Student finance payment recall

I have had my first payment recalled through and admin error which i think is SFE's. Now i cannot apply for student finance until SFE allegedly have this money back that actually no one seems to know where it is actually sitting. I haven't had it, my bank have no trace of it and SFE say they haven't had it yet. I have been given a time scale of roughly 8 weeks before I can start a new application and I sadly do not have enough resources to last that long. My landlord is breathing down my neck, I am on a ridiculous budget to make what little i do have last as long as possible and the whole situation is stressing me out to the point i am considering withdrawing from my course. Has anyone any experience of a recalled payment and give me some advice as to where it might be and how i can actually get a proper actionable answer from SFE? Thanks in advance

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=910

Sounds like a complete mess although its not explained how its happened.
If its uni accommodation tell them and they will likely wait.
You also have student hardship fund and your overdraft.
Make an official complaint you have no money.

If you withdraw its unlikely to help with LL as you will still be liable for the contract length, unless you find a replacement.
Ask on here the link above. 8 weeks in this situation seems very poor. Only the people who recalled it can tell you.

Sounds a right crap situation, and being told 8 weeks is taking the serious mick. Have they clearly admitted the mistake is theirs? that they have sent the money to the wrong place? Feels like they should be taking the hit as opposed to passing it onto you and further limiting your options to move ahead.

I bet they wouldn't see it this way if it was the other way around, if you paid money you owed them into a wrong account, they would still insist on being paid in full, on time and that whatever delay your bank took was your problem.

A BACS recall would be due to getting confirmation you weren’t attending a course, circumstances have changed or could be due to the wrong amount of money being submitted. The timescale is up to 8 weeks to return the money as it’s a timescale usually set by the bank and SFE have to give that timescale, it doesn’t always take that long. When the payment shows as failed on your payment schedule, the issue will be sorted or the application reassessed and then the payment will be submitted to you.

You said about calling SFE before you enrolled and advised you’re changing courses. I don’t know if you mean someone said they would update the details but that’s not the usual process as it would need to be a CO1 from you as long as confirmation of your registration/attendance from the university hasn’t been sent or it could have been changed by the university sending an electronic change of circumstance transfer over. Have your course details now been updated?

Hi, thanks for your response. I am still not 100% sure what has happened, I completed a change of course/circumstances form. The issue has come from them not closing the old account and accidentally initiating the payment for the wrong course which seems to have blocked the whole process. They have now drawn the conclusion that I have received the payment as they cannot find it so send me a recovery letter and are now wanting my bank statements to demonstrate i have nothing. It just seems such an arduous process given that things are electronic these days.

I know you’re probably fed up going round in circles but I’d really call and demand they explain it fully or you speak to someone else who can explain it. If it’s a BACS recall then it’s just been recalled meaning you won’t need a bank statement to prove anything as the person from SFE will see a BACS recall indicator which will mean that they know you never received the payment so you don’t need to prove anything.

The only way you would need a bank statement is if your bank details are correct on your account and the payment shows as paid but you said you never got it then a bank statement shows you didn’t get it so SFE have to investigate where the payment went so what they call a trace memo would need to be completed to trace the payment.

When you changed course did you also change university?

See if it was just a change of course a recall wouldn’t have been necessary as it’s the university that would send the registration. If its another reason like payments not scheduled right or SFE think you have withdrawn then they can recall the payment.

Timescales for some things are just ridiculous, I do agree with your last point you’d think it would be a quick and straight forward process.

It’s been a while so not expecting a reply but this has just happened to me also what happened to you? My landlord not happy at all to wait the 8 weeks I’ve been told x