Paying Off Uk Student Loan

[mulderfox]

I am moving to Buenos Aires in September and I am seeking unemployment.

and you shall have it!!. granted!
any other wishes?

 

[sesamosinsal]

Not sure how it works in the UK but in Canada they are getting quite strict about these things and are attempting to pass more info to Canada Customs so that those with debts get flagged as they pass through immigrations.

And what happens if you are delinquent on student and come back to Canada? Do you get detained?

 

[scotttswan]

And what happens if you are delinquent on student and come back to Canada? Do you get detained?

debtors' prison

 

[ghost]

Student debt is the next bubble. Education has become nothing more than another Wall Street sanctioned business and vehicle to siphon federal grant money. [think Medicare fraud only 1000 times larger]

 

[grggry]

I believe what is being implied is that a loved one gets ill, you charge a bundle to your credit card to fly back home -- because your pesos are worthless and as a foreigner you'll have to buy at USD value anyway -- so you arrive back home rather penniless and get flagged coming through, and soon enough your loan officer will be on your doorstep waiting for you to pay up.

Not sure how it works in the UK but in Canada they are getting quite strict about these things and are attempting to pass more info to Canada Customs so that those with debts get flagged as they pass through immigrations.

Oh I see. I can't see that happening in the UK - maybe if I was actively running away from my debts? But the whole issue is that I want to pay - just that I want to pay the correct amount.

It occurred to me that I could set it up over the summer based on what I'm earning in the UK and then not update them with my change in earnings. It means I would be paying slightly more than I should be, but will avoid being put on the massively inflated emergency rate. I guess that's the solution!

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Oh I see. I can't see that happening in the UK - maybe if I was actively running away from my debts? But the whole issue is that I want to pay - just that I want to pay the correct amount.

It occurred to me that I could set it up over the summer based on what I'm earning in the UK and then not update them with my change in earnings. It means I would be paying slightly more than I should be, but will avoid being put on the massively inflated emergency rate. I guess that's the solution!

At one time they might have shipped you to Australia.

Can't you set up a regular monthly payment from your UK account?

 

[grggry]

At one time they might have shipped you to Australia.

Can't you set up a regular monthly payment from your UK account?

Yeah, but the amount you pay is based on your earnings - so without proof of earnings (which could happen depending on what I end up doing in Argentina) they will put you on an 'emergency rate' which is about ten times higher than the normal rate. I think the answer is to set it all up before I leave, even though it means I will have to start paying back sooner, and slightly more than I technically have to. It will probably save some headaches in the long run.

 

[thorsten]

I don't know the system in the UK but it doesn't make a lot of sense that if you don't have a current income, you pay an "emergency rate" which is 10x of the normal rate. Did you check with the institution responsible for the student loans what would happen if you move abroad to look for a job but are unemployed at the beginning?

 

[Sockhopper]

grggry,
I saw on the Student Loan company's repayment pages that a student creditor would owe 147.60 GBP per month if he were in Argentina, and his monthly income was less than about 10,000 pesos per year; and if he had a 'Plan A' category of student loan. I don't know what 'Plan A' is or means. But that's much less than the 250GBP or so that you said you'd owe the creditor monthly and that would be automatically withdrawn from your UK account by it as 'emergency repayments' if you went and lived in Argentina.

"[font=Arial"]It occurred to me that I could set it up over the summer based on what I'm earning in the UK and then not update them with my change in earnings.":[/font]

What change in earnings? In an earlier post, you worried about funds in your UK account being siphoned off by the creditor which you said would be bad for you since you won't be replenishing that UK account while you're in Arg. Since you're unemployed now while studying in the UK and haven't lined up a salaried job in Arg nor have or want an Arg bank account, I thought you have no regular earnings capable of changing by summer.

Are you anticipating a change in UK earnings, instead? If you are, I hope that won't be by way of your going on 'Jobseeker's Allowance' from the UK's Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) while you're in Arg..... IF that would contravene DWP's rules because you won't be in the UK to seek employment there or prove to DWP that you are. Those are conditions of maintaining the 'Jobseeker's Allowance', aren't they?

I happened to call DWP on a completely separate matter having to do with registering with an electoral office to vote in the recent UK elections because I'm living in France. It had nothing to do with money or social benefits of any kind. (My problem was with the UK Electoral Office BS'ing expats as I discovered about a new order from Cabinet requiring that all foreign voters had to pass some 'DWP test' so as to be allowed to vote! That was rubbish. There's no such thing as any 'DWP test'. The Electoral Office can obtain no info from DWP. DWP told me so and it was furious that the Electoral Office was misadvising expats that it could use DWP to get any kind of financial information on UK expats. My problem with the Electoral Office disappeared by the next morning. I voted as was my right. The Electoral Office apologized and said it would report to Cabinet that it cannot do what Cabinet ordered it to do! )

During that conversation with DWP, however, I was stunned to learn how knowledgeable DWP is in a flash about any UK expat living abroad and receiving any kind of UK social benefit. I've not seen another government department in the UK or Canada this up on its game or this proud of saying it's this powerful and confident of its success in knowing about expats' finances. I thought I'd pass this on to you only because I don't understand how you'll be supporting yourself in Arg.

Like an earlier poster, 'Bradly', I also don't see why you're worried about your own government stopping you from traveling on your passport or residing in another country if you have no money to support yourself outside your country. Only one's destination country places requirements on a foreigner having sufficient income from somewhere to support himself as a resident of it and not becoming dependent financially upon its social services.

There's nobody who issues a document certifying that 'X' earns nothing. At best, all one has is a tax return showing no or little income the previous year and bank statements showing no funds having been deposited into his bank account over some stipulated period. Plenty of people don't have regular income from working. They could be destitute, homeless, a kept companion, a spouse who earns nothing, somebody who keeps care of somebody else's flat abroad for a while and pays no rent to live in it himself or somebody who travels on a shoestring and so on.

 

[Flay]

Hi Grggry. I was faced with the same situation when I moved here three years ago.

The repayment threshold for Argentina is much lower than in the UK to reflect a supposed lower cost of living here (the threshold is not regularly revised and as a consequence of the high inflation here, has become ridiculously low meaning that any "liveable" income you might earn here will probably take you over the threshold meaning you have to make repayments, which may well be unaffordable - and, in any case, are impossible to make given that there is no way to transfer money from Argentina to the UK - I tried explaining this to the Student Loan Company when I first moved here, and they said it was no excuse!

The two common solutions:
1) If you are not working legally and therefore cannot prove income: Get a friend to write a "third party declaration of financial support" - basically someone writes a letter saying that you earn nothing and that you are living off them! My girlfriend did this for me the last two years and it was accepted without query. I notice that the form they have sent me this year is a little different and now asks for "evidence" of this third party support. The only suggestion it offers for what such evidence may entail is to send bank statements showing the amount of money paid by the third part - completely impossible since I don't have a bank account here, so we've not worked out what to do about that yet!

2) If you're working legally and your employer is buena onda, ask him/her to write a letter stating your salary is less than it really is. I know a couple of people who have been using this as a solution for years with no problem, but they work at small businesses where they know their bosses personally - would be difficult if you were working for a large organisation

Good luck!