Cricket555

Hi All,

I am considering a move back to the UK.

However I have some concerns around the fact I haven’t been paying my student loan from abroad since leaving 12 years ago.

Does anyone have any kind of advice in terms of what my options are?

I am more than open to start paying it off, regardless of the amount it’s at by now, setting up a monthly payment plan.

I am just a bit concerned about what could happen after not paying all this time?

it’s strange, nobody eve contacted me or my family about it.

I have not been able to find any info anywhere on this.

Any kind of advice or anybody who has experienced something similar would be really appreciated.

jandro

I did what you did but reversing the countries. I lived in the UK and didn't pay back my Canadian student loans for a couple of years. But I started to once I had enough savings. My loans had gone to collection agencies and once they had my details they were pretty demanding but I managed to pay it all off in installments.

Perhaps they don't have any contact information for you. I wouldn't assume the loan is forfeit. You should try to re-establish contact with whoever the original lender was and work out a payment plan. I'm not sure if UK student loans get passed to collection agencies after a certain time.

BritInParis

When you start working you’ll automatically have payments deducted via PAYE. That’s it.

Cricket555

Hi, thanks for your response.

Speaking from experience, or?

Is there not a possibility they could ask for a lump sum regarding what I didn’t pay this whole time? Or worse - court or prosecution?

BritInParis

That’s what happened to me. They track your NI number. Once you start working they’ll write to you with an opening statement saying how much you owe. Your monthly repayment rate is linked to your salary. You more you earn, the more you pay. If you don’t earn, you don’t pay, so there’s no chance of being ‘punished’ for not paying until now. ‘Student loan’ is really a misnomer, think of it as more as a ‘graduate tax’.

SanDiegogirl

So if you move overseas immediately you have graduated, (never return to the UK) you work overseas, you never have to pay back your UK loan?

BritInParis

You should but there’s not much they can do if you don’t. The SLC did try and pursue me when I moved initially saying I had to pay a fixed rate based on the country I was living in. Given that was Japan the amount was very high, far more than I could afford at the time, so I just ignored it. The policy remains the same but the worst that happens is that interest mounts up in your absence.

SanDiegogirl

In this day and age depending on people's honesty in repaying debts seems a naive concept ........

Ben in Canada

Hi,

Is there any update on this? I'm in a similar position. I've been submitting self assessment tax returns due to a rental property that I used to own. The first year I was abroad I did pay the SLC, after having an accountant submit my self assessment tax return The next year I could get an answer from the SLC for what the interest rate and repayment thresholds were for the previous tax year. As soon as a new tax year starts they change the numbers on the website for people who are set up to pay monthly. After a bunch of calls and badgering, continually being told that my request had been escalated and that someone would contact me I just gave up.

That was 5 years ago and now I am going to be returning to the UK to work. I want to get back into the system and am happy to pay what I have owed over the years, but am unsure of how to go about it. I don't want to end up saying or doing the wrong thing and getting stuck with a huge fine or tanking my credit rating. Any advice, stories and experience would be hugely appreciated.

Ben in Canada

BritInParis

My advice from above still stands. Your payments will be deducted via PAYE once you start working. There are no fines for not paying whilst abroad and it has no bearing on your credit rating.

MrHamburger25

Hi there,

I'm in a similar situation. Is it really as straight forward as informing my employer that I am eligible to pay student loans once I have returned to the UK?

Many thanks

BritInParis

You don’t even need to do that. HMRC will just deduct the relevant payments via PAYE based on your National Insurance number once you start work.

MrHamburger25

Hi thank you for letting me know.

Do. you mind me asking how long you lived abroad until you returned to the U.K.? Did you live in the EU at this time? I know approaches may change and everyone has a different experience, but were you chased up regarding your time spent abroad i.e. jobs and earnings during this gap in time? I’m worried that I may be facing a bill if I return.

Any advice on your experience would really help.

Thanks

BritInParis

I moved to Japan for around eight months shortly after graduating before returning to the UK. I didn’t pay anything towards my student loan at this time. I did look into the flat rate monthly payment I was supposed to make whilst working in Japan but it was astronomical so I simply didn’t bother to contact the SLC.

I then worked in the UK for just over two years before several short stints in Germany as a contractor but employed in the UK by a temp agency. During this entire period I made repayments based on my salary as normal automatically via PAYE.

This was followed by 18 months in France. I submitted my P85 to HMRC once I moved to Paris to declare myself non-resident for tax purposes which resulted in a number of tax rebate cheques being issued for previous years where I had overpaid including my tax year in Japan. I then did another nine months in Germany but payrolled there this time before returning to the UK to take up a job in London.

That was nearly ten years ago and I’ve worked in the UK ever since. My subsequent payments have been based on my salary and there were no ‘penalties’ to pay on the years I was absent from the UK. The only downside I faced was the interest accrued on my student loan whilst away meant I ended up with a larger amount to have to pay down compared to what I initially borrowed however at the current rate I should have it fully paid off within the next three years.

MrHamburger25

Many thanks for this feedback and congratulations on being close to paying it back!

I’ve been in Germany for 2.5 years and have been working for 1 year and 8 months. I know my loan is a significant amount but I’m worried that returning to the UK aim the future will incur major penalties for the time I have worked and haven’t paid. You have definitely reassured me, however this sounds like an experience from a while ago and perhaps you weren’t away as long?

I’m considering making myself known now, or whether it’s better just to wait until I return to the U.K., if I do…

Any other thoughts on this would be great. In any case many thanks for your advice.

regards