Overpayment and they want it back

[Ecossewarrior]

Hey guys, I asked the student loans company to increase my loan amount due to them lowering it drastically because my dad made more money than the prior year.

 

They said they could not do this but noticed they had overpaid me by £450 in the prior year and wanted it back. I told them (over the phone sadly) that I wanted to see my agreement before I did anything. They ignored this and took me to court and added another £100 charges for taking me to court.

 

They now want £30 a month from me to pay it back.

 

1stly... Since it is their error should I have to pay it back so quickly

2ndly... Can I ask to see the signed terms incase they cannot find it. I know that if they cannot find it then there is no debt.

 

PLease help guys cause there really nasty

[GlasweJen]

SAAS overpaid my bursary during my college year, i went onto uni the next year and they took it out of my next years entitlement, and the hardship office at uni went down on them like a tonne of bricks.

 

What happened at the court? If a judge said you have to pay then there's not much sway in the matter. If you've not actually been to court refuse to pay this extra £100, ask for a break down of how they calculated how much loan you're allowed and ask them to highlight where they went wrong. If you filled the form in wrong then they can ask for it back whenever they like but if it was a mathematical error (like mine was, someone typed the wrong key into a computer) then they don't have much to go on. You could ask that they just leave it as a loan (cos you'll pay it back on day) or you can get the student finance people at uni to deal with it because that's what they're there for.

[alibobsy]

As far as I can remember the consumer credit act only applies to student loans prior to 1998-sure this is mentioned in other student loans threads. This means that asking for the original agreement may not get you anywhere with them. Did you go and defend you case when they took you to court? I would have thought if the overpayment is their error, although it may be in the terms and conditions you first signed that they can claim it back surely from a point of view of you actually having enough to actually live off this could be defferred and left as part of your loan to be paid back later?

Good luck hope you get sorted and as jen pointed out ask for help from any student help service you can.

ali x

P.s as someone who is about to have baby number 3 and whose eldeset is just 9 I wonder if my kids will even be able to afford to go to uni at all

[emmaf01]

You should get loan agreements with your SAR info.

 

Your students union should have a legal advisor who can help. Worth a try.