Student Loans

[briggs]

Hi,

 

I have a student loan repayment in the UK, Would i still have to pay this back if i migrated to Australia?

 

Thank you fro your help

[Guest proud2beaussie]

Hi briggs,

Have a look at this website.

Overseas Repayment

[Eera]

Depends how old your loan is. The older style mortgage-type ones where you have to give them permission to remove the money from your account gets written off after 7 years last contact with SLC and they can't access your account unless you give permission. Apparently there's an agreement in place for the new style automatic tax one with the ATO which means they can get their hands on your repayments from Australia through the tax system like the HECS repayment.

 

Curiously though, one of my workmates emigrated recently from the UK, when his wife phone SLC to ask about repayments overseas the guy on the other end said "why bother..?"

 

Of course they're not going to tell you if you can get away with non-repayment by skipping the country, going through their website you get the impression you'll be marched off the Stalag SLC if you don't set things up before you go.

[Jordanl]

I phoned the SLC a few days ago to ask a few questions about paying from Australia. I had been sent an overseas payment form asking for direct debit mandate and proof how I would support myself until I gained employment. I asked if it would be better to wait a few weeks until I had got a job and was told in quite an abrupt way that if I didn't send the form in as soon as I arrived I would be issued with a large penalty and a monthly default repayment.

They also stated that if they had to obtain information themselves i.e. if I left without giving them details to avoid paying they would obtain them and then add the cost of obtaining the details to my loan account.

They we're quite rude and I thought it was not necessary as I had no intention of not paying. I had already obtained an overseas form myself and had only phoned to ask the best way of completing it.:arghh:

[Guest New Hope]

Hi, I just contacted the Student loans company recently re this. I was back home for Christmas and just so happened to open a letter from them for my sister (she is travelling atm and we are keeping an eye on her mail for her). The letter was from customs and said that it had been noted that she had stopped payments and left the country, and as part of the loan agreement you have to inform them if you leave the country. They instructed her to complete this form declaring what she waas doing overseas, ie travelling/working and it said she had to show evidence of how she is supporting herself. If the letter is not returned in 28 days monthly penalties are applied to her account.

 

This really panicked me as I was totally unaware that of this and still believed the what seems to be myth that if you went abroad for 5 years your loan got written off, niave as that is. I too have a SLC loan and have been abroad now for nearly 3 years and had not informed the SLC. I panicked thinking I may too have had this letter but never received and was accruing penalties. I researched ont he net and can find nothing that says anything about not paying whilst abroad for the post 1998 loan - only fellow myth believers like myself asking this same question. To be honest I can find very little DETAILED information about the terms and conditions of the loan that are of any help, so I rang the SLC to find out the status of my loan. They said that my account had not been accruing penalties and no such letter had been sent to me BUT now as I had informed them I was a abroad they were going to send me the letter. You do have to make repayments from overseas if you earn above the threshold. The threshold is also different for each country so in Aus its 12,000GBP not 15,000GBP - how they figurte that I don't know. I do earn over the trheshold so will have figure out how I am going to pay this. I am in the process of completing the form, I'm sure they will let me know in due course. It looks like they want monthly payments from an English bank account or Englsih credit card too, for which we also have to foot all the transsaction charges.

 

The only reason I think they never sent me the letter was perhaps cos in the UK I never earnt over the threshold so never made repayments. If you ask me their organisation is completely farcical in who they chase and who they dont. They give no detailed information on their website and they were really rude to me on the phone. It was an honest mistake not informing them, but I was informing then.

 

Is there anyone else out there makeing payments from overseas??? If so would be gratful for any info on how you make the payments - I don't want to make English bank account direct debits, I don't have an account anymore, overseaas banking transfers are expensive keep the updated - like if you stop working/ change jobs becasue they won't know unless we tell them. I really worried about this, as I am struggling at the moment finacially. I am willing to pay but surely there has to be a better way. What information should I tell them? Do they check?

[boganbear]

Just inform them before you go that you are no longer in employment so you are not earning any money. Its very scary that customs told Student loans you are not in the country. Perhaps its a good thing you are leaving - theres no Big Brother state here

[sykestykes]

Like any loan, student loans don't get written off after 5 years or 7 years because the person has moved overseas. Best thing in any situation like this is to contact the SLC as the terms and conditions vary from year to year depending on when you took your loan out. It is possible to make repayments from overseas but in mind that your payments are usually subject to a currency conversion charge at bank source.

