In 7 years Ive gone from £20 a month to a lot more - its not that noticeable
Student Loans - Are you paying it back?
- Thread starter fiveub
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In 7 years Ive gone from £20 a month to a lot more - its not that noticeable
Good for you, for me it is hugely noticeable.
I always thought you were more of a glass half full kind of guy
WAHHHH! WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!
I always thought you were more of a glass half full kind of guy
I flop about, depending on the subject. A lot of stuff is half full, something's are half empty.
I do feel SL is taken to lightly, due to what people say and aren't properly informing new students off the burden. Especially now when the borrowing is so high, you'll be paying it off for most of your lifetime like a secret society, we can't say you'll notice SL, if you can't notice an extra/less £100+ in your pay packet a month, then you have to much money.
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Soldato
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If it wasn't a SL deduction, it'd be an increased tax. Either way, you'd be without the money.
No you wouldn't,
A) you don't have to go to uni.
B) way back when, just a few years before I went to uni, the fees were split between the entire population. Something I feel should be reinstated for certain course/units/grades achieved. With SL for people who full outside those courses/grades.
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Err... Is it that hard to check before tapping submit?
Soldato
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I've paid mine back at the minimum. The interest is currently 1.5% and I expect to have it all paid off by the end of the year. It's not a small amount of money each month either, it's like getting a 7-8% pay rise.
Student loan interest for post 1998 undergrads (possibly changed very recently - make sure you check anything I've written here as I'm not sure how things may differ under the latest system) are capped at the lowest of RPI inflation in the previous March, or Interest rate +1%. So currently 0.5 +1 = 1.5%.
This means that Student debt is incredibly cheap, and pretty much guarenteed to be lower than the returns you can get on investment - even risk-free cash investments such as ISA, regular savings etc. There is even the possibility that you don't pay it all back, depending on what happens with your income over the years.
Essentially what this means is that, assuming you are sensible with money, you should always max out whatever loan is available to you and repay it slowly as possible. Heck, even if you aren't sensible with money, if it means racking up less debt on non-promotional rate credit cards and other expensive finance, maybe worth it even then.
I graduated in 2001 and am still paying mine back, I think the amount outstanding is pretty low but I'm still waiting for my April statement to come through.
This means that Student debt is incredibly cheap, and pretty much guarenteed to be lower than the returns you can get on investment - even risk-free cash investments such as ISA, regular savings etc. There is even the possibility that you don't pay it all back, depending on what happens with your income over the years.
Essentially what this means is that, assuming you are sensible with money, you should always max out whatever loan is available to you and repay it slowly as possible. Heck, even if you aren't sensible with money, if it means racking up less debt on non-promotional rate credit cards and other expensive finance, maybe worth it even then.
I graduated in 2001 and am still paying mine back, I think the amount outstanding is pretty low but I'm still waiting for my April statement to come through.
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It's no more noticeable than NI, tax or pension additions.
It's not like you suddenly had the money start coming out of your pay. Sure it's noticeable if removed it, just like if you suddenly stopped paying NI. If your are earning enough for it to seem a lot of money then you are earning lots anyway
A cautionary word with regard to student loans.....
I left uni after my 2nd year for personal reasons. I had a post 1998 loan and at the time I am pretty sure the earning threshold was 15k a year. Maybe 16k.
My loan total to repay was £8,000
I started paying it back in 2003.
I'm still paying it back.
I only have £900 left to clear, but I would beware of thinking you pay back what you borrowed.
For the last 5 years I have payed a minimum of £120 a month back (which is what they automatically take from my earnings - stopped at source). Often, though, its more because they calculate what they take based on your gross income for the month - INCLUDING any overtime payments put through on PAYE. Or at least they do for me. Any time I earn a hefty bit of OT, what they take for student loan increases
It does not take a genius to work out that in 5 years I have paid nearly enough to clear the original loan completely. However I have been paying it back since 2003! (9 years)
I have absolutely no idea how they have worked it out, but one day I had a shock. I called up and they told me how much was outstanding. After 12 months of payments I called up again and asked for the outstanding balance - I had only cleared £630 off the outstanding balance in 12 months of payments!!!
