SLC are good if you keep your eye on the ball (Student Loans Co.)

Member Name: BumpyBump

Product:	Student Loans Co.
Date:	18/09/09 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap loans & repayments at levels you can afford

Disadvantages: Can be insanely incompetent at times

I imagine that the vast majority of UK students studying an undergraduate degree will take out a loan with SLC at some time or another. I was no exception. I found the setting-up process straightforward, the money was received into my account on the correct dates each time, and I even applied for a loan top-up in my final year which was approved and received without issue. After graduating, you have until April of the following calendar year before your repayments become due. You have to earn at least £15,000 before you have to make repayments, and then the money will be removed from your salary by your employer before you receive it so you don't have to worry about setting up the repayments yourself. This does make life a lot easier.

There are massive down-sides to the SLC; they seem incapable of sending out up-to-date statements and each January you will only get a statement that goes up to April of the previous calendar year. Does it really take nine months to calculate these amounts and print these statements? Or do they just do it in January because it's their quiet period? Who can say.

My repayments started the April after graduating and at first I was only just covering the interest (about £18 a month from a £10,000 loan) so it was really disheartening to get a statement through for that first year only to see that my balance was still the same as when I'd started. But once you start earning more and the repayments get higher you start to actually make a dent in it and it all starts to feel less of a weight around your neck. When I first started making repayments I felt that I'd be retired before it was anywhere near repaid. But after eight years of making payments I have now worked out that I only have four years left, assuming that I keep paying at the same rate throughout.

I read up on some reviews of the SLC a year or so ago and they were all warning about keeping a close eye on your repayments and, as a result, I decided to go through everything I had ever paid to them, because prior to that I was just trusting that everything was in order. I got out all my payslips and everything seemed to check out ok until 2004-05 where I had changed jobs in the year. I worked out that I had paid about £300 more than SLC had received. I checked with SLC and they claimed they never received it. I then started going round the houses to find out where the money was and, to cut a long story short, SLC had received it but had not credited it to my account. After admitting their mistake it then took another 6 months before I got a revised statement showing the payment and, luckily, they removed all of the interest on that portion for the following years. Okay, so £300 is not a lot of money but that is not the issue. I can only say that in the defence of SLC they were always really pleasant when I spoke to them on the phone and once the error was picked up on they did sort it out for me without too much hassle (although a long delay).

If I had my time again I would still take out a loan with the SLC, even if I had other loan options, because on the whole they have been quite good. But personally I have started keeping my own very accurate records of exactly how much I pay them each month, what my current balance is and what the interest rate is for that month. I then check it against my annual SLC statement to make sure that everything is as it should be. I would strongly advise others to do the same. This is also essential because the SLC WILL NOT AUTOMATICALLY STOP TAKING YOUR REPAYMENTS EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE PAID EVERYTHING OFF. They expect you to tell them and your employer when you should stop making repayments and at the end of the year if they owe you any money or if you owe them any money it will be sorted out then. But if you do not tell them then they will continue taking your repayments regardless.

Just another word to do with SLC incompetence - a friend of mine who graduated at the same time has manage to slip through the net and, even though she has been earning above the threshold for several years, has never been asked to repay a single penny. Lucky for some!

Summary: Not a bad place to get a cheap loan from, but keep a very close eye on the books.