SFE nightmare (please please help!!)

Okay, so I'm going crazy out of my mind and need someone who knows what they,re talking about.

Back when I was 19 (am now 24) I started a law degree but also got diagnosed with a medical condition. I ended up taking first year three times (the third after obtaining compelling personal circumstance). I still had major complications with my condition in the third year and ended up just dropping out.

Now, years later my life is back on track and I am set to start a different degree (less stressful one!) at a different uni. I was originally advised that because I'd only used up one year (minus the first two which received compelling reasons) I had three years of finance left (4 minus the third first year attempt = three). I plan to have the third first year written off in the same manner, but I'm not sure that's relevant now.

Two days ago I received a letter telling me that I was overpaid in year 3 because I wasn't entitled to the grant, the reason being that I wasn't entitled to a grant if I had repeated first year more than once, regardless of compelling reasons. Apparently I had been 'reassessed, by an assessor'.

So now I'm freaking out. Not only because they want me to pay over £2000 back but also because, according to this information, I probably won't be approved a grant for this coming year, which means I'll need to find £4000 from somewhere.

Is this the case???

I really don't know with SFE anymore. Before this I'd rang them up five times over the course of a few months (to ask how to go about applying again) and I have been told the *complete* opposite every time, apologising for their previous mistakes (which now means I won't get SF anywhere close to on time).

My stress/depression levels are in overload and to top it off the guy from the student loans company was really unhelpful and aggressive with me, like a debt collector.

I'm so worried that not only will they want £2000, but that they also won't give me the full grant. I don't have £4000.

Sorry, stressing out not making any sense...

Y1: Compelling reasons
Y2 (1st attempt): compelling reasons
Y3 (2nd attempt: no CPR (though I plan to when I have the time)

So that means one year of SF used up. So I should have three left?

The reason given for the £2k overpayment was that ‘you can’t get a grant if you re-repeat a year, regardless of CPR’.

This doesn’t seem to add up with everything else I was previously told.

But my other great worry is that, since I’m starting again in Sept (albeit on a different course/different uni) it will technically be a fourth first year, so I won’t be ‘granted’ a grant on the above information (limited number of times one can repeat a year).

Advice?