Warm boot recommendations please

[sparkleeeeee]

i have a student loan from my uni days. i had a statement through as usual. i dont usually look at the back of the statement but today i did and noticed they have doubled the interest rate

does anybody know if they can do this?

it was supposed to be a low interest loan to help people get though uni now it is 4.8% the same as a bank loan.

they didnt even send me a letter to tell me (like a bank would) its just on the back of the statement in the useful information section.

 

it would be ok if i had gone from uni into a high wage bracket like some of my friends did. i had to spend an extra year doing a pgce to become a teacher, who are certainly not highly paid.

[kazaddress]

yes i heard about this (as of september)..

 

there was a group on face book set up about it..

i will post some gumf frm there onto here

 

brb

 

The Student Loans Company issued notices in August 2007, in several national newspapers, to the effect that the daily (and hence yearly) interest rate on ALL STUDENT LOAN DEBT is going to DOUBLE as of 1st September 2007.

 

The SLC uses Retail Price Index (RPI) in March (previously in June) to calculate the rate of interest that it is going to charge its customers for the following year starting in September. Ian McLaren Thompson, spokesman from SLC, said earlier in the week that "Using this figure allows us to get a true reading of the value of what has been lent as the value of the pound fluctuates. It does not, and is not intended to, produce any surplus for us,"

 

As the current rate from March this year is a statistical anomaly, we feel that it is high time that a fairer system was introduced,

 

THIS CLEARLY MEANS THAT THE LIFE OF YOUR LOAN WILL BE EXTENDED ASSUMING THE SAME CIRCUMSTANCES.

 

I for one, think this move is extremely unfair, and am hereby starting a group to gauge student reaction to this news.

 

WRITE TO YOUR MP

Another approach to take would be writing to our local MPs - MPs are legally bound to represent the interests of their constituents and if an MP receives 20 or more letters will definitely represent those views in Parliament. So get writing - there are 15,000 of us so if possible we could get all MPs to say something. Just copy the information at the top of this page on what the group is about, include copies of the graphs / letters, find your local MP’s address with a simple Google search and send the letter off. This approach will be much more effective than the online petition, as our MP MUST represent us and MUST reply to our letters. Let’s do this – spare 5 minutes to spare us all more debt.

 

 

Please sign the petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/CPI-not-RPI/

 

Please see the picture of the notice from The Independent on 30th August 2007, AND SPREAD THE WORD OF THIS GROUP TO ALL STUDENTS PAST AND PRESENT.

[sparkleeeeee]

thank you for that, i will be writing a letter to my MP.

some students have up to £30k in loans, i really dont think it is fair.

if students come out of uni and go into work they pay taxes and contribute towards their uni fees. if we all spent three or four years on the dole we would have been financially better off during that time (and wouldnt have had the academic work) but would have made less of a contribution when we got a job because it (generally) would have been a lower wage.

i think the system is mad.

i used to work 25+ hrs during term time fitted in around uni lectures per week and full time all holidays and i paid tax on my earnings. i didnt have a parental contribution so it was hard work trying to pay the bills.

i havent paid my loan back yet because i dont earn enough and its going to be huge in a few years.

i wonder if it is still cleared after 25 years?

[chocchick]

No I didn't know. I've got a hefty 3 year one that has been on hold collecting interest during 4 years of my PhD. I'm not even in a financial position to start paying it off yet.

[Popcorn]

Oh dear. I have paid mine off now, but my hubby went to Uni late on in life and is still in loads of student debt. I bet he doesn't know about this.

 

I wonder what it says in the small print when he took the load out?

[Guest]

I haven't followed this avidly, but i thought the students had won and it was decreed that the banks couldn't do this. I must be wrong.

 

At the most these loans should be interest-free, I think.

 

I also resent the parental contribution. DD1 has just started her course and the system has decreed that we must support her £1500 a year. The calculation does not take into account how many people are living off the household income. There are 6 of us. A single parent with one child earning the same amount (and therefore well-off) would be assessed identically. That doesn't seem fair.

 

At 18 this country considers people independent and fully grown-up. So why do parents HAVE to support students? Stupidly, if DD1 had got married, divorced and moved back home before she went to university, she would be considered independent and eligible for a full grant. Under those circumstances we would not have to pay anything.

