Martin Lewis’ website moneysavingexpert.com has revealed that over a million people could be due a reimbursement.To get it, it might suffice to make a simple phone call. This tip is for people who are paying off their student loans, who may have overpaid:
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in the last two tax years alone, graduates overpaid their student loans by more than £2m, according to our Freedom of Information (FOI) request
Yet reclaiming overpayments often only takes minutes
So, who is eligible and how do you go about claiming the money back?
Who is affected?
Firstly, this only affects people who went to university in 1998 or later - if you started before, you are on a different type of loan and won’t be able to go through this process.
An ITV presenter and consumer champion’s website found that 57,000 people had money taken after the loan was fully repaid and 39,000 started repaying their loans too early.
Mr Lewis said: ‘Some get £100s back just with a quick call, others may have to push harder’. Some have even managed to get refunded £1000s.
How to claim
In the UK, student loans are repaid at 9% of everything earned over the annual threshold of your particular student loan plan.
If you think you have overpaid, you can get in touch with the Student Loans Company on 0300 100 0611. Note that for Wales it's 0300 100 0370 and from overseas +44 141 243 3660.
Before ringing, Lewis suggested you should have your old payslips at the ready, along with your payroll number and PAYE reference number.
Success stories
On moneysavingexpert.com, there are several accounts from people who have been refunded. Having got in touch in October, Fiona said:
Thank you so much. I knew something wasn’t right when I lodged my tax returns and reading Martin’s article was the catalyst for a sustained attempt to work out what had happened. Finally, I received £3,773 back.
Martin Lewis does also warn that:
If you claim the money back that you’ve wrongly overpaid, your outstanding loan balance will increase by that amount, and you will ‘owe’ more. The real question, though, is whether owing more means you will repay more. How this works depends on what plan you’re on.
You can check out moneysavingexpert.com here for more information.
Read more:
⋙ This HMRC letter could make you £10,000s, don't throw it away
⋙ Here's how much you could get off your electricity bill as the Warm Home Discount Scheme opens
Sources:
moneysavingexpert.com: Student loan overpayments
Birmingham Live: One million people in UK could have £3,773 added to bank account after phone call
