James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
Does anyone know how it's calculated?
I get that it's the BoE base rate plus 1% but does anyone know how it's compounded and/or annuitised?
The reason I ask is because the SLC have just told me how much I have left to pay based on repayments up to an including this month, but it's quite a bit more than I expected it to be. I'm going to build a spreadsheet that calculates it including interest to see if it is worth questioning.
Thanks,
James
|
John
Member
Registered: 30th Jun 03
User status: Offline
|
Have you taken into account they don't actually get a penny of it until after April?
HMRC collect then hand it over in one go.
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by John
Have you taken into account they don't actually get a penny of it until after April?
HMRC collect then hand it over in one go.
Yeh I factored that in, the woman asked me to tell them how much for SL repayments was on each payslip from last April up until today so that they could factor it in. The outstanding balance is still about £1500 more than I thought it would be 
|
John
Member
Registered: 30th Jun 03
User status: Offline
|
Only reason I ask that is because I found it out when I phoned up about mine yesterday, mine was only a few hundred quid though from years ago.
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
Yeh I've fallen into that trap before. But the number she gave should be an accurate number based on today 
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
I daren't put any numbers in this thread or the salary police will be all over it.
|
Ben G
Member
Registered: 12th Jan 07
Location: Essex
User status: Offline
|
this is the serious part of the forum, full of adults, so you should be safe here.
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
I had a fundamental faux pas in my initial spreadsheet. I've now managed to get my numbers closer to those that the SLC gave me. In fact the SLC's numbers are actually more favourable than mine 
I've assumed that interest is applied and compounded monthly and repayments are collected annually. I would expect my spreadsheet to be within about £100 of the number the SLC gave me if it was correct. I must have done something else wrong.
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
Managed to get it within £175 of what they told me. That's good enough for now, I've probably got a schoolboy error in my spreadsheet somewhere.
In case anyone cares, the SLC don't seem to follow the BoE base rate +1%. The actual interest rates they apply are listed here:
http://www.studentloanrepayment.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=93,6678642&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
The years on there go from September to August, no idea why.
|
NovaGTE2
Member
Registered: 26th Sep 06
Location: Peasedown St John, Bristol Avon
User status: Offline
|
This is quite interesting; as i am going to be about £1K off paying mine off in April but means i will prob end up overpaying mine if i have to keep paying until April next year! Might have to call them about this to see if it is the case!
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
If you are within 2 years of paying it off you can switch from PAYE to direct debit, that way you will avoid overpaying.
That's why I wanted to work it out as I'm switching mine over soon.
|
NovaGTE2
Member
Registered: 26th Sep 06
Location: Peasedown St John, Bristol Avon
User status: Offline
|
Ah thats good to know; I will have to give them a call to switch it over; as hoping to be free of it by the summer.
Glad i looked at this thread or would have just left it and prob moaned when i started overpaying!!
Cheers
[Edited on 29-01-2012 by NovaGTE2]
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
I would double check what they tell you though. They said according to their system, based on my balance as of today and my current repayments, I wouldn't be paid off within 2 years.
But based on my calculations, even factoring in interest, I would be paid up by October this year. So one of us is way off.
|
pow
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 06
Location: Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire
User status: Offline
|
So glad I avoided this!
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
How did you avoid it?
|
pow
Premium Member
Registered: 11th Sep 06
Location: Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire
User status: Offline
|
Contray to popular belief you didn't have to go to uni when you finished school.
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
Oh right. Hardly a valid argument to say you did well to avoid a student loan by not going to uni.
Bit like me saying I'm glad I avoided the finance repayments on a Ferrari, I just didn't buy one.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with not going to uni, but to say you are glad you avoided a student loan is a little short sighted IMO.
[Edited on 30-01-2012 by James]
|
RichR
Premium Member
Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
User status: Offline
|
Also Pow, I'm glad I took my student loan out, 50% of it went to use towards the deposit for my house and this element is significantly cheaper than the alternative bank loan or extra mortgage would have been.
