since I sent them the standard 'Statute Barred' letter stating that they weren't allowed to pursue me for it, and they stopped writing and sending me statements etc. Then today there's been deduction. I'm confused and concerned!

 

Have you checked for a CCJ? Andy would be correct on the below. and AOE order would be required in order to take money direct from your salary.

I also believe that if you have a CCJ, you would need to fill in an N244 form in order to set aside a judgement. But this is all theoretical at this point.

 

Can you check trustonline for me... Should be £4... Select the England and Wales Judgments. OR check Noddle or Clearscore... Judgement info should be there if done?

 

If you dont have one and they are taking money, to me it seems like something may have worked through the system.

[dx100uk]

Have you moved since you sent the SB letter?

 

Something doesn't add up here....

 

Bet its not an aeo ...just says SLC against deduction on wage slip?

 

Could even be an NHS muck up in their wages debt

They've seen you have a loan and have simply hit a button

 

Anything on your credit file?

[AndyOrch]

Do you not recall any court claim forms or Attachment of Earnings notice N56 or N61 mrshortt1977?

[Peterbard]

Dont they need a CCJ first to enforce by way of an attachment of earnings?

 

I was given to understand that the earlier "mortgage style" loans as they are known were liable for statute bar in the same way as any other agreement and that money could not be claimed after the six years term. The reason being that the SB limited proceedings being taken.

 

The later ones were government funded through an enactment and thus were able to take payments directly without a court hearing (no proceeding) so the sb was not effective.

 

So i do not see how they could be recovering one of the earlier pre 1998 loans through an attachment of earnings. Although the government sold off much of the old loan book in 2013 to various DCAs, is it possible to contact your wages department and ask by what authority the deductions were being made ?

[mrshortt1977]

Thanks guys, I'm not aware of any CCJ's against me. The wage slip literally has the column for payments (so salary/hours, overtime etc) and then the next column has deductions which are tax, national insurance and "Student Loan" and the sum of £60 (my salary is £21692). I was wondering myself if maybe someone at the office has just hit a button to make a SLC/Student Finance England payment as it's the first time this has happened in 4 months, but I presumed there would need to be more of a formal agreement in place to do so rather than them being able to just randomly send money to the SLC. I'm going to email payroll tomorrow and see if they can explain it. Will let you know what they say!

 

As ever your help is much appreciated,

 

Cheers

[AndyOrch]

I was given to understand that the earlier "mortgage style" loans as they are known were liable for statute bar in the same way as any other agreement and that money could not be claimed after the six years term. The reason being that the SB limited proceedings being taken.Correct they are covered by the CCA1974 and Statute of Limitations applies.... Originally administered by the Student Loans Company (SLC), these loans are repaid at a fixed monthly amount over a period of between five and seven years. Interest rates are based on the retail prices index (RPI) rate of inflation. Crucially, graduates can defer repayments if they earn less than £28,775 a year. The loans are written off 25 years after graduation or when the borrower turns 50, whichever happens first.

 

The later ones were government funded through an enactment and thus were able to take payments directly without a court hearing (no proceeding) so the sb was not effective. Correct Contingent Repayment (ICR)

 

So i do not see how they could be recovering one of the earlier pre 1998 loans through an attachment of earnings. Although the government sold off much of the old loan book in 2013 to various DCAs, is it possible to contact your wages department and ask by what authority the deductions were being made ?

They wont know they are simply advised to make the deduction... the correct course of action is advised above....post #5 and #6

 

Andy

[Peterbard]

They wont know they are simply advised to make the deduction... the correct course of action is advised above....post #5 and #6

 

Andy

 

Surely they will know who is advising them, a court office or a government office. I would ring my employer and want to know who was taking my dosh I am afraid. In addition I am pretty sure they would have to state whose authority they were acting upon, or can any Tom Dick and Harry set up one of these and take anyones money.

[mrshortt1977]

I just did the trust online search where you pay £4 to see court judgement s against me and it came back 'nothing registered'.

 

Oh and I've never given anyone an 'attachment of earnings' form, or been asked to fill one out either.

[AndyOrch]

Surely they will know who is advising them, a court office or a government office. I would ring my employer and want to know who was taking my dosh I am afraid. In addition I am pretty sure they would have to state whose authority they were acting upon, or can any Tom Dick and Harry set up one of these and take anyones money.

 

The Judgment Claimant sends the Court Order to the judgment debtor’s employer...which we already know SLC..so back to .post #5 and #6 above

[Peterbard]

I read post 5 and six, you know that CCJs fall off the registry after six years of course with a debt of this age it probably would not be there in any case.

 

Also you know that a CCJ is not the only way a AOE can be authorised as said earlier. I would want to be sure the order was coming from HMTCS, and not being pushed through under the later legislation . It should not be to onerous a task just to contact the wages department and chck this I would have thought, besides they may have some reference number or other which would help him trace any Court order.

 

Post 6 also mentions the possibility of other deduction sources so the advice would seem to be accurate there as well.