 

Lots of people who have taken out student loans arrange their payments from overseas, so it won't be a problem.

 

PS Anyone with the old style mortgage loans should definitely apply for annual deferment if they are entitled to do so - just remember to fill in your deferment application form. If you don't prove you're entitled to defer, they will expect you to start repaying the loan.

 

Hope this helps:wubclub:

 

Sue x

[Guest Jack f]

I neglected to inform the SLC I was leaving. That was 3 years ago. Prior to moving, I hadn't begun payments as I wasn't earning over the threshold. While looking into how to pay now that I am making the right amount of money for the first time in three years, I encountered the fact that I should have told them I was going. I intend to repay, and will be contacting them this week, but am curious about what to expect. Does anyone have any experience of this? Will they charge me for the missed payments in the interim, or only moving forward - and moving forward, will that be the default amount or based on my actual income?

 

Any insight anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

 

Jack

[PositivePixie]

Like any loan, student loans don't get written off after 5 years or 7 years because the person has moved overseas.

 

Sue x

 

This isn't strictly true - any form of unsecured debt has the possibility of being 'Statute barred' after 6 years of no acknowledgement of the debt (apart from new style Student Loans, due to their specific credit agreement), but to get to that point isn't always very easy (if someone was of the mind to run out on debts in the first place that is). Its a very interesting (imho) area, especially when discussing UK - Oz emigrations, however its also a nasty area, as its a civil matter, not a criminal matter and therefore the burden of proof is on the (alleged) debtor to prove they don't owe, rather than the creditor to prove they do (other than the production of a CCA if covered by this).

 

As someone going through this at the moment though (for a debt we do not owe, but someone rather dodgy has tried to chance their arm at getting some readies out of us before we depart, on the basis they think we will be too preoccupied with moving to fight it and therefore will just pay them), I can attest to it is NOT fun at all, dealing with solicitors and courts does not a happy bunny make.

[PositivePixie]

I neglected to inform the SLC I was leaving. That was 3 years ago. Prior to moving, I hadn't begun payments as I wasn't earning over the threshold. While looking into how to pay now that I am making the right amount of money for the first time in three years, I encountered the fact that I should have told them I was going. I intend to repay, and will be contacting them this week, but am curious about what to expect. Does anyone have any experience of this? Will they charge me for the missed payments in the interim, or only moving forward - and moving forward, will that be the default amount or based on my actual income?

 

Any insight anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

 

Jack

 

Jack, SLC are a law unto themselves - they do not keep to their own rules and regulations, nor their own guidelines; they appear to not apply the same rulings or way of dealing with things to similar cases, but make it up as they go along. Sorry I can't be more helpful than that, but to be honest, if you are going to contact them anyway, only you will know when you have contacted them what they are going to say, as they are completely unpredictable nowadays.

 

I have had many many dealings with SLC over the years, for reasons far too boring to go into really, and heard/spoken to many others on the matter, none of us have had the same outcome with any predictability it would appear. Any of the things you say could happen, but if you could come back and let people know it would probably help out people in the future (my thoughts for what its worth would be they tell you you should have told them sooner, and now have to pay them your repayments going forward. Unless you get someone being a jobsworth (in the worst sense of the word) or someone having a bad day, and then they might apply the penalty monthly charges (which is basically a slightly higher monthly amount instead of what is should be based on your income), although I don't think I've actually heard anyone getting those yet, so try not to stress too much )

[Quoll]

Just inform them before you go that you are no longer in employment so you are not earning any money. Its very scary that customs told Student loans you are not in the country. Perhaps its a good thing you are leaving - theres no Big Brother state here

 

In Australia? No big brother? Of course there is!

 

I guess I am a little gobsmacked that anyone with a loan would think of buggering off and not paying it. You took the dosh and signed that you would repay it so clear the debt and have a free conscience

[llessur]

Oh man, now I'm a bit worried about this. I have a student loan from 2000-2003 which I have been continuously repaying since I left uni as I have always earned over the threshold. There is a few grand left to pay on it (5 or 6 I think). Whilst I have absolutely no intention of defaulting on this loan as we may well return to the UK at some point in the future I am a bit worried about requesting one of these overseas payment forms in case I open a can of worms.

