AAAAHHHH Loans (Student Loans Co.)

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Product:	Student Loans Co.
Date:	04/03/01 (143 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: They've proved that no, things can get worse

Disadvantages: Homelessness, poverty, frustration, need I go on

I rely entirely on my student loan, I fill in the forms correctly, I've had 2 cheques from the SLC bounce because of administrative incompetence.

I'm a student in London, my older sister studies at York. We both rely entirely on our student loans and have had major problems with the system. Between the pair of us we have endured the following mistakes of the SLC and LEA (ours is Sunderland)

1. They confused the pair of us last year and sent back the wrong details
2. Loans have arrived a month late meaning my sister had to apply for a uni hardship loan in the meantime
3. This year they revoked my loan because their typist entered the wrong course code after it had cleared meaning I didn't realise I had no money in my account and accrued costs from my bank
4. They did no. 3 again so I was left with no money and the bonus of having a landlord breathing down my neck for last terms rent
5. They have in various telephone conversations tried to convince me I must have failed last years exams, I have changed course, I am studying for 3 years not 4, I go to a different London college, I don't live in London so I get 800 less(they had again confused me with my sister Kirstie). They even tried to tell my mother I was taking a year in Europe and maybe I hadn't had the heart to break it to her.
6. They have also tried to tell me after they electronically took my loan out of my bank account that there was no way to put it back in.

After it was all sorted out they sent me a letter telling me that this (spring)_terms cheque would bounce - surely by now they should realise that the second term is paid by BACS so doesn't involve a cheque.

I get increasingly frustrated with the standard of service offered mostly caused by the people on the helplines knowing less about the system than you do so you have to tell them what to do as they go along - particularly at LEA level.

Helpful hints: t
ry and get your form in as early as possible, follow the progress information they send you and check any details that they send back thoroughly, make sure you know the amount you should get and if there's any problems read the literature available so you know what to say when you talk to them. I've found I have to nurse my application through. Hope you have better luck.

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