Seedbird

Hi all,

I moved to the USA earlier this year and and have finally heard back from SLC regarding what I am due to pay back and it's an extremely high proportion of my disposable income. I'm on plan one and after rent / bills I'm going to be left with barely 50% of my current disposable income. Has anyone had any experience with negotiating this figure based on the city? I know SLC calculate based on the country but I'm living in San Francisco with an extremely high cost of living and I was expecting that to be taken into account, maybe niavely. Based on what I am due to pay and my remaining balance it'll take me nearly two years to pay it off at this rate, but it will really cripple me. Granted I won't be homeless, but I'm going to have to cut back massively for at least the near term.

I knew the deal when I took out the loan and I'm not trying to dodge my responsibility, but just wondered if anyone had any experience with negotiation or adjustments based on state / cost of living in their area? I hope I didn't come across as entitled or such, that wasn't my opinion but just looking for advise / past experiences!

Thanks
Seed

postbox134

I had the same problem as you, I just paid off the loan when I moved. Considering the repayment rate in the US, as salaries are higher in general, it wasn't worth keeping doing the normal payments. I knew I was going to pay it off (which isn't usually true in the UK), so I bit the bullet and did so. Of course, no everyone has that amount of cash ready to go. It's just something you'll have to deal with as best for you and something to consider *before* moving.

Compared to US student loans, we still have it lucky. So you'll find limited sympathy here

Pulaski

So you're in the US paying off a UK student loan? .... There's not much that SLC can do to force a repayment from you when you're outside the UK, and it is extremely unlikely they would do so, so long as you are making regular payments (and unlikely otherwise too, as the costs of trying to enforce a debt overseas are too high for relatively small debts). I'd just tell them what you're going to be paying, as that's all you can afford.

Alternatively you might consider getting a personal loan in the US and paying off the balance entirely, though I assume there would be a substantial interest rate penalty for you to do so.

postbox134

Might not actually be a terrible idea, considering the internet rate varies from 4-6% for the loans when earning over 4k GBP.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/st...-student-loan/

Ukoneday

I had the same issue in 2009 and paid it off in full. It wasn’t very much because I’m old! I think it was £5000 and it was much better to forgo that amount in savings than pay interest.