Rate of inflation / interest free loan my arse!
Rob dogs.
Be wary people!! Pay it off early if you can.
***Tangent rant alert****
When I was at school we were told you needed a degree to get a decent job. Thats how it was sold. We were told if you dont have one, you wont ever do very well.
Wish I never went. I dont have a degree, and I have done OK for myself.
Agreed some employment requires a degree, but people can get on in life without one.
Sorry for the little rant - I just hate how our education establishments and wider society make our youngsters feel worthless if they dont go to university and get a degree. It is false advertising of the very worst kind.
Cheers
Buff
You payed off the amount you owed plus interest. Pretty simple to understand.
At the moment, you'd be a fool to pay it off.
No one ever said it would be interest free.
I am struggling to understand how it is really beneficial to leave a student loan outstanding unless it is for a very substantial sum.
I paid mine off years ago, but the figures from this thread put the rate at a current 1.5APR.
A top saving account will pay what...3% gross, therefore 1.8% net assuming panthro is honest on his tax return (
)
Lets make the student loan outstanding balance a substantial one for the example, £20k.
The resulting differential is £60 per annum. Thats on a £20k balance. Not the big deal being made out here. I will also assume that in panthro's example his balance was nowhere near £20k either.
I paid mine off years ago, but the figures from this thread put the rate at a current 1.5APR.
A top saving account will pay what...3% gross, therefore 1.8% net assuming panthro is honest on his tax return (
)Lets make the student loan outstanding balance a substantial one for the example, £20k.
The resulting differential is £60 per annum. Thats on a £20k balance. Not the big deal being made out here. I will also assume that in panthro's example his balance was nowhere near £20k either.
I am struggling to understand how it is really beneficial to leave a student loan outstanding unless it is for a very substantial sum.
I paid mine off years ago, but the figures from this thread put the rate at a current 1.5APR.
A top saving account will pay what...3% gross, therefore 1.8% net assuming panthro is honest on his tax return (
Lets make the student loan outstanding balance a substantial one for the example, £20k.
The resulting differential is £60 per annum. Thats on a £20k balance. Not the big deal being made out here. I will also assume that in panthro's example his balance was nowhere near £20k either.
Why on earth would you want the capital outlay of paying it off when it's only 1.5% interest?
Why sink a big amount of money to pay off the cheapest loan you will ever have. That capital that could otherwise go on things like house deposits. Pushing you into a better LTV as well as reducing the amount of interest you repay each month.
It completely depends on circumstances. But like met threads it seems tht opinion = fact and everything else is wrong
Plus years ago the interest rate was 0% so an even worse idea
It completely depends on circumstances. But like met threads it seems tht opinion = fact and everything else is wrong
Plus years ago the interest rate was 0% so an even worse idea
I am guessing that he didnt need the capital? Assuming he has no need for it, the only comparison there is to be made is that which i did.
I am struggling to understand how it is really beneficial to leave a student loan outstanding unless it is for a very substantial sum.
I paid mine off years ago, but the figures from this thread put the rate at a current 1.5APR.
A top saving account will pay what...3% gross, therefore 1.8% net assuming panthro is honest on his tax return (
Lets make the student loan outstanding balance a substantial one for the example, £20k.
The resulting differential is £60 per annum. Thats on a £20k balance. Not the big deal being made out here. I will also assume that in panthro's example his balance was nowhere near £20k either.
Thanks for summing up something that I should have. The balance was £5500 so not much in the grand scheme of things. You're pretty much spot on with the savings account returns. The £5500 I had in my bank that has not been invested elsewhere was earning me not much at all so I decided to pay it all off as its a minor weight off my shoulders.