Repayment Deductions
Repayment deductions from your salary will be shown on your pay slips or your P60. The Student Loans Company does not receive your repayment details until after the end of each tax year. It is, therefore, important that you monitor your own repayments, keeping track of your balance so you know when you are due to finish repaying.
You can login to your account and check your balance and use the ‘balance calculator’ if you have your payslips or P60 to hand. The ‘balance calculator’ looks at the balance of your loan as at the last time we applied interest. We generally do this when we receive the information from the HMRC. You then have the option to input any student loan deductions from this date. This will then give you a more accurate indication of your balance.
Interest on Income Contingent Student Loans
- The interest rate for 1 September 2008 to 4 December 2008 was 3.8%
- From 5th December 2008 the interest rate is 3%
- Interest is charged on loans from the date they are paid to you unitl they are repaid in full
- Interest will not effect monthly repayments - these are based on your earnings rather than your balance
Student loans are not like commercial loans. They are subsidised by Government and attract a low cost interest rate. This interest rate is based on the annual March retail price index (RPI) or the highest base rate of a number of major banks plus 1%; whichever is lower.
To date, the RPI has always been the lower of the two. The reduced bank base rate plus 1% is now lower than the March 2008 RPI so we have presently adjusted the student loan rate to 3%.
Statements
The Student Loans Company will send you statements of your account balance each September until you begin to repay your loan. However, you may request a balance at any time. Just before your loan enters repayment (in the first April after you graduate) you will receive an interim statement telling you how your account stands.
If you are repaying your loan via PAYE or Self Assessment (SA), a statement will be issued when HMRC have notified us of the payments that you have made.