 

I'm most worried about the fact that, according to their website, you need to show them "evidence of how you will be supporting yourself whilst overseas" from which they will be able to "calculate the required monthly payment".

 

Now, when we head out to Oz we have plans to travel for a few months based on a pretty small amount of savings we are taking with us. If the SLC decides they want me to make a monthly payment from my savings then once bank transfer costs and exchange rates are added then we could be pretty stuffed money wise as we have literally none to spare. Does anyone know if they'll do this or are payments only required when an actual income is being earned? Their website is just not clear and I don't want to tell them at this stage.

 

My original plan was to say nothing when leaving the country and then take responsibility for restarting payments from Oz once we're settled and were in decent jobs - which might take months if not years.

 

Does anyone have experience of going down this road or were penalties applied to their loan account for not informing the SLC?

[llessur]

I guess I am a little gobsmacked that anyone with a loan would think of buggering off and not paying it. You took the dosh and signed that you would repay it so clear the debt and have a free conscience

 

I don't agree with it but I can't say that I'm gobsmacked people consider it - whilst it isn't in any way an excuse to avoid paying a loan which someone has signed an agreement to repay, the Student Loans Company has been an absolute farce from the start and is incredibly difficult to work with or gain any information/advice from. There have been various occasions where tens of thousands of students did not receive their payments on time (by a matter of months, not weeks or days) which meant that rent and bills could not be paid, course books and material could not be bought etc. When I was at uni I was literally on the breadline and if my loan had been late I could easily have faced eviction from my student house as well as late payment charges/disconnection from utility companies.

 

At the other end of the process they have also proved themselves pretty ineffective at providing statements and processing payments effectively - I have received annual statements of my loan on about 3 or 4 of the 8 years since I left uni and have had to phone the SLC (sometimes twice) to send me a copy on the years when they have not arrived. There have also been a few well-documented incidents in recent years where payments have been taken from peoples' wages but have not been deducted from the loan. I trust this part of the process about as much as I trust the PAYE tax system here in the UK.

 

I am not sureif it true but if one of the previous poster's comments about the income threshold in Oz being the equivalent to 10k GBP instead of the 15k GBP in the UK then this is just stupidity beyond belief. Why on Earth would the threshold be so much lower for one country to another - especially when Oz is arguably more expensive for day-to-day living then the UK based on % of earnings. 14,000AUD is not a huge monthly wage by any means but when you take into account the transaction fees and exchange rates for making monthly payments from Oz to the UK the % of wages taken just for being abroad is so much higher than in the UK - especially hard for someone who's just emigrated and probably needs every penny/cent they have to set up a new life.

 

Like I said - it's not an excuse of not paying something that I've signed a legal agreement to pay and I'm certainly not planning on defaulting on my loan but in the interests of not breaking myself financially I might have to take a self-imposed payment break for a little while after moving.

[ali]

In Australia? No big brother? Of course there is!

 

I guess I am a little gobsmacked that anyone with a loan would think of buggering off and not paying it. You took the dosh and signed that you would repay it so clear the debt and have a free conscience

 

Me too .... do you think it's an age thing?

[PositivePixie]

Me too .... do you think it's an age thing?

 

Don't think so - we have had a variety of people here in the UK who have said things along the lines of 'if I was off to Oz, never to return, first thing I'd do is go get a huge loan, huge TV on finance and stuff, then just go and not tell them'. Truly shocking! Not family or friends, but people meeting in passing types (ie man who comes to check boiler or some such).

 

Think it is a very very sad indication of how morals have completely and utterly broken down in wider society in this country now - its a whole can of worms with 'the bankers put us in recession' and so on - you only have to look at the riots last year, with people justifying their behaviour on "we're just claiming our taxes back" and people stealing two left trainers who have never acted criminally before to see the breakdown of conscience and how pack mentality is ruling the day. Who knows where it will end?

[Six it]

ok.. i dont care about the moral aspect.. that between you and your god.. star monkey or who ever your worship..!

