View Full Version : Are you making student loan repayments? If so, read!
Miss Alpinestarhero
24-10-09, 05:21 PM
I've just discovered that the interest rate for student loans has been cut from 3% to 0% until the 31st August 2010!! :D - I didnt get any letters or emails telling me about it :smt011 I only found by chance because I logged in to check what my balance was (what a painful experience :()
I think I better take advantage and make some extra payments when I can!
Just thought Id share that with the fellow student loan payee's :D
Duckboy1989
24-10-09, 05:29 PM
My advice..... Don't.
you can earn more interest in savings than you loose on a student loan, so only payback what you have to, and put the rest in savings!
Radio 4 were talking about this a while a go. Lucky you!
Yay for me
Better than last year when I was paying off £15 a month and they were charging £30 interest per month!!!
Jackie_Black
24-10-09, 05:39 PM
The *******s are taking £200 per month off me atm.
The *******s are taking £200 per month off me atm.
Try £100 a week!:smt011
Miss Alpinestarhero
24-10-09, 06:00 PM
My advice..... Don't.
you can earn more interest in savings than you loose on a student loan, so only payback what you have to, and put the rest in savings!
I am saving, but its frusturating when you pay back X amount (via PAYE) which doesnt even make a difference. My PAYE payments dont cover all the interest which means Im not even paying it off :confused: At least I can make some difference now :)
I heard it gets written off when your 65..I hope thats true!
Try £100 a week!:smt011
Are you kidding? ouch!! Mine is only £30 a month (which is good or bad depending on how you look at it *shrugs*)
Duckboy1989
24-10-09, 06:43 PM
I heard it gets written off when your 65..I hope thats true!
It does indeed!
i know it seems wierd not paying it, but so long as you can earn a higher % interest on savings, your better off just leaving it.
I'm sure there must be accountant on here that can explain better........
Alternately... move to another country without telling them... apparently it works....... but don't quote me if you get found out.
phi-dan
24-10-09, 07:05 PM
Hehe, I'm on the original student loans system, where you get to defer repayment if you earn below x% of the national average wage. Thanks to low NHS pay, and "modest" public sector pay awards I haven't paid back a penny yet, and I graduated 12 years ago! And thanks to a recruitment freeze (to try and claw back some of the £50 million-ish my Trust owes)there's no chance of a promotion to push into the repayment bracket.
-Ralph-
24-10-09, 07:32 PM
I don't understand why you'd pay extra when you interest rate has gone down. While your interest rate is 0% you could pay nothing until it goes back up again and whilst it would take longer to pay off it would cost you no more. If you pay extra then sure you would pay less in interest when the rate goes back up, as it is a percentage of the overall balance, but you can do that and reduce the overall balance at any time. They take interest as a percentage of your balance, not as a percentage of your payments.
Miss Alpinestarhero
24-10-09, 07:51 PM
I don't understand why you'd pay extra when you interest rate has gone down. While your interest rate is 0% you could pay nothing until it goes back up again and whilst it would take longer to pay off it would cost you no more. If you pay extra then sure you would pay less in interest when the rate goes back up, as it is a percentage of the overall balance, but you can do that and reduce the overall balance at any time. They take interest as a percentage of your balance, not as a percentage of your payments.
Now im not very good at maths and numbers but I think I understand what you just said. I've now decided that Im just going to continue making the minimum possible payments and keep all extra cash for savings (my next headache is buying a property :rolleyes:). The joy!
phil24_7
24-10-09, 08:53 PM
I have cleared my student loans where they take it direct from your wages. I do still however owe money on the old style "mortgage" loans. These are the ones that you defer if you don't earn enough. I do earn over the threshold, however, my interest rate for this year is... -0.4%... That's right. They're paying me interest! 8)
Jackie_Black
24-10-09, 10:30 PM
I had been happily deffering my old style ones but one of my payslips was £3 over and they started taking the money back.:(
lukemillar
24-10-09, 10:43 PM
I skipped the country and now they think that I haven't earnt a penny for the past 2 years. I keep thinking that I should probably just pay this off, but now it's interest free for the next 10 months, I'll think i'll wait :D
currently they're taking £7 a month. Pointless really, i've no idea how much my debt now is but i'm guessing it's a hell of alot more than it was 4 years ago. Skipping out to another country is a plan :)
-Ralph-
25-10-09, 10:22 AM
I was 4 years at Uni with relatively little financial support from my parents. Came out with 16 grands worth of debt despite working in pubs all the way through and factory work during the holidays, 6 grand of which was student loans. Just managed to keep myself out of court and avoid CCJ's by doing the income versus outgoings trick and paying them all at £2 per week so they couldn't take me to court, plenty of defaults though. I still open envelopes thinking "WTF is this?", even though I have no debts other than the usual mortgage and credit cards. I opened a bottle of bubbly with my wife the day I paid the last of it off, then went out and ordered my SV! :-)
I have got all this to come with Becky. She is hoping to start her HND next year. She has decided against going away to Uni and will stay at home and go to local college where she is currently doing her National Diploma. She got no financial support for last 2 years because she has not lived in England for 3 years, she got ema for this year and will get it til 2012 provided she does not go into higher education, so needless to say she will lose that next year.
Mr Speirs
25-10-09, 03:44 PM
Ah I get annoyed by Student Loans. You never know how much you owe as it only calculates it annually!!! I think I would have mine paid off soon but can't find out as it says I still owe nearly £2k on it although I have been paying back nearly 200 a month since April!!!
Miss Alpinestarhero
25-10-09, 05:39 PM
my interest rate for this year is... -0.4%... That's right. They're paying me interest! 8)
That is bl00dy brilliant..! :smt046
Ah I get annoyed by Student Loans. You never know how much you owe as it only calculates it annually!!! I think I would have mine paid off soon but can't find out as it says I still owe nearly £2k on it although I have been paying back nearly 200 a month since April!!!
Well, you can work out roughly how much you've got left by logging into here (http://www.studentloanrepayment.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=93,3866857&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL) and bashing in a few numbers. Or just ring them up and request a statement
HTH :)
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