[FORENSICA]

That is really unfair! They are just doing rules as it comes along! I am in my second year at uni and I am not happy about this at all

Feel like going to do some digging at the garden to get rid of the anger

[Popcorn]

The calculation does not take into account how many people are living off the household income. There are 6 of us. A single parent with one child earning the same amount (and therefore well-off) would be assessed identically. That doesn't seem fair.

 

At 18 this country considers people independent and fully grown-up. So why do parents HAVE to support students? Stupidly, if DD1 had got married, divorced and moved back home before she went to university, she would be considered independent and eligible for a full grant. Under those circumstances we would not have to pay anything.

 

That is worrying Ginette, and really unfair in assessing how much parents contribute. The bigger picture needs to be considered too in terms of how many other children are dependent on your income. I wonder what the situation will be if Stefan goes to uni.....Darren and I are not high earners and would struggle to raise that amount

 

 

I better get an evening job.

[Louise]

I had a full time job which meant my employer paid my uni fees so my studying had to be done after work (40 hour week) it was hard going but the plus is no student debt

 

A girl I used ro work had a father who was an accountant and I am not sure how they did it but she took out two loans and invested the money and at the end was able to pay the loans back as they were at that time interest free and had enough left over to buy a small car

[craftyhunnypie]

Hi I have a student loan of just under £2000. I have deferred it for years now, as my earnings never came into the pay back your loan bracket. I've had my statement a couple of days ago - I'll have another look then decide whether I'll pay it off or not. It's crazy isn't it!

 

£2000 is nowt compared to some whopping loans that others have, but I best keep my gob shut about things like that or else I'll sound like an MP!!!!

 

Emma.x

[Guest]

The calculation does not take into account how many people are living off the household income. There are 6 of us. A single parent with one child earning the same amount (and therefore well-off) would be assessed identically. That doesn't seem fair.

 

At 18 this country considers people independent and fully grown-up. So why do parents HAVE to support students? Stupidly, if DD1 had got married, divorced and moved back home before she went to university, she would be considered independent and eligible for a full grant. Under those circumstances we would not have to pay anything.

 

That is worrying Ginette, and really unfair in assessing how much parents contribute. The bigger picture needs to be considered too in terms of how many other children are dependent on your income. I wonder what the situation will be if Stefan goes to uni.....Darren and I are not high earners and would struggle to raise that amount

 

 

I better get an evening job.

We can't afford £1500 pa either. I totally resent having to send anything - not for DD1 you understand but because she is 'grown-up' now. We are not responsible for her any more and I detest the fact that the government says we are (in this respect only). She is short of money because we can't afford to send her the full amount. My job is partially voluntary - I do a lot of hours and don't get paid much. If I had to get a proper job (teaching? ) I would have to give up the work I really love; I wouldn't be at home for the rest of my children (because the eldest, who I was always here for, is at uni and needs money) and that just doesn't seem fair. So I'm not doing it!! We'll struggle through somehow. Only another 12 years to go . . .

[Guest]

I picked this up from Facebook. (Group called "the student loans rip-off") The HSBC thing must be the one I was talking about earlier.

 

The Student Loans Company has recently issued notices in several national newspapers to the effect that the daily (and hence yearly) interest rate on ALL STUDENT LOAN DEBT is going to DOUBLE as of 1st September 2007.

 

Students already struggle to pay of mounting debt and this is going to be amplified by the new interest rate of 4.8% - YES that's double the 2.4% you have been charged for the past year.

 

I think this is extreamly unfair, especially given the limited notice we have had to this massive change. The aim of this group is an attempt to get this change reversed.

 

IT CAN HAPPEN - A facebook group contesting interest on HSBC student overdrafts made HSBC reverse its decision to charge students interest on their interest free overdraft.

 

Please spread the word of this group to all students past and present.

[ubereglu]

This has happened with my sister, (she's 24) and they kept sending her identical letters that she didn't need...then she read the back of it and realised that the interest had gone up to 4.8%. This now means what she's paying back to them every month doesn't even cover the interest!

 

I think they're actually perfectly entitled legally to change the interest rate unfortunately, as they had sent "Notification" out even if it wasn't very good.

[Looney]

I hadn't realised the interest rate had gone up so much .... Although this has given me a much needed kick up the backside to attempt to pay my loan off quicker!