Best way to pay off student loans?

[mattster]

So it needs to be a significant interest rate when you are capable of paying it off. maybe set it as the base rate +2% until your salary hits the payback threshold then start charging the higher rate.

Why does the loan itself need to be a profit making enterprise? Surely just whatever the government is borrowing money for itself, for the lifetime of the loan.

[vetran]

Why does the loan itself need to be a profit making enterprise? Surely just whatever the government is borrowing money for itself, for the lifetime of the loan.

Not saying it should but if you want it paid off early not written off like many loans are then make it an expensive debt for people who can afford to pay. Half the teenagers are now going to UNI do you want to subsidise them or do you want them to pay it back quickly?

[SueEllen]

My younger brother was in the middle where he paid some fees and got a loan, he is nearly 50 now and didn't pay his loan of till later in life as it was the cheapest loan he had. So it needs to be a significant interest rate when you are capable of paying it off. maybe set it as the base rate +2% until your salary hits the payback threshold then start charging the higher rate.

You had to send your income to the SLC so if he artificially kept his income down your plan wouldn't work.

[d000hg]

Why does the loan itself need to be a profit making enterprise? Surely just whatever the government is borrowing money for itself, for the lifetime of the loan.

No idea if it's a significant cost, but they have to pay salaries of everyone managing it.

[vetran]

You had to send your income to the SLC so if he artificially kept his income down your plan wouldn't work.

25 years ago?

He was a contractor so technically possible so it needs an HMRC link.

As I say he didn't rush to pay it off because it was cheaper rate than his multiple mortgages.

[vetran]

No idea if it's a significant cost, but they have to pay salaries of everyone managing it.

and the money they gave to their mates when they sold the debt off cheaper than Gordo's gold fire sale.

[SueEllen]

25 years ago?

Yep.

The old style loans weren't done via HMRC. You sent your P60 or proof from your employer on what you earned, plus your bank account details.

If you decided not to send it they would track you down, fine you if you were lucky or get debt collectors after you. I knew a couple of people who had debt collectors after them and were in tears.

More intelligent people who had a choice between getting a job with monthly wages a couple of quid under the repayment threshold or a few quid over, would choose the former job until they could earn well over the threshold and then start paying it back.

The SLC were also completely tulip in dealing with you if you went abroad even if you sent them your equivalent sterling wages. So there are people who moved abroad in their 20s who never returned to the UK, who are now 42 to 50*, who have never paid their loans back.

*if they went to university/poly at age 18

[DoctorStrangelove]

It was about £250 fees in the eighties.

I don't know why they allow the jumped up polys to charge £9k for a HNC.

I wonder how much they charge for a degree at the local technical college (the FE not the HE). (I suspect it's £9k there too since the FE college will be teaching a farmed out HE course).

Seems like degrees are available from really odd places these days.

I noticed that the local FE college had a vacancy for an electronics lecturer: they wanted a level 7 qualification or they wouldn't bother looking at you.

Anyway there was nothing much wrong with the polys or the CNAA degree.

[Lola]

Everything was free for me at uni. I never paid a penny for anything. The nice professor even gave a masters in astrophysios

[vetran]

Yep.

The old style loans weren't done via HMRC. You sent your P60 or proof from your employer on what you earned, plus your bank account details.

If you decided not to send it they would track you down, fine you if you were lucky or get debt collectors after you. I knew a couple of people who had debt collectors after them and were in tears.

More intelligent people who had a choice between getting a job with monthly wages a couple of quid under the repayment threshold or a few quid over, would choose the former job until they could earn well over the threshold and then start paying it back.

The SLC were also completely tulip in dealing with you if you went abroad even if you sent them your equivalent sterling wages. So there are people who moved abroad in their 20s who never returned to the UK, who are now 42 to 50*, who have never paid their loans back.

*if they went to university/poly at age 18

yep it was technically possible so when they designed the system the obvious thing is to add an HMRC link. They didn't because a whelk store was complicated.

I think the answer is "The SLC were also completely tulip"