57,000 ex-students are waiting for refunds from The Student Loans Company (SLC) after excess re-payments were taken from their accounts despite having paid off their loans in full, according to an investigation using Freedom of Information requests by consumer champion,
Which?.
Student loans are repaid through monthly Pay As You Earn (PAYE) instalments that are managed by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
While SLC is supposed to notify HMRC when a loan has been paid in full,
Which? found some students were still making repayments 11 months after the loan was repaid.
To add insult to injury, when it comes to claiming back excess payments ex-students face a long and complicated reimbursement process. One ex-student had to wait over six months for his excess repayments to be refunded and even then his refund was two months short.
"How is it possible that for at least the second year running the Student Loans Company has overcharged ex-students by millions of pound?” said
Which? chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith.
We know that paying off a debt is a stressful experience, so the last thing people need is to find that they've been paying out more than they needed to.
"The SLC must ensure they don't keep ex-students ‘in debt' for longer than they need to be."
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