Student finance messing me around, no idea what to do at this stage.

Basically I applied for student finance last year and everything was fine. Doing it again this year and completed it ages ago thinking it was done and fine.

Get the declaration letter and it states I am getting the non income assessed minimum loan. This is not correct as I applied for income assessed grant and loan as we are well below the earning bracket needed (we only earn around 8K a year).

They at no pint asked me to give evidence saying my dad doesn't support us or doesn't live here but now they are saying they need that evidence to do income assesed but I'm having difficulty getting evidence.

My mum and dad were never married so cannot get a decree, I don't speak to my dad very often as it is. They said I should get proof of single council tax form where she gets a 25% discount but we don't get that because my sister lives here so we are not eligible. So then they said get a letter from a solicitor saying we are the only ones living here, so I have called up a bunch of solicitors and they are saying they won't do that because they don't know us.

So now they are saying send them a tenancy agreements in my mums name and bills in my mums name and they MIGHT approve an income assessed application....wtf I am going to send them the tenancy agreement and phone bill (as we pay for gas an electric via meter so no bills).

What else can I do? If I can't get income assessed then I am going to have to drop out of uni because I can't even afford rent with with the minimum student finance.

What can I do? I am desperate here and crying my eyes out this is honestly too much stress than I can handle right now.

Reply 1

samba

I sympathise with your circumstances; it can be pretty tricky to prove these things. [im struggling a bit to think of them even :p:

] When your dad left, did your mum consult a solicitor/the police to deal with the separation at all? If so, they could possibly provide evidence of it.

Failing that I'd call up SFE as a first port of call, ask to speak to a supervisor/senior advisor or whatever, and ask if the following forms of evidence are acceptable.

- proof of his current address (tenancy agreement etc)
- bank statements from your mum showing income/address, and that there's no income from your dad there
- Statements from your friends/neighbours that your mum is living alone.

You can use the council tax bills in your mums name only. No need for phone bills.

I'll add to this if I can think of anything. It's a bit tricky though :s-smilie:

Reply 2

SophieSmall

Original post by samba

I sympathise with your circumstances; it can be pretty tricky to prove these things. [im struggling a bit to think of them even :p:

Hey thank you for the reply. My mum and dad have never sought any legal advice to do with separating so there is no evidence there.

Student finance don't even care where my dad lives they just want to know that he doesn't live here and that no other partner of my mum lives here (she hasn't had a partner in years!).

I've rang up student finance 5 times already today to see what evidence they suggest. they have not said the things you mentioned but it can't hurt to send those as well.
Though I've no idea how statements from friends or neighbours would work?

Reply 3

samba

Original post by SophieSmall

I've never dealt with SFE on this level; I'm using some experience my friend had with HMRC to kinda give some roundabout advice :p:

But in theory yes, all evidence is evidence. Proving your dad lives elsewhere is proof she lives there. Witness statements saying she lives alone says she lives alone. The tenancy agreement will show she's not entwined.

They aren't going to be proactive in offering alternatives I suspect, but if you phone up and ask, they may well say it's ok.

The important thing for you is not to panic or think 'i might not be able to go to university' - At the end of the day you can appeal to an independent body, so any evidence you gather at that point will be useful, as you won't need to prove it 'beyond reasonable doubt,' simply on the balance of probabilities. Gather your evidence, jump through the hoops they make you jump, and if it's not enough you can go to appeals and definitely win.

Reply 4

SophieSmall

Original post by samba

I've never dealt with SFE on this level; I'm using some experience my friend had with HMRC to kinda give some roundabout advice :p:

Thank you. I just can't help but panic, I'm pretty sure the deadline for applying income assessed is soon so if I don't get this sorted by then then it really is as bad as having to leave uni :/

Reply 5

samba

Original post by SophieSmall

Thank you. I just can't help but panic, I'm pretty sure the deadline for applying income assessed is soon so if I don't get this sorted by then then it really is as bad as having to leave uni :/

Yea, it's the natural inclination :smile:

Don't worry about the deadlines, you're fine as long as you actually got in the application on time. Appeals take a maximum of 15 days each tier, so even if you're messed around for the next month you will have plenty of time to get it in place before uni starts.

http://www.sfengland.slc.co.uk/media/597413/sfe_appeals_leaflet_1314_d.pdf might help you! But for now just focus on gathering all the evidence you can and sending it into them. :console: