Brits who left university in the last 27 years could be 'owed thousands'

Finance experts have urged any former university students to check their paperwork, as more than one million could be owed up to thousands of pounds. According to the consumer website Money Saving Expert (MSE) many Brits could have overpaid on their student loans.

These loans areprovided to help students cover their tuition fees as well as living costs. While they are therefore vital to ensure many people are even able to attend university, they can leave people with lingering debts.

And over the course of a year it is estimated that more than one million university students overpay on their loans. In a post made to social media platform Facebook, MSE said: “Left uni at any point in the last 10 or 15 years? Check now if you can reclaim £100s or even £1,000s.

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“Every year 100,000s of university leavers overpay their student loans, often without realising!” On its website MSE, which was founded by Martin Lewis, explained more.

It said: “Many have student loan repayments automatically deducted from their wages each month, and assume all is well. Yet 100,000s accidentally overpay their student loans each year, often without realising.

“Here's how to check if you're one of them and, if so, how you can reclaim £100s, or even £1,000s. In the last tax year alone, over one million university leavers overpaid their student loans, according to the latest figures released by the Student Loans Company (SLC).”

The site provided a guide to determine whether you have been affected by these overpayments. But it only applies to those who went to university in the last 27 years - meaning they had to start in 1998 or later.

“Over recent years, the Student Loans Company has introduced a number of initiatives to reduce overpayments and improve the repayment process for students,” it said. “This includes introducing an online repayment service, issuing automatic refunds and actively contacting those who might have overpaid.

“While these changes have helped to reduce the number of students making overpayments, more than a million former students still overpaid in the 2022/23 tax year – so it's well worth checking.”

According to the site, there are four main reasons you might have overpaid your student loan:

• You repaid the loan in some months despite not earning enough in the full year to take you over the repayment threshold
• You're on the wrong payment plan by default
• You've started repaying too early
• You had money deducted after the loan was fully repaid

To find out more and to check if you could have overpaid you can visit the MSE website here.

How to claim the money back

The steps you need to take are different depending on the reason you have been overpaying. If payments were deducted from your pay despite the fact that your total earnings for the year were below the repayment threshold, you can request a refund from SLC online.

If you're on the wrong student loan payment plan by default, you will need to speak to your employer or call SLC. You can call them on 0300 100 0611.

You should also call SLC if you started repaying your loan too early. However, if you had money deducted after the loan was fully repaid you don't need to do anything.

MSE explained: “If you've paid over your loan balance and additional payments are taken, you're due a credit balance refund. You don't need to do anything for this, if SLC can verify your bank account is still active and used by you, a refund will automatically be paid into your account.

“Meaning it's important to keep your contact information, including bank details and email address up-to-date. Alternatively they will contact you to tell you how to get a refund. If you’ve overpaid and have not heard from SLC you can ask them for a refund.”

A number of MSE readers wrote to the site about their experience claiming back the cash. Melissa said: “Just wanted to say a massive thank you as I read your article on overpaying on student loan repayments and realised there was a chance I had overpaid.

“Turns out I had and I've since received a refund of £900! I've been doing house renovations this year so this money has been incredibly handy in going towards them.”

Lisa added: “I spent 15 minutes on the phone and got £555 back for overpayments on my student loan. Most was because of my maternity leave. Thanks so much, couldn't have come at a better time.”