Student loan for Bulgarian and Romanians!!!

Hey LawStudent,
So in somewhere end of July SFE awarded me with full loan , grant and tution fee, after long 4-5 months of calling them every single day almost and they telling me different things, anyway at the end i got it. Now on 28 of November they stopped everything ,my futher payments , even they took back my tution fee from my uni that has been already paid in the first instalment.
When i called them to explain that they already got my three years tax returns ( i spoke with a women in complain office, cauze i was very angry) she explain that as long as you Bulgarian or Romanian you need to proof you residency , no matter what . And because i am poor student i got no choice and I send it again, my bank statments, which i think is very personnal info you cant just send it to someone (original) . They didnt send single letter to inform us whats going on , i can swear nothing at all , they dont update the correspondance mail in our accounts. The only letter i received it was for asking me my grand back , thats it, they just dont care. At the beginning i called the sfe and decided to record the call , and the women on the phone clearly says that is for B&R countries only. But recently they realize that could be some kind of discrimination so they are saying its for all EU.
I never ever thought that in UK this could be happen , i never thought they discriminating ppl like that , but now i feel it on my skin , the feeling is not the best . And now i have to pray that my tution fee at least will be sorted so i can carry on with my study.
I am disspointed from British media no one knows whats going on all is in silence because its just wrong.
In terms of the lawyers , its a friend who helping me he is dealing specialy with this education cases.

Reply 4

In regards to the comments above -

Student Finance England have been instructed, by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, that all EU/A2 students who are receiving full finance and are studying at a private institution must provide evidence of all addresses they have lived at for the 3 years prior to the start of the Academic Year in which they started their course.

The evidence should cover all addresses given originally in the application in regards to the 3 years residency and is a requirement that has been instructed by government.

Affected students have been made ineligible for funding and correspondence sent to them informing them of the situation. Once all evidence has been received, student funding will be re-approved.

If you wish to discuss your individual cases further, you can call us on 0141 243 3570.

Thanks,

Reply 5

Hi

Thank you for your answer.

I do get the point of this exercises with you practising now , really i can confirm that some people are really abusing the system and need to be stopped .
But my point is somewhere else , the problem is you stopped the loans even before you know if a student could provide this evidence and asking for money back.
I been told that i need to send a form as well with the evidence and i will receive it in the post, its almost a month i havent received the form , but i received the letter to asking for money back.
I dont mean to be rude , but i have been to UK for 6 years already never ever feel this way .
Anyway thank you again , but i already know that facts that you answered me above!!!!!

Reply 6

As other users don't seem to understand the current regulations and actions taken, it's useful to reiterate the reason for the request for further evidence.

Due to very recent changes in governmental policies regarding Non-UK student finance, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have instructed Student Finance England to immediately withdraw finance from all of the students referenced above until evidence of 3 years residency is received.

These actions are legal and carefully reviewed by our governing body, therefore, if you have any comments in regards to this, they would be better directed towards the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills or your local MP.

For assistance with your form, you can call the number given above.

Thanks,

Reply 7

Thank you very much !!!

Reply 8

vanyo

Dear Mr.Lee,

Firstly ,when you go to the bank, does it giving you a loan without checking your eligibility first?
When someone applies to SFC for student loan, the common sense dictate that SFC SHOULD FIRST CHECK the applicant eligibility BEFORE releasing funds not after funds already have been approved. Not asking for enough evidence before releasing funds is a problem for your organisation as it is going to be for a bank. So it is yours organization fault not ours. Secondly, stopping payments and asking for money back BEFORE the requested evidences have been received and carefully examined put us in a position "guilty till prove you are not" which contradicts the common British Low "not guilty till it has been proved you are". That why I think actions of SLC are COMPLETLY ILLEGAL. So I wish you a good luck in the court!
I have been a British tax payer from 8 years.

Reply 9

Potally_Tissed

Your anger is misdirected. The decision was not made by Student Finance, they are merely acting on the instructions given to them by the government.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 10

irina irina

s f e ........ there are many people who do not know their head, know how to lie and say every time you call different things. On 26/11/2013 I called 2 times and spoke to the same person in two hours difference same question gave different answers. I really do not care for them because they are people who work and go to school so not everyone was registered at colleges and SFE for money. Many people registered to learn and to have a career after school but we are Romanians / Bulgarians and they make discrimination as always. I've been here six years and now I realize that human rights are only on paper for immigrants. I'm tired of them I sent the original evidence and did nothing did not move a finger.

Reply 11

elizabeth131

Hello there is am a student as well and this has just happened to me. i found out really late about what was going on ... only a few weeks ago. id like to ask whether the issue has been sorted or not? Im still in the process of getting my evidence checked.

Reply 12

Hi Elizabeth,

For me this has been sorted out before a few weeks ago and i got my money, but its very slow process. I would advise you to calling SFE very very often and ask them whats going on
and if you got the right evidence, there is will be no problem :smile:

) But again the situation is not very nice

Reply 13

viksi3420

Hi Bubeto123. Can you please let me know what documents you sent them that were accepted? I've sent council tax statements and payslips but apparently it wasn't enough. I've lived in only one address over the last 4 years... :-(. Thank you.

Reply 14

Hi Viksi3420

I've sent a few bank statments, for three years, also my yellow card, because i always been working as self employed and dont have payslips or blue card....
The evidence were processed for about a month with no problem at all, they never asked me for more info.

Reply 15

tehnikpaul

Everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. It was also obscene. Most of the people who did it claimed they had orders to do so. They were listened to then dealt according to the law. Laws change. What is right and wrong hardly. An abuse was committed here by renegading a contract single-handedly without consultation or warning, after being offered in good faith.

Reply 16

EBa

HI Mark!
Can you please tell me if this 3 years evidence that SF is requiring is only for the maintenance and grant?? I have read many press announcements saying that the tuition fees loan are not affected and EU students will receive it no matter for how long they lived in UK, but it seems that SF stopped paying tuition fees loans to universities as well.
Regards,
Elena

Reply 17

Hi Elena,

The residency evidence we require covers Tuition Fee funding as well.

Thanks

Reply 18

Bon Jovy

Hi Mark LEE,
I am a fellow Romanian student, and my question is:
What documents exactly do you need in order to prove UK residency? My situation might be a little different from others, mainly because I do not have (yet) a NIN, I did not had a bank account up until October 2013 ( the same year when I started my studies). I do have rental contracts that would show my residential history, and most of them are with one of the private student accommodation companies. Will those be enough?
Thank you guys.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 19