Were you not moaning on the other day about being passed over for jobs because you didn't have a degree?
|
Fad
Member
Registered: 1st Feb 01
Location: Dartford Kent Drives: 330cd
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by James
There's absolutely nothing wrong with not going to uni, but to say you are glad you avoided a student loan is a little short sighted IMO.
[Edited on 30-01-2012 by James]
Couldnt agree more nothing like a bit of bitterness to rile up a thread.
James when you get to the bottom of this I would be interested to know, I am trying to lop a couple of grand off mine a year so should be cleared in a few years time 
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
I don't mind sending out my spreadsheet, it's relatively easy to use. You will need to know each loan instalment and each repayment to get an accurate figure though.
I've managed to get mine within £100 of what the student loans company said. Without knowing the exact details of how they calculate interest I probably won't get it any more accurate than that.
|
Paul_J
Member
Registered: 6th Jun 02
Location: London
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by James
quote:
Originally posted by pow
So glad I avoided this! ... Contray to popular belief you didn't have to go to uni when you finished school.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with not going to uni, but to say you are glad you avoided a student loan is a little short sighted IMO.
 pow.
Pow, your argument would be entirely valid if James had got his student loan while achieving a media studies degree and now was working for 25k or something working in an HR department but considering he was probably earning 3 times that salary at his last job and needed the degree to get in the door at the first place, getting a little student debt in the process probably wasn't a bad move and something you can be smug about 
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
How's it going Paul? Still trying to break into banking?
|
Paul_J
Member
Registered: 6th Jun 02
Location: London
User status: Offline
|
Nah, I never tried.
3 things put me off 1 ) I wasn't sure the job would give me that much job satisfaction 2 ) The higher cost of living in london would offset the financial gains and 3 ) The banking sector seems a bit rocky at the moment / in the limelight (occupy wallstreet / banker bonus etc)
I'm quite happy where I am at the moment, although I constantly get recruiters ringing me up trying to tempt me with :
Salary / Benefits / Location
Salary: £60k + 22% Bonus + Pension + Healthcare
But when I sit down and work it out after tax, student loan reductions and with the higher costs of living I don't think I'd be much better off than I am currently.
I'm in a fairly good position right now, work with a good bunch of people, enjoy a range of varied problems across different tech / companies and enjoy the whole going out to the customers to do consultations / actually see the difference we make when we deliver our solutions.
Plus at the moment I'm pretty much flat out with work (Which makes me happy, as on top of our competitive basic, we get 20% bonus / commission on all billed money over our target. So you could go £10-£20k over your target for the quarter and get £2-£4k, not bad 3 month bonus and it makes you think funny about things like going on site to meet and talk to a client = £850 / charge for my time, which if I'm over my target for the quarter already transpires directly to £170 in my pocket + expenses back, for often what amounts to me being fed coffee and shown around places.
It's all good at the moment get to go racing and saved a v.nice deposit for a house - just need to figure out where the hell I want to live (and not spunk it on a porsche gt3 rs)
|
James
Member
Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
User status: Offline
|
Sounds like you've got it pretty good. Banking is a terrible industry to be in at the moment, that's partly why I left.
Even a 22% bonus is optimistic in the current climate, most I know got about 12% max.
Used to get 40% in the glory days.
|
Paul_J
Member
Registered: 6th Jun 02
Location: London
User status: Offline
|
I'll see what happens when I eventually move to London (if I can ever be bothered to) and what industries are worth working for by that time.
I mean, the scene that's happening in Silicon Valley could spread to London eventually - over there they've got a massive shortage of developers, so places are poaching people for $100-$200k to develop the next big thing... financial gain and to work on something that you feel could potentially change the world... that would be great.
I think that's the only thing I've come to realise recently - you have to enjoy the work your doing, even if it means earning potentially less.
How's your new career going?
|
