Is paying back maintenance loan same whether you get loan based on household...

Universities Forum Helper

1. The monthly repayment will be the same but if the total loan is larger then you might repay for longer. Many people don’t earn enough to repay their loan in full so the size of the debt doesn’t change the amount they repay. Moneysavingexpert has some calculators where you can put in different loan amounts and your expected salary and see if you would be one of those people.

2. There’s no disadvantage there’s just more paperwork to get your household income assessed.

3. No. In fact you can save any spare loan up and use it to pay for a deposit on a flat or a house or other costs linked to starting your first job/home.

I would always recommend taking the maximum loan. Having extra cash or savings in your late teens early twenties is worth a lot more than having the cash for an extra takeaway every month in your 40s.

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Note the government has also put together some information on the loans here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/8-things-you-should-know-about-your-student-loan--2

Which is quite useful. It also notes in most cases there is no benefit to making additional repayments early in recognition that most don't fully repay their loan anyway - as it gets written off 40 years after you take it out (the linked article refers to the previous loan plan, which changed ?last year to 40 years).

Reply 3

OP

Original post by PQ

1. The monthly repayment will be the same but if the total loan is larger then you might repay for longer. Many people don’t earn enough to repay their loan in full so the size of the debt doesn’t change the amount they repay. Moneysavingexpert has some calculators where you can put in different loan amounts and your expected salary and see if you would be one of those people.

2. There’s no disadvantage there’s just more paperwork to get your household income assessed.

3. No. In fact you can save any spare loan up and use it to pay for a deposit on a flat or a house or other costs linked to starting your first job/home.

I would always recommend taking the maximum loan. Having extra cash or savings in your late teens early twenties is worth a lot more than having the cash for an extra takeaway every month in your 40s.

Thank you so much
I was really really worried

Reply 4

OP

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by PQ

1. The monthly repayment will be the same but if the total loan is larger then you might repay for longer. Many people don’t earn enough to repay their loan in full so the size of the debt doesn’t change the amount they repay. Moneysavingexpert has some calculators where you can put in different loan amounts and your expected salary and see if you would be one of those people.

2. There’s no disadvantage there’s just more paperwork to get your household income assessed.

3. No. In fact you can save any spare loan up and use it to pay for a deposit on a flat or a house or other costs linked to starting your first job/home.

I would always recommend taking the maximum loan. Having extra cash or savings in your late teens early twenties is worth a lot more than having the cash for an extra takeaway every month in your 40s.

Sorry another question: Once u start earning a certain amount of money, which one do you pay off first? tuition or maintenance? or are they all added up together and ur told to repay all of them?

Reply 5

PQ

Original post by cherryhitchkins

Sorry another question: Once u start earning a certain amount of money, which one do you pay off first? tuition or maintenance? or are they all added up together and ur told to repay all of them?

It’s all added to one loan amount and a single repayment that goes towards that total

Reply 6

OP

Original post by PQ

It’s all added to one loan amount and a single repayment that goes towards that total

oh okay okay. Thank you so much :smile:

Reply 7

marple

15

Original post by cherryhitchkins

Sorry another question: Once u start earning a certain amount of money, which one do you pay off first? tuition or maintenance? or are they all added up together and ur told to repay all of them?

In a lot of ways it's much easier to think of them as a tax. Once you start work your employer basically sorts it all out. When you earn over a certain amount your repayments will be calculated by them as part of the normal payroll process and will be deducted from your salary in the same way tax and national insurance are deducted. You don't need to do anything. You are making the repayments but it is done through your future employer rather than you making direct payments yourself. If your income falls under the threshold because you get a lower paid job/lost your job/ went part time etc than repayments stop and will only restart once your salary is again above the threshold.

Reply 8

OP

Clearing and Applications Advisor

@PQ

How long does it take for the application to process?
its been 21 days (15 working days to be precise) since applied

Reply 9

PQ

Original post by cherryhitchkins

@PQ

How long does it take for the application to process?
its been 21 days (15 working days to be precise) since applied

Normally 6-8 weeks but if you log in to your SFE account during working hours and use the online chat they’ll be able to give you more precise information and check they have everything they need.

Reply 10

OP

Original post by PQ

Normally 6-8 weeks but if you log in to your SFE account during working hours and use the online chat they’ll be able to give you more precise information and check they have everything they need.

Oh 🥺
I already applied for tuition fee. I’m currently in uni. The commute to uni is really expensive which is why I applied for maintenance loan
I’m a bit dumb for not applying when I doing my tuition fee last year 😔

Reply 11

OP