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UK student loans

UK student loans

Old Jan 27th 2015, 12:13 am
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Default UK student loans

Hello!

This is my first post so I hope I am posting in the right place!

I'm a British citizen, I graduated from university in the UK back in 2005 and moved to the US to do my Masters in 2006. At the time, I genuinely thought that my student loans were repayable only if I was living and earning in the UK (based on nothing but hearsay, to be honest) Now, I see how completely and utterly stupid and naive I was.

My original plan was to study in the US and come back home (and commence loan repayment), but one thing led to another... I got a PhD, married an American citizen, got a job in the US, and I'm now a permanent US resident. I didn't intend for this to be my path, but it's what happened and I'm very happy about how things have turned out!

Now that I have entered the world of work I figured I should look into my British student loans and realized to my horror that yes, I am still responsible for repayment. I don't know why I didn't look into this sooner, and don't know why I presumed that I could avoid it until I returned to the UK, but there we go.

My question is: What do people recommend as the best method to go about repaying them? I have a British bank account, but it is virtually empty, I just never took the time to close it. Transferring sums monthly US to UK would incur a lot of fees. Do people instead advocate lump sum payments? Is the student loans company easy to deal with (keeping in mind this loan has been outstanding for ten years)?

What have people in a similar position done?

I'm posting this here rather than the "Moving Back to the UK" forum because I don't anticipate moving back to the UK, at least not for a while (I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this). I'm very happy in the US, with a very stable job, for which I am very thankful! I just want to figure out what people advise as next steps. I genuinely intend on repaying the loan.

Thanks so much!
RT
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 12:20 am
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Default Re: UK student loans

Where did you get the loan? (Was that a loan to attend University in the UK?)
Call them and work it out rather than rely on a forum. But good luck..let us know how it goes.

Good to hear you have a stable job after getting a PhD...what's your Doctorate in and what kind of work are you doing?
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 12:26 am
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Default Re: UK student loans

Where did you get the loan? (Was that a loan to attend University in the UK?)
Yeah, it was a loan through the Student Loans Company.

Call them and work it out rather than rely on a forum. But good luck..let us know how it goes.
Thanks... I'll definitely be following up with them but wanted to see what people in the same or similar situations have done.

Good to hear you have a stable job after getting a PhD...what's your Doctorate in and what kind of work are you doing?
I work at a university - I teach journalism!
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 12:29 am
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Default Re: UK student loans

I presume you'll be paying it back with penalties?

I think there are some low cost transfer services that have been discussed on these forums..do a search...
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 1:10 am
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Default Re: UK student loans

It's done through PAYE in the UK. As soon as you earn over the threshold in the UK then it gets deducted from your salary. Not sure how else you do it. If you were in the UK and didn't earn enough to get you over the threshold (?£22k) then it gets written off after a certain number of years (?6-10). A friend of mine got pregnant just before graduating and had never worked but remained a stay at home mum, her student loan was written off.

Why are you concerned about it now? Have you received a notice or something?

EDIT. It seems they have tightened up considerably and most of what I wrote above is wrong now

.http://www.slc.co.uk/services/loan-r...ent-works.aspx

It still sounds like it's up to you to if you live abroad though...how would they track you down and get payments?

Last edited by petitefrancaise; Jan 27th 2015 at 1:30 am.
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 1:29 am
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Default Re: UK student loans

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise
Why are you concerned about it now?
Maybe the OP's just a decent person and wants to pay what he/she owes.
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 1:33 am
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Default Re: UK student loans

Originally Posted by Dorothy
Maybe the OP's just a decent person and wants to pay what he/she owes.
I was genuinely wondering if something had happened to make him think about it.
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 2:42 am
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Default Re: UK student loans

Used to be that if you stayed out until you were 55 then they wrote it off... Things may well have changed though
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 1:24 pm
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Default Re: UK student loans

The Student Loans Company sold on a lot of their loans so your loan may no longer be with them. Companies they sold to included Graduate Student Loans and one with a very dodgy name that I can't remember, began with an E. Depending on the year you took out the loan, that decides the threshold for when you need to start making payments and when you can defer. If you don't earn much you may be below the threshold. Contact SLC to see if they still hold your loans. If not they will be able to tell you who they sold them onto. It's a pain to contact SLC from America. The best way I found was via email. You need to be very specific in your email and inlude as many details as possible. Otherwise they will email you back 4 weeks later saying that they can't answer your questions due to the data protection act. Faxing works for forms, but the best method we have found was to write them an old fashioned letter and pass it to someone who was going back to the UK to mail it from there. As a word of warning, the company I can't remember the name of are shits. I am in deferment and they know that. It didn't stop them contacting my parents by phone asking them to repay the debt. They know they can't do that, they were just trying their luck.
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 2:03 pm
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Default Re: UK student loans

Originally Posted by Chapmandan
Used to be that if you stayed out until you were 55 then they wrote it off... Things may well have changed though
Barring a few mature students I'm not sure the student loan system has been around long enough for many examples of that situation.
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 2:22 pm
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Default Re: UK student loans

I wonder what the student loan companies are doing about the EU students who come to study in the UK but then return to their home countries to work?

Maybe there is an unwritten agreement between EU countries on this??? For example, a UK student at Maastricht is liable for only €750 for their degree, whilst a Dutch student coming to the UK would owe £30k ish to the UK government.

My welsh half brother will owe £3k per year for his UCL degree courtesy of the welsh assemblyand he's currently spending a year at Johns Hopkins on an exchange for which the £3k is all he will owe.
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 2:23 pm
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Default Re: UK student loans

Monthly payments via Worldfirst.com, xe.com, or other on-line remitter is low cost so sending monthly or quarterly transfers to your UK bank account is a practical possibility and not unduly expensive. ..... There are many threads on the options for remitting funds from the US to the UK.
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 6:15 pm
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Default Re: UK student loans

Originally Posted by sir_eccles
Barring a few mature students I'm not sure the student loan system has been around long enough for many examples of that situation.
Yup but that was the small print back in the day when i took mine out. I have no idea if it's been tested.
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Old Jan 27th 2015, 6:19 pm
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Default Re: UK student loans

HI,

I am not sure about the overdue scenario but since my husband and I have been living in the US we have been paying ours back.

We have to submit a yealy proof of income form and they tell us how much we need to pay in GBP. For us the easiest way to do it was through our UK bank account. We just send money home once a month via xoom.com and the transfer fees are minimal.
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Old Jan 28th 2015, 1:22 am
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Default Re: UK student loans

As an easy alternative to transferring funds to a UK account, I repay mine using my Canadian credit card.
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