Students overcharged by £15m, finds Which?

The Student Loans Company (SLC) has taken more than £15m in overpayments from ex-students, shows new research from Which?.

Using Freedom of Information requests, the consumer champion found that 57,000 ex-students are waiting for refunds from SLC after excess re-payments were taken from their accounts despite having paid off their loans in full.

Student loans are repaid through monthly Pay As You Earn 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.

Which? chief executive, Peter Vicary-Smith says: "How is it possible that for at least the second year running the Student Loans Company has overcharged ex-students by millions of pounds?  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."