But the rest of his sentence is '£229 a month', meaning in terms of his repayments he owes 36 x 229 = £8,244. Sorry if I'm missing something...
Maybe a typo saying its 3 years. Perhaps the original loan was for 3 years and he's made a few payments.
It certainly makes sense that the settlement is £6500 is he says he'll be left with £1500 extra in cash.