PaulandTina

Hi there

I wonder if any of you could help me? I am moving to Perth in Feb and am still repaying my student loan. How do you go about repaying when you move to Oz? Here it automatically comes out of my salary every month but as I won't be earning here anymore I don't know what to do?

Do I contact the SLC first and tell them I am moving out of the country?

Any help would be great, thank you.
Tina

MissyB

Hello - yes you need to notify SLC first then they will calculate how much your repayments will be based on your Australian earnings and will also advise on repayment methods.

goldchoccycoin

Hi, yes as above make sure you contact SLC and tell them you will be moving. If you don't have a job lined up and don't know when you will start earning again ask for a deferral form and defer the loan til you have a wage. Then let them know how much you are earning and they will calculate the amount as a percentage of your wage (if it is a post-1998 loan - if it's a pre-1998 loan then you will pay a set amount).

I am paying off my loan from Australia at the moment - I changed my address to my Australian address no problems (although the statements are a bit late each year - they only use 2nd class post...).

I transfer enough to cover 6 months or so of payments from my UK account (which I keep open - HSBC) using www.tranzfers.com.au - really easy to do and only costs $15 per transfer which is cheap. The exchange rate at the moment is pretty good too!

You can also pay them directly online using a credit card.

Good luck!

PaulandTina

Thank you for that information, it is very useful. It is a post 1998 loan. I don't know yet when or what I be earning so I will notify them now that I am leaving and ask for the deferral form.

Thanks again for your help!
Tina

inthedeep

Yep the best bet is to keep open your banka ccount and leave enough money to cover 6-12 months payments (there is a section on the student loan webiste that tells you roughly how much you can earn in oz and what they take off you over that amount) so if you have a good idea as to how much you are likely earning here you can guess a figure to leave mind... SLC just take out the amount via direct debit from my natwest account.

lauralollipop

I also have a pre 1998 student loan and I just gave them my new Aussie address, they post the statements to you as someone said they are always late by the time you get them, but I always make sure I post them back the next day and its been fine so far.
As I don't work ATM I just write a stat dec and defer, but when I was working I just sent copies of payslips to show what I earned and it was never enough to meet the repayments threshold when they converted it to pounds, so its being getting deferred for years..........What happens to them of you never earn that amount I wonder - think I already owe double the amount I borrowed with the interest????