hockeysarah

Ive started to think about what to do with my student loan when I move to the US this year.
I know as much as I can maybe defer it for a year until I get work settled, but thats it. I will ring the SLC before I go, but was wondering what other people here have done with their loans when moving.
I did hear, although this might be a myth, that if you are out of the country for 5 years the loan just gets written off. This sounds a little too good to be true!

Any thoughts and experiences would be great!

Manc

the phrase "county court judgement" doesn't exist for nothing......

SanDiegogirl

Plenty of people have continued to pay off their student loans when they are living in the US.

Contace the SLC and they will inform you how to do this.

hockeysarah

Thanks, i knew i could pay it off over there, but wasnt sure how easy it was, how often i have to pay etc. I shall give them a call and see what they say

Thanks!

Duncan Roberts

If your experience is anything like mine, it's impossible no matter how many times you call, send letters and fill out forms and the muppets at the student loan company don't have a clue about what they are doing.

hockeysarah

Great, im not looking forward to this then! Is better to give then quite a bit of notice so i can pester them until i leave?

Duncan Roberts

I started 3 months before I left and gave up 3 years after that.

hockeysarah

So do you not pay anything to them anymore? Or just pay online when you can?

Duncan Roberts

You have to fill in an income form, send it back and then they tell you how much you owe for the year. They've never responded to any of the ones I've sent them. Other things, after 3-6 months I've got replies to but never to the income verification forms. I have a 1998 loan and apparently can't do anything online with it. To give an example of how bad it was, I went to my old LEA to see if they could poke somebody at the SLC, they couldn't. In desperation I even wrote to the government to see if there was anything they could do, they couldn't either.

hockeysarah

Wow you have had a lot of trouble! My loan I think was 2005 so hopefully it will be easier.
I think I'll give the SLC a call tomorrow, see how far I get!

Zoe Bell

my advice
do NOT call them , they deny what they say in phone calls.

Send all correspondence recorded delivery. That way when they deny receiving anything you can tell them who signed for it and when. Keep immaculate records of all correspondence. Be prepared to threaten legal action.

mwooldri

Stumbled upon this thread because I have the old style Mortgage Loans from SLC outstanding. Last loan was granted in 1997. I moved to the USA in 1999, and due to our financial stupidity (both my wife and I are to blame) we decided that a Chapter 7 US bankruptcy filing was appropriate - filed in 2002, discharged early 2003. Our financial situation is just the same as it ever was after BK but thanks to the exchange rate the SLC thought I earned too much - previously each year I had been filing deferments. Now the deferment has ended, and I am in arrears according to them.

Now how a US Chapter 7 bankruptcy interacts with a UK Student Loan Company loan I don't know. SLC were served notice of Chapter 7.

In theory I could go back to the bankruptcy court and explain that repaying the UK student loan would cause undue hardship - that way a US court can discharge the UK student loan. Either that or the SLC is not recognized as a governmental body and as such the debt would be quashed anyway.

tonrob

The Statute of Limitations for an unacknowledged debt was 6 years, at least when I studied banking law back in 1992. No idea if things have changed or how this impacts your situation as it stands, but I think this is where people grab their 6-year (or 5 in your case!) stories from.

mwooldri

SLC do have and use email these days too. Emails are traceable, as are faxes - which they have as well.

For correspondence - if you use the US Postal Service, Express Mail is your only proof - Global Priority doesn't track properly. FedEx and UPS do track correctly though so might be worth mailing paperwork via them unless USPS Express Mail is far cheaper.

As for legal action... if you're poor threaten a Chapter 7 filing here Stateside. If your Student Loans are old enough there is a way to discharge them through the US court system.

hockeysarah

Ok, I shall write them a letter stating that I'm moving and won't know how much I'll be earning, I'll ask for a deferment and see where that gets me!
It seems mad that they make it so difficult to pay them back!