[dx100uk]

I have known the NHS payroll department to blindly pay A govt debt without checking anything before..

 

As db says go have a word with the wages dept

 

Sadly & wrongly they have access to several systems they ( a minion) in the hr/wages have made a wrong "end here

 

Dx

[AndyOrch]

I just did the trust online search where you pay £4 to see court judgement s against me and it came back 'nothing registered'.

 

Oh and I've never given anyone an 'attachment of earnings' form, or been asked to fill one out either.

 

Not changed address in the last 2 years or so? It is possible the Trust can be wrong...as been known.....

[Peterbard]

Oh and how do we know the judgment debtor is SLC, the OP said he contacted SLC three years ago, he did not say they responded nor does he say who the accountis with now, could have been sold on half a dozen times since then.

[AndyOrch]

Oh and how do we know the judgment debtor is SLC, the OP said he contacted SLC three years ago, he did not say they responded nor does he say who the accountis with now, could have been sold on half a dozen times since then.

 

There isn't that many that deal with defunct student loans and the poster did state in her initial post ...

 

" I started working for the NHS four months ago and today's payslip has a deduction for Student Loan repayment on it."

[Peterbard]

This will be available in the net somewhere it is on my computer from earlier but I am sure a quick google will find it.

 

Sale of student loans

Standard Note: SN/SP/6795

Last updated: 16 January 2014

 

The loans to be offered for sale have a face value of around £900 million but, due to

the low level of repayments in relation to the loan book, the market value will likely be

significantly lower. The Government recognise that the private sector may improve the

collection of repayments using their expertise. Additionally, they will provide

operational benefits to the Student Loans Company (SLC) as the significant majority of

the administration is transferred to the buyer. This sale will reduce public sector net

debt and forms part of a wider effort to maximise the value of Government assets.

We will be assessing all potential buyers against a strict set of criteria and a sale will

only proceed if value for money for the taxpayer and borrower protections consistent

with the law are assured. The sale will not include any income contingent repayment

(ICR) loans, therefore no current students or borrowers who solely took out an ICR

loan after September 1998 will be affected.

More details of the sale will be published by

[AndyOrch]

Anyway once you have found out who this Attachment is connected to mrshortt and you are content that there is no judgment in place you need to deal with suspending the Attachment.

 

You have 14 days from the date the original order is made to do this.

 

This can be done by using the form N244.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[brassnecked]

Think the 1998 and 1999 loans would come under the later non mortgage style loan, so it might be those they are taking as cannot become SB, just a thought.

[AndyOrch]

Think the 1998 and 1999 loans would come under the later non mortgage style loan, so it might be those they are taking as cannot become SB, just a thought.

 

Prior to the 1998/1999 academic year, its old style ... Mortgage-style loans..this is old style.(1996)

[mrshortt1977]

Hi there,

 

I popped into the Payroll department at my NHS employer today to ask what was going on and where the authority to make these frictions has come from. They were pretty helpful and showed me the "Notice to employer to start Student Loan deductions" letter which they had received from HM Revenue and Customs. They even gave me a photocopy of the letter. It instructs them to start making deductions once my pay exceeds the Student Loan repayment threshold (to date I have earned £8223.48 - which seems like a pretty low threshold to me but anyway.

 

So I can only assume that the SLC is linked to the Tax Office and they have given the word for them to send this notice to my employer.

 

I'm going to speak to the Tax Office if I can, to tell them that they are enforcing a claim for a Statute Barred debt from almost 20 years ago.

[AndyOrch]

Good to see you are getting somewhere with this.......dont forget the loans are written off 25 years after graduation or when the borrower turns 50, whichever happens first.

 

Thresholds.......From 1 September 2014 until 30 August 2015 only those who earn £26,727 or less will be able to defer repaying their pre-1998 loan for a year.

 

As this academic year's threshold is £28,775 it means anyone earning between £26,728 and £28,776 who has currently deferred their loan, will no longer qualify to do so from September.

 

Andy

[Peterbard]

Hi there,

 

I popped into the Payroll department at my NHS employer today to ask what was going on and where the authority to make these frictions has come from. They were pretty helpful and showed me the "Notice to employer to start Student Loan deductions" letter which they had received from HM Revenue and Customs. They even gave me a photocopy of the letter. It instructs them to start making deductions once my pay exceeds the Student Loan repayment threshold (to date I have earned £8223.48 - which seems like a pretty low threshold to me but anyway.

 

So I can only assume that the SLC is linked to the Tax Office and they have given the word for them to send this notice to my employer.

 

I'm going to speak to the Tax Office if I can, to tell them that they are enforcing a claim for a Statute Barred debt from almost 20 years ago.

 

Yes contacting the payroll was a logical first step.

The thing now is that it seems that the deductions are being taken under the new procedure rather than the old one.

If you had the old style loan they would have needed a court order. So you need to query this with them.

Tell the the date of the loan and ask why it is not being being enforced as it was a new style loan.(ie through the later enactment rather than through the courts)