 

these guys are the ones to look at for all info overseas debt.. and there is a section about student loans.. although its mostly focussed on student loan issues for people still in the UK

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?266-Overseas-Debt-Overseas-Account-issues&

 

get armed with the facts.. then commune with the great sky pixie.. move on from there

[llessur]

Reviving a bit of an old thread I know but I just had to add my experience on this one.

 

We've been over in Oz for a year and a half now. For the first year I did not qualify to make payments to my loan as I did not work enough to earn above the threshold (that was a very relaxing year!). I did fill out the assessment form and do it all above board though. I'm good like that :wink:

 

Now I've started earning OK money again I thought I'd do what the majority of people who move overseas don't do - I sent them a form with my income details and calculated approximately what I would need to pay towards my loan each month.

 

Firstly, a week or two later I received an email from the Student Loans Company requesting some documentation from me - a copy of my employment contract, copies of my last payslips etc. I phoned them and politely pointed out to them that this was exactly what I had already sent them but the fella I spoke to said they must have been mislaid and asked me to resend them. Which I did.

 

A few days later I received another email asking how many hours each week I worked. Again, I politely pointed out that this was stated quite clearly both on my payslips (I'm a contractor and am paid by the hour) and my employment contract. They seemed OK with this.

 

I didn't hear anything from them for about 3 weeks until a letter turned up at my door asking for a payment of nearly double what I had calculated my required payment to be (and over three times the amount I paid on an equivalent wage back in the UK) and giving me a whole two days to make payment before a late payment penalty would be added to my account (beyond the speed of most international bank transfers).

 

I phoned them again to politely point out their mistake but the girl I spoke to couldn't put me through to anyone who could help with overseas assessments, couldn't get anyone to phone me back and didn't know anything about the process herself. The only solution she could come up with was for me to fill out another overseas assessment form, send it back to the SLC with exactly the same evidence of my income that I had already sent them and hope that they recalculated it correctly this time. I pointed out the futility of sending them exactly the same evidence for a third time but on receiving no helpful response agreed and asked if they could at least ensure no late payment charges were added to my loan whilst the mess was being sorted out. Again, that was unfortunately not possible for the SLC to do but they did point out that I could appeal to have them removed after they had been added. Great.

 

So I sent them exactly the same evidence, for a third time, and a long letter explaining how much I earned and doing their own calculations for them as per the instructions on their own website. A couple of days ago I received a one-line email from them stating that my repayment amount was as I had initially calculated.

 

Due to the very outdated exchange rates they use to calculate overseas repayments as well as some local currency thresholds for repayment which they advise relate to living costs in each country but as far as I can see seem to have plucked out of thin air I am now paying approximately double in GBP towards my loan than I was in the UK. I'm in a similar job, earning a similar wage in an arguably much more expensive country. Plus I have to pay foreign exchange fees on each of my monthly payments.

 

Granted, I'll fully accept that (albeit 15 years ago as a wide-eyed 18 year old promised the world by my various educational establishments) I took out this loan with its various terms and conditions so I only have myself to blame. However, I do think that after approximately 30 years in operation the SLC could get their act together and not live up to their almost comical reputation of being utterly incompetent. The fixed exchange rates and overseas income thresholds are also wildly outdated and do not reflect the cost of living in those overseas countries - at least not for Australia. Whilst in the UK repayment amounts were small and unnoticeable - almost like an extra tax (as it is indeed how the system is supposed to work - very small payments trickled out over a period of 20-30 years) now I've moved overseas I seem to have found myself with a full-blown loan with full-blown repayment amounts. Not really what I needed a year after emigrating whilst trying to save whatever we can for our first house.

 

I'm not sure why the process penalises those who move abroad and keep in full contact in an attempt to repay their loan as agreed. I don't see why it should suddenly become so much more of a financial burden than for those who have stayed in the UK.

 

Sorry for having a moan -I just thought this information might be useful to anyone else who has emigrated and is considering how (or indeed if) to deal with their student loan from abroad. Be prepared!

