Student loan, and other ways to spend £8,000

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Student loan, and other ways to spend £8,000

16 posts & 13 voices | Started 1 year ago by rockthreegozy | Latest reply from zokes

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rockthreegozy - Member

Apologies for the slightly long winded post..

Currently in the process of selling of all the bikes bar one mtb/one road. Combined with some savings, that'll mean I have about £4,500. Planning on saving another £3-3.5k over the next few months if I can.

Lucky enough to still live at home with my father, and apart from £5,000 of student loan no debt.

Also applied for a working visa for Canada (October onwards?)

Current plan:

Start paying off the student loan (off my own back) @£250 a month. Means if I go to Canada, i've got some money should I not find work straightaway. However, I know i'd hate spending money and not earning, so reckon that would spoil the trip if it was for a prelonged period. Also obvioussly takes a huge chunk out of the Loan by the time I plan to come back (Oct 2012)

However, i've just been asked if I want to go for a fortnight in France this summer. Gut feeling is no, as i've just sold the bikes (bar a couple of frames) so it would cost me that + holiday. Also, its not like I can't go next year.

However, i'm starting to ask myself whats the point of repaying the student loan? Not earning anything near the 15k where they start taking repayments, and don't see that changing anytime soon.

I'm 24 if that matters

Posted 1 year ago #
CaptainFlashheart - Member

I drank my student loan. In France.

Posted 1 year ago #
charlierevell - Member

Do Not pay back your student loan early is normally the advice given. Including the advice from that moneysavingexpert chap!

Its the cheapest loan you'll ever have.... I'm now a higher rate tax payer and owed £6k is, even at that level and paying off £300 a month Im still getting nowhere with it. I dont think they can even do the sums correctly. Statements are always about a year old and it just doesnt add up.

Looks like we're all stuck with them for a very long time, If your earning sub 15k Id go to Canada for a few years then you'll come home and they'll forget who you are!

Posted 1 year ago #
jonb - Member

I'd skip the student loan payment and go to France. Then go to Canada with some money and use it to enjoy yourself.

I know I spent a fairly large part of my studnet loan on spending a month seakayaking the west coast of Canada. Bought a kayak, went to the Alps a few times and generally had a good time at uni. I didn't actually spend that much on alcohol a I'm not a big drinker.

Enjoy the freedom. When you get a proper job you'll probably have the money to pay it off quite quickly. What you won't have is the time to go wandering off to Canada or Europe for more than a few weeks at a time.

Off to Vietnam tomorrow. Wanted to go for a month and can manage only two weeks...

Posted 1 year ago #
ahwiles - Member

student loans aren't real debt.

work out what the interest is (4% ish would be a safe guess) and pay that much per year.

deal with it properly when you get back - when you get a steady job you pay a bit per month.

feel free to ignore me, i'm an idiot.

Posted 1 year ago #
jenbe - Member

are you planning to live in canada for ever, if so dont bother as they cant get the money back!

Posted 1 year ago #
chewkw - Member

I bet sooner or later student loan will be secured.

Posted 1 year ago #
andrewh - Member

As above, it makes no sense to pay of student loan. Interest on mine is 2.something % at the present (£12k).
If I had a £12k lump sum doing nothing I could get a much better return than that in a savings account somewhere if I was inclined to save it. I'm not and that's why I don't have £12k spare but paying off any more of the loan than you are compelled to do makes no financial sense at all

Posted 1 year ago #
Fortunateson09 - Member

student loans aren't real debt.

So you're saying I should spend mine on bicycles, yeah?

Posted 1 year ago #
barrykellett - Member

charlierevell - Member

Its the cheapest loan you'll ever have.... I'm now a higher rate tax payer and owed £6k is, even at that level and paying off £300 a month Im still getting nowhere with it. I dont think they can even do the sums correctly. Statements are always about a year old and it just doesnt add up.

If you owed £6000 and are paying £300 a month off yours at the minute I would have thought you were clearing it off rightly at this stage?

Or did you not work for a few years or something and only just started paying it back?

I left in 2002 and have kept a record of all my payments to the SLC so I know what I have paid and what I have left to pay. When I make that last payment they will get a phonecall to cancel the collection

Posted 1 year ago #
5lab - Member

good luck with the whole phonecall to cancel collection thing. I paid mine off in late march a few years ago (2005) as I knew they ran on an annual cycle. Despite loads of phone calls, they took their final payment 8 months later, it took a further 3 months to get a refund. I believe things are better now, but they were hopeless then.

as stated above though, its a very cheap loan, and whilst I focussed on paying it off, given the chance again, I wouldn't. When you're young, money is normally very tight, but as you get older I found that time becomes the tigher commodety when enjoying yourself. If you have time now, spend it (and your money) - pay it off later

Posted 1 year ago #
barrykellett - Member

Yep, they are a bunch of idiots, which is why I keep a very close eye and record of payments!

Posted 1 year ago #
charlierevell - Member

Barrykellett, I had 6 months of not paying it last year when I changed jobs. Tax code changes meant it delayed payments in the job before that. And previously I was self employed for an Irish company where it never got taken out!

Im pretty sure I've paid off more than they think, So I need to do the sums (Have most payslips since I started paying it back) and get on to them!

Posted 1 year ago #
ahwiles - Member

Fortunateson09 - Member

student loans aren't real debt.

So you're saying I should spend mine on bicycles, yeah?

er, do what you want, but you won't lose your thumbs if you don't pay off your student loan faster than required.

i make the normal payments-as-i'm-paid of around £100/month, i could pay more, but i think it's more sensible build some savings, and buy bikes, and go on holiday, and chase women, etc.

surely someone on here works for the student loans company? i would just like to let you know that the service you provide is completely, comprehensively, useless. in no way at all is it even adequate.

Posted 1 year ago #
Wozza - Member

surely someone on here works for the student loans company? i would just like to let you know that the service you provide is completely, comprehensively, useless. in no way at all is it even adequate.

+1 from me and + for everyone else I've ever met who's been to University. Don't pay off your student loan early, makes me laugh everytime I hear about someone doing that, do something that makes you happy with it instead!

Posted 1 year ago #
zokes - Member

As we now live in Oz, I have to pay by DD from a UK account. The only reason I'm doing this is because my parents still live at the address they did when I got the loan, and could probably be contacted for my details. The moment they move, my payments will probably stop...

Posted 1 year ago #

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