Job Discussion Forums

[Phil_b]

OK... there's a lot of advice on this site for people with American student loans, and 'normal' loans, but British student loans are a bit different... If I stay in the UK I will pay back 9% of whatever I earn over �10,000 a year (or �12,000 - I can't remember if it changed) until I've paid the lot back or I get to 65 when the lovely people at the SLC will wipe out my debts - but what happens if I go abroad? I know that I have to make an arrangement with the SLC - does it stick to the same kind of conditions as if I stayed in the UK. I'm looking at going to Latin America, so I would be surprised (amazed, flabbagasted, etc, etc) if I got a job pulling in anything approaching �10k - does that mean I wouldn't have to pay anything back or would they take into account the lower cost of living and lower the threshold?

Anyone out there dealt with this?

[badtyndale]

Yes, I'd be very surprised if you were pulling in anything like 10k too.

At the risk of stating the obvious, and I'm only doing this because no one else has bothered to reply - perhaps they are all American (?), have you checked out www.slc.co.uk or phoned them?

Your loan and repayments are calculated against UK earnings. This is why international students do not qualify for loans. Cost of living in other countries is irrelevant. Thinking of sticking it out until you're 65? It'll sap your will to live before then...

[Chris_Crossley]

I think I can offer some comfort here.

I'm in this exact same situation. I took out one of those UK government career development loans back in 1998 in order to pursue my master's degree programme. The loan was 8,000 GBP, and I was supposed to pay back 11,000 GBP altogether in a period of five years (60 months).

I came to China in October 2001 and I duly informed my bank. The bank very kindly agreed not just to reduce my monthly repayments from 168 GBP to just 30 GBP but to make them INTEREST-FREE. This means that I have been paying NO interest on my loan since January 1, 2002, almost exactly three years now.

So long as I remain here in China, I think that I can consider myself lucky in that I don't have to repay at the original rate. Eventually, though, I will have to repay all that I owe, even if it will take goodness knows how long. (Where's my calculator?)

[dmb]

Every year the student loans company send you out a letter. You defer payment by sending in a copy of a payslip or a letter from your employer stating how much you earn. I managed this for 10 years. Then when I had the money after working in the Gulf ı paid it all back.

[vre]

Re: Student Loan Company loans only

In my first job abroad, I was earning under the amount so I kept deferring and my employer in that country would sign a letter that I prepared (on his behalf) to state my earnings and he would sign and stamp it and that was ok. I never got payslips.

I started paying my loans back about three years ago it must be because now I think i'm on the 'graduate 24' list which I guess means 24 months to go. So to answer your question, it doesnt matter where you are.

But I regret not trying to get it down earlier. The interest isn't that high but it does add up the longer you leave it. Try to get it off your shoulders as soon as possible.

Don't you think that the SLC website has to be one of the most unhelpful sites on the web? And talk about trying to get connected on the phone, it makes my blood boil when I am hanging on the line from a foreign country listening to music that they think students will think is really cool man.......

[foss]

Every year I send a trio of payslips to the SLC from where I work in Spain - it's a smooth process and the deferment forms don't ask anything about living costs.

[bluffer]

SLC is a bunch of basically good people bossed by a bunch of incompetants run by people who havent a clue.

Therefore the poor sod you get to speak to hasnt got a lot of say on how to do things.

The web site has been in development for around 10 years now and has never been thought of as a way of people making contact ( STILL! ). Staff have had email for around 8 years but the company still dont want you guys to email. That would be far too simple. Scanning deferment forms instead of faxing them - ooh theres probably still a committee somewhere deciding if that's allowed.

But back to the question.

The company doesnt care where you are, its your income that the important thing. So if you live in japan you have to pay and if you live in Thailand you dont even though your overall bills and lifestyle may be better in a lower paying country like thailand. ( very generalised answer I know )

I recommend the following

Keep them up to date with your address at all times.
photocopy everything before you sign it ( so you have 2 copies ) and before you send it.
fax the original and then
send the original
email your folks to get them to phone the company to see if they have recieved it - that smuch easier and cheaper than you chasing them up

remember a letter from your employer as VRE said is ok. so, get them to sign it twice .

With that, you should be ok. When you get the letter saying you are deffered, it will tell you when it runs out. You should get a letter 4 weeks before that date saying you need to pay or defer. If you havent received that then start chasing SLC to sort it out - because they wont.

Hope this ramble makes sense. I used to work there - see what it did to my brain!!