Hi, I have a student loan of about 4K which is an income based repayment loan. After a short time repaying we started a family and for the last 7 years I have not earnt enough to reply the loans and have therefore each year deferred payment.

We are hoping to get to Canada on a TWP next year with a view to apply for PR once we are there. I have read threads which say you can repay your loan from Canada by filling in some forms for the SLC but I cant find any info about if you currently defer your payments. Once in Canada because I will at best only be working part time I probably wont earn enough yet and have to still defer.

Is it possible to defer payments from Canada, like we do here, or once out of the country does the SLC require some payment, however minimal?
I have looked at their website and cannot find the info I need so just wondered if anyone else has had this experience before I phone them, thanks.

You can still defer, you fill out the same form as everyone else stating what your income will be and proof of how you are supporting yourself and if that falls under the 15k gbp per year (equivalent in CAD) then they won't take any payments off you. I think they then contact you every year to ask you to update your info.

This is the link with the info

http://www.studentloanrepayment.co.u..._schema=PORTAL

and this is the link to the form you have to fill out and send in

http://www.slc.co.uk/pdf/OVFA.pdf

thanks.

With the proof of how I'm supporting myself, my husband will be supporting me, currently I dont send his payslips to prove he is supporting me, but is that what I would have to do? Its not a problem, just wanting it clear in my head, got so many things whizzing about in there!

I'm not really sure in that case, when I first moved over I said I would be living off savings and sent in a copy of my bank statement.

I would presume you could send in a copy of his payslip and maybe a signed statement from him saying he is supporting you financially? You could also give them a call, they can tell you what they will accept as proof but I think that would be probably be enough.

thanks for your help

Yes, you just write a letter saying your husband is supporting you and have him sign it. I had to do this for my OH...

It should be based on your income not anyone elses I think. When I first moved to Canada and filled in the assesment form before I got a job I just signed it under the option saying I was not currently working so that is pretty much as low as your income can get.
Then they ask you to fill in the income assessment each year stating your current income and asking for a couple of payslips as proof. The first couple of years my income fell below the threshold so they send back a letter saying you don't have to make any repayments until the next assesment. Then when/if your income goes above the threshold they basically calculate the years repayment, which last time I checked was something like 9% of the amount your earned above the threshold, e.g. if you earned say $50,000 and the cut off was $30,000 (roughly) then you earn $20,000 above or say £10,000 so 9% is £900 and then they divide that into 12 monthly payments, so around £75/month.
You have to pay in Sterling so I used to send a Sterling Money Order, however several months ago they rolled out an online payment portal so you can pay online using a credit card which is way easier, there is like a £0.50 fee to use a credit card but it is way less hassle than mailing money orders and cheaper than the stamp (and the money order if you have a bank that charges you for them).
So I basically log on every month before the 20th and make a payment, currently around £42 or $75. One area where the weaker Sterling exchange is a good thing.
I haven't actually received a letter from them asking for a reassesment in the last year or so, which is good as my income went up thus so will my payments, so I just keep paying the same every month and haven't had any issues. One month my money order must have been delayed in the mail and they sent a letter within a week of the payment date saying I was late and should contact them immediately if there was a problem, so they are obviously keeping tabs on everything.

is it illegal to keep a bank account open in the UK so that payments could be made via that route in the future?

No problem at all.

Nothing to condone but a colleague of mine has relocated within the company to the Toronto and hasn't told the Student Loan company of the move. I'm pretty sure the student loans build up interest? If that's the case, would his loan build and build until his return to the UK? Or is it like the good old days where your loan has a finite life span?

How lucky i feel having saved enough to pay my way through Uni (worked for 5 years before going) as to not have these worries.

Hope he's not feeling too smug, as they'll catch up with him eventually and probably sell the debt onto a collection agency here

Depends when the loan was taken, but the older ones had a finite life span, which if you never paid it off in the end, it gets written off...

Not sure about the old style loans, but the newer ones, 1998 and onwards I believe remain until you die, or possibly retire. They are good enough to not pass them on to your relatives.
As mentioned above when you submit your income they work out a repayment amount based on your income in relation to the income threshold etc. mine is around £42 and the more you earn the higher it will be but even if you earned $100,000 it would still be under £100 I think. However, if you fail to inform them of your income they put you on a default loan repayment schedule which I believe is somewhere over £200 a month so that would be building up and then they would refer you to a debt collection agency and they can refer you to a Canadian one who can collect locally I believe. Wouldn't want to answer the phone one day and find out I owe a local debt collection agency $20,000 just because I couldn't be bothered filling in a form.