rrhysevans

What happens with my student loan when I move to Oz, I have had it deferred for the last 7 years and owe about £6k. Do I have to pay a UK monthly rate or would the fact im in OZ affect how much the installments are. Just wondering cause if I have to pay about £200 a month in the UK is this directly converted to a payment of over $400 a month?

Pollyana

If you do a search there are lots of threads about how to deal with it. Most Aussies are zzzzz-ing now, so you may have to wait till the morning for a direct answer, but from memory I think they accept a smaller payment, as its based on something like a percentage of your salary.

rrhysevans

Thanks

mandyp

Hmmmm,

I'l be very interested to see what people say to this as we both have student loans and I was under the impression that when you leave the country, you don't pay anything back (unless of course you come back).

Cheers
Mandy

TMRE

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Educatio...98/DG_10034872
May answer some of your questions.

Ozzidoc

This is incorrect. I'll hold back on discussing the morality issue. Does Australia really want people who reneg on their debts?

Simon.and.Kate

Cheers, I've found that an interesting read...

This is going to be a hard one for me. Because I started work as an ICT Teacher (in demand at the time of starting) I have had 10% of my original balance paid off each year and have never made a payment myself. It's gonna 'hurt' the first time I make a payment...

I'd be interested to hear from someone in Aus who is making repayments (1998 onwards style loan), and how they are finding it in comparison to repayments in the UK.

Centurion

LOL - but you did didn't you.

Quite correct - Australia wouldn't want any criminals, convicts or debtors...

Ozzidoc

LOL. I tried to hold back.

and the days of convicts, criminals etc are long gone!

mandyp

Hay guys,

I've never missed a payment and hubbies never earned enough!!LOL

I obviously picked it up wrong. I finished my course 2000 and remember a fellow student who talked of immigrating to USA as his folks where there and he gave me the info. Had never looked into it but cheers for the add, I will have a wee look!!

Cheers
Mandy

carmele

If your on a 457 you can defer the loan as normal............you're probably not which is why you're asking though

Carmel

Centurion

Someone should have told that to the bloke who installed my pool. I should have guessed from the highwaymans mask I guess. Sigh - was a new migrant at the time and thought it was a quaint Queensland tradition

ray2gill

Well as far as I am concerned the Government should not be charging interest on these loans to start with. It was a way of not giving grants but forcing everyone to take out a loan unless your parents were extremely well off.

There is now a whole generation of people who have mortgages, families and are still having to find the money to pay back their student loans. No wonder the nation is in debt!!

Amazulu

The UK government is obsessed with university education and want more and more people to go. So now we have loads of graduates who unless they have a vocational degree (engineering, medicine, law, accounting etc) end up doing jobs that school leavers used to do. This results in low salaries and mounting debt. Meanwhile, there is a shortage of skilled tradesmen and an abundance of an unemployable underclass.

Bizarre.

Ozzidoc

I don't think that there should be interest accumulating while the student is in full-time study....it's currently 2.4%. I'm not liking the fact that once I start work, the rate becomes 4.8%. At present. However, when I do start work, its such a minimal amount anyway - like less than £100 a month. I intend to pay more - not gunna let the bastards profit much from me if I can help it.

I feel strongly however that these "people" with mortgages, families etc you refer to should ensure that their financial house is in order and should "cut their coat according to their cloth" or whatever the expression is.