[Raj Patel]

Hi llessur,

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. Like many I too am in a similar boat.I did my degree from 2002-2006, then from 2006-2010 I did a PhD. I only started a real job in 2010 however SLC have only been taking payments from my salary from April this year. Though over the past three years I have been making voluntary payments twice a year. I have £4500 left to pay and now find myself moving to Oz. What would you advise? I was thinking of just saving up till April then before the UK tax year ends use moneycorp or similar to transfer/convert my AUDs into GBPs and pay off the rest of the loan. With money corp there won't be any charges and I still have my UK bank account active so hopefully as long as the rate is decent I stand to lose less. I guess my question is if I don't tell SLC I'm leaving the UK, pay the loan off before the end of the tax year will I get away with that or will they chase me up before then?

[llessur]

By all accounts it takes a long time for the SLC to realise you have left the country permanently - so if you plan to pay it off in full by the end of the year then I'd probably just not tell them and then pay it off in one lump sum.

 

If you plan to leave it longer though - i.e. a year or two then that's a judgement call. The chances of them catching up with you are by all account very slim, but if they do they can slap penalties on your loan account.

 

Either way, if you're definitely going to pay it off in full within the next year or two then I reckon you can do pretty much whatever you like. Chances are you will have paid it off long before you flag in their systems as someone who's gone AWOL.

 

If you do pay it off then just make sure you contact them shortly afterwards to confirm the account is paid and closed. I have read recent stories about people who have paid their loan early not having the payments properly registered against their loans and therefore the loan doesn't get cleared, interest builds up and it takes a lot of time and hassle to sort it out again.

 

From my experience, when dealing with the SLC you need to think of everything that could possibly go wrong, and then fully expect it to happen. Twice. :wink:

[Raj Patel]

Thanks for the reply, that's probably what I'll do. The impression I get is that I probably stand a good chance that they won't chase it up right away as I have been making regular payments. I'll probably pay £1k off before I move to Oz so that they don't think I have stopped paying for good.

[llessur]

Awesome - glad to help. I hope the move goes smoothly! Where are you heading?

[Raj Patel]

Cheers, I'm moving to Brisbane to work at Griffith University as a Postdoc in Physics... going by myself, never been before...*Don't think just do!* >_<

[llessur]

Exactly - just go for it. If you don't go you'll never know. Or something like that.

 

Plus, what's the worst that could happen? You'll move back home again. At least you won't have a student loan to worry about when you get there! :wink:

 

Best of luck with the adventure!

[nicolac34]

Reviving a bit of an old thread I know but I just had to add my experience on this one.

 

We've been over in Oz for a year and a half now. For the first year I did not qualify to make payments to my loan as I did not work enough to earn above the threshold (that was a very relaxing year!). I did fill out the assessment form and do it all above board though. I'm good like that :wink:

 

Now I've started earning OK money again I thought I'd do what the majority of people who move overseas don't do - I sent them a form with my income details and calculated approximately what I would need to pay towards my loan each month.

 

Firstly, a week or two later I received an email from the Student Loans Company requesting some documentation from me - a copy of my employment contract, copies of my last payslips etc. I phoned them and politely pointed out to them that this was exactly what I had already sent them but the fella I spoke to said they must have been mislaid and asked me to resend them. Which I did.

 

A few days later I received another email asking how many hours each week I worked. Again, I politely pointed out that this was stated quite clearly both on my payslips (I'm a contractor and am paid by the hour) and my employment contract. They seemed OK with this.

 

I didn't hear anything from them for about 3 weeks until a letter turned up at my door asking for a payment of nearly double what I had calculated my required payment to be (and over three times the amount I paid on an equivalent wage back in the UK) and giving me a whole two days to make payment before a late payment penalty would be added to my account (beyond the speed of most international bank transfers).

 

I phoned them again to politely point out their mistake but the girl I spoke to couldn't put me through to anyone who could help with overseas assessments, couldn't get anyone to phone me back and didn't know anything about the process herself. The only solution she could come up with was for me to fill out another overseas assessment form, send it back to the SLC with exactly the same evidence of my income that I had already sent them and hope that they recalculated it correctly this time. I pointed out the futility of sending them exactly the same evidence for a third time but on receiving no helpful response agreed and asked if they could at least ensure no late payment charges were added to my loan whilst the mess was being sorted out. Again, that was unfortunately not possible for the SLC to do but they did point out that I could appeal to have them removed after they had been added. Great.

