Student Loans Company Problems

[yuna628 9,676]

We are starting to be driven crazy by the UK Student Loans company....

When my husband left the UK he informed the SLC (as they had advised) that he had moved overseas by filling out the form, updating his address, and writing them a letter explaining his circumstances. Sometime around late November he received a letter stating they needed more information and for his third party sponsor to sign the form. My sister signed and he sent it off as soon as possible. We sent it via registered and certified mail and we checked the tracking and saw within a day or so it was already at wherever the mail hub is in NYC before it gets sent on. We didn't think too much about it and have been swamped during the holidays, until yesterday (postmarked 2 weeks ago!) when he received a letter from the SLC stating that because they never heard from him he was in arrears. I took a look at the tracking for the letter and discovered that it had been sitting somewhere all this time and had just reached the SLC that very day!

Fuming he called them today and got the runaround by at least two people, one of them from arrears, who stated the form they told him and my sister to fill out wasn't good enough and that they now required a detailed letter from my sister calculating how much she spends on him a month. Then the advisor started trying to wrangle payment out of him, and then started saying he would have to send in a photocopy of the K1 (which I found more than a little privacy invasive and nonsense because the visa is expired afterall while we are waiting for AOS, and no private company belongs looking at it). He tried a third person from the SLC who seemed a little more knowledgeable, and stated all my sister needed to write was a simple letter confirming his situation, and he didn't think sending the K1 made sense either. Despite this he couldn't confirm or give any ease that the now increasing arrears fee would be waived.

2 weeks for them to send a letter to our house and a potential 2 weeks for one to be delivered to them (with the potential to have it go missing or delayed) is extremely close to the short deadlines they demand..

Has anyone had any issues with the SLC or similar situation and how have they dealt with them?

Edited January 7, 2016 by yuna628

[Cam54 84]

Thats horrible! I moved 2 years ago and havent heard a peep from them

[Hotter Otter 1,211]

I have had issues with the SLC too, they sent loads of letters and I would receive a letter on the 28th that had allegedly been written on the 1st for example so by the time I actually got the bloody letter I had just days to respond. They are so frustrating.

I called them and spoke to someone who had no idea what he was talking about so spoke to another member of staff the next day and he said I just needed to provide evidence with how I was supporting myself and send 3 months worth of pay stubs. Luckily with the whole moving business I had just gone 3 months without any income so I was below the threshold and they couldn't take anything from me but I had another 3 or 4 threateningly worded letters arrive before they confirmed I didn't owe them anything. This year I assume they are going to rob me as I have been earning for a year but I'm sure I will get a number of threatening letters before they acknowledge what I've sent. Good luck!

[rhirhi 35]

They've been a pain but I haven't had anywhere near as much trouble as others have! Yikes!

When I first moved here I sent them the overseas assessment form and a letter from my hubby stating he would be supporting me financially while I waited for my work permit and looked for a job. I sent them a new assessment form when I got my first job here and they wanted £3 a month. Yup. I couldn't set up a direct debit for such a low amount so I thought hey, I'll just use that UK credit card that I keep to pay for things in £s, like when I get flowers sent to my mum for Mother's day. 6 months later I got a letter saying I was in arrears. Turned out there was a charge for using your credit card that nobody ever told me about!

Now every month I move $s from my bank account here into my £ bank account over there using Paypal, sending the money from my new $ email address to my old £ email address. It's such a ridiculous and drawn out process. I earn more in the job I have now so I was finally able to set up a direct debit for the amount that I pay every month. You'd think that with so many people being able to travel and move and whatnot, that they'd have a better and easier system set up for this by now.

One tip to keep ahead of the game with their letters. If you have an online account with them, you can click on 'correspondence' when you're logged in and it has a list and .pdf files of all the letters they've ever sent you. It's pretty handy being able to see them before the physical copy arrives.

[yuna628 9,676]

Thanks Rhirhi for suggesting checking online. We can see that they apparently sent out a new letter last week (but clicking on it won't display it for some reason), so I'm hoping this is something saying he need not owe anything at the moment.

Edited January 18, 2016 by yuna628