Saas have stopped my bursary 3 months early and are asking me to pay them back £800!!

Hello, any advice or comments would be amazing, I am seriously stuck here and I have no idea what to do and I am really just scared about the whole thing.

So about 2 weeks ago, my mum got a letter from SAAS asking her to send her and my dads details again so they can review my funding or else it will be discontinued. So obviously they sent the information, the same info they have sent the past 2 years and nothing has changed.

Then I got another letter with an updated award notice and it was the same as my letter at the start of the year but with March, April and May missing which was confusing. So I phoned SAAS up surely this is a mistake and no this isnt a mistake, they had paid me too much so instead of getting 264 for the next 3 months I was to get a bigger loan instead. Okay thats fine, I need my loan to since I live alone and I havent lived with my parents for 2 years. It is a bit annoying obviously but whatever.

THEN, my mum gets another letter 2 days ago that is asking her for a cheque, to send them another £800!!!! I dont understand why this is happening, my dad is retired and lives off a pension (he was a postman before, not exactly rich) and my mum is an exilliary nurse (again, no rich parents here) so why the hell is this happening to me, none of us can afford to pay that, and when I phoned SAAS the first time, I said that my mum and dad dont give me any money for my flat etc they just didnt care and said that because im under 25 i am still considered dependant on my parents. my parents couldnt give me money if they wanted to they just dont have it.

Does anyone have any advice at all? I am so stuck here and literally the week before all of this happened I payed for tickets to Rome (Non refundable) only going for 3 nights and going to stay in a hostel, and I bought tickets to Bulgaria (I have a friend that lives there so wont be spending a lot whilst there but the flights were really expensive) I never buy anything for myself like clothes or make up i have been saving for ages for this and now i feel like can I even go?? But the tickets are non refundable because they are low cost airlines. I digress. Someone help me. Please

anyone???

Original post by hippygirl

anyone???

I'll suggest you speak with Student Services at your university ASAP.

Reply 3

jami74

Explain that you can't pay it all back in one go and ask if you can pay it back a little bit at a time.

Reply 4

mythtakes

Original post by rayore

I'll suggest you speak with Student Services at your university ASAP.

Yes, do this. Your university will likely have a hardship fund that you can apply to when you're in, well, hardship. I'd phone SAAS again and explain you can't pay £800 off the bat.

Seems quite harsh to me because when SAAS overpaid me, my loan was just cut (without them actually telling me) in what I assume was to make up for the overpayment. But then again, this is SAAS so don't expect much consistency.

Reply 5

ripdumbledore

It sounds like you/your parents have underestimated their income on your original application and your documents showed a higher amount. That's why you've been overpaid. You don't have to pay it all back at once - that's why it has a phone number on the letter. You'll be able to set up a repayment plan.

Reply 6

Vitamin D

This happened to me too, although they only wanted £250 back from me. Were you receiving a bursary? For some reason when they reassess parents income that can make the money due from bursaries and loans "switch". They've probably paid you too much bursary and you owe that back to them. I phoned them up and agreed to give them £20 a month until it's paid off, they're quite understanding about these sorts of things.

Reply 7

hippygirl

Lucky my mum and dad are going to help me pay it back but I was really in a panic! My mum is an auxiliary nurse and her days are not set in stone and she gets payed a lot extra to work Sundays and bank holidays so when she sent her estimate at the beginning of the year she got a lot more of these days than she thought . It was just really annoying to see that my bursary had stopped in addition to oweing the rest of the money cos I had my flat to pay for so luckily I have my loan too

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Reply 8

gersboy7

go to citizens adivce bureau and the police it could be a scam there has been a lot of this happening

Reply 9

Welsh Bluebird

Tell them its an error caused by them and you should not be penalised for it in this manner which brings great distress to you and your family through no fault of your own. You should not have to suffer because of their ineptitude and incompetence. Demand to speak to the highest ranking staff member there and explain this to them.

Quite frankly I'd tell them if no sensible resolution is found that you're going to the citizens advice bereau and are going to start civil proceedings against them for causing you emotional distress through negligence. This is actually possible in the UK and don't be afraid to stand up for yourself.

I had a similar situation myself with a company and did the same and also stated I'd go to the national newspapers to tell the story of how 'xyz' company was putting the burden on customers rather than accept it as their own fault through mismanagement and incompetence.

The thing is at this stage you can't do a thing other than talk with them. If they are aware of the distress it has caused you and still continue then it becomes intentional as they know the distress it has caused.

If I were you I'd speak to a lawyer via free consultation or the CAB. Certainly don't just cater to their demands.

Reply 10

Knalchemist

Original post by Welsh Bluebird

As already stated by the OP it was the fault of the parents - not SAAS.

Reply 11

Welsh Bluebird

Original post by Knalchemist

As already stated by the OP it was the fault of the parents - not SAAS.

Fair enough.

Reply 12

x_lauren_b_x

I was pregnant when i started year 2and spoke to my lecturers about it and made a plan up. I would of been able to finish and pass my course. As you know pregnancy doesnt always goe straight forward and i was admitted to hospital 1 month before my due date. At the start of the year i had informed SAAS and my college i was pregnant by handing in up-to-date maternity notes to my lecturer who was supposed to pass them on but now denys having them at all. I informed SAAS of my hospital admitance and the birth of my son and that i would be taking unpaid maternity leave but still be working from home and returning to college after 6 weeks. I then had problens after my birth with my back and hips but would still come into college to collect and hand in work which SAAS were supposed to be inforned of by my idiotic lecturer. I had a letter the begining of may to say i owed £280 as i had quit my course in January (Which was my maternity) as the college said i wasnt coming back (Which i was otherwise i wouldnt of collected work). Ive tried everything in the college to find proof of what was happening but the lecturer never passed on any of my infotmation ( Personal information about myself and my son! Im currently trying to get her removed from the college). Is there anything else i can do? They wont take any doctors notes and i cant pay back the £280 in the time slot given and there going to send it to a debt collector. Please if anyone has and information to help it would be greatly appreciated.