 

So I sent them exactly the same evidence, for a third time, and a long letter explaining how much I earned and doing their own calculations for them as per the instructions on their own website. A couple of days ago I received a one-line email from them stating that my repayment amount was as I had initially calculated.

 

Due to the very outdated exchange rates they use to calculate overseas repayments as well as some local currency thresholds for repayment which they advise relate to living costs in each country but as far as I can see seem to have plucked out of thin air I am now paying approximately double in GBP towards my loan than I was in the UK. I'm in a similar job, earning a similar wage in an arguably much more expensive country. Plus I have to pay foreign exchange fees on each of my monthly payments.

 

Granted, I'll fully accept that (albeit 15 years ago as a wide-eyed 18 year old promised the world by my various educational establishments) I took out this loan with its various terms and conditions so I only have myself to blame. However, I do think that after approximately 30 years in operation the SLC could get their act together and not live up to their almost comical reputation of being utterly incompetent. The fixed exchange rates and overseas income thresholds are also wildly outdated and do not reflect the cost of living in those overseas countries - at least not for Australia. Whilst in the UK repayment amounts were small and unnoticeable - almost like an extra tax (as it is indeed how the system is supposed to work - very small payments trickled out over a period of 20-30 years) now I've moved overseas I seem to have found myself with a full-blown loan with full-blown repayment amounts. Not really what I needed a year after emigrating whilst trying to save whatever we can for our first house.

 

I'm not sure why the process penalises those who move abroad and keep in full contact in an attempt to repay their loan as agreed. I don't see why it should suddenly become so much more of a financial burden than for those who have stayed in the UK.

 

Sorry for having a moan -I just thought this information might be useful to anyone else who has emigrated and is considering how (or indeed if) to deal with their student loan from abroad. Be prepared!

 

I had a similar experience with the SLC, they wanted £364 a month from me when I filled in my forms a year ago. I couldn't afford this so I wrote and told them, and said I would be happy to pay them back £200 a month instead. They agreed and that's what I did. I paid it off completely last month.

 

I recommend getting a credit card that has no overseas transaction fees, I have a bankwest platinum one (but there are others) and each month I logged onto their online payment section, entered in my £200 amount and my credit card details (check the 'debit card' box, otherwise there will be a % fee) and job done. No other fees, and didn't have to mess about transferring lump sums back to the UK.

[llessur]

I had a similar experience with the SLC, they wanted £364 a month from me when I filled in my forms a year ago. I couldn't afford this so I wrote and told them, and said I would be happy to pay them back £200 a month instead. They agreed and that's what I did. I paid it off completely last month.

 

I recommend getting a credit card that has no overseas transaction fees, I have a bankwest platinum one (but there are others) and each month I logged onto their online payment section, entered in my £200 amount and my credit card details (check the 'debit card' box, otherwise there will be a % fee) and job done. No other fees, and didn't have to mess about transferring lump sums back to the UK.

 

Sounds about the same for me - they somehow calculated that I owed them £380 per month! I think this is because I am a contractor, so they simply took my hourly wage (including super!), multiplied it by 38 hours per week and then 52 weeks per year (i.e. assuming I'll be working non-stop every weekday of the year)! I don't get paid for holidays, sick leave, public holidays etc so they essentially just vastly overestimated my actual income.

 

Still, it was eventually sorted out and we agreed on around the £200 per month mark - same as you. It's still a lot more than I would have been paying back in the UK (about £75 per month from memory) but at least the loan will be paid off quicker.

 

In my opinion the SLC really needs to update their cost of living figures and exchange rates to bring the overseas repayment amounts in line with that of the UK - especially for those who play by the rules and submit their assessment forms. Plus, they need to recognise that, especially these days, not everyone has the luxury of a permanent contract with a set monthly salary. If I chose to take a few weeks off work unpaid then I still have to find a few hundred dollars to pay my loan payment or they'll hit me with a missed payment fee. This wouldn't happen back in the UK with the PAYE system which ensures you only pay when you can afford to pay - which I thought was one the key elements of the student loan repayment system...

 

Anyway, rant over - thanks for the heads up re the online payments. That's how I made my last one so hopefully they won't have a problem with that (their website does state that payments must come from a UK bank account) - I'll look into the no overseas fees cards too, see what options there are.