Some graduates could be owed money – here is the way to check
University graduates might be entitled to a refund from the Student Loan Company (SLC). If you’ve taken out a student loan from the SLC and subsequently entered employment, it’s likely that your repayments are automatically deducted from your salary.
While this method ensures timely payments without much thought, it also poses a risk of overpayment.
Student loan repayments are determined as a percentage of your income exceeding a specific threshold, depending on the type of loan plan. As per GOV.UK, the current thresholds are as follows:
| Plan type | Income threshold (per year) | Income threshold (per month) | Income threshold (per week) |
| Plan 1 | £24,990 | £2,082 | £480 |
|
Plan 2 |
£27,295 | £2,274 | £524 |
|
Plan 4 |
£31,395 | £2,616 | £603 |
|
Plan 5 |
£25,000 | £2,083 | £480 |
| Postgraduate Loan | £21,000 | £1,750 | £403 |
Your income may fluctuate throughout the year due to factors such as overtime, which could temporarily push your weekly or monthly earnings above the threshold, thereby affecting your automatic loan repayments. In such instances, you might qualify for a refund.
If you observe that you’ve made repayments towards your student loan throughout the year while your income remained below the threshold, you can request a refund from the SLC. Alternatively, the SLC might reach out to inform you that you’re due a refund.
An email from the SLC typically includes your Customer Reference Number, which matches the one used to access your online student loan account. The email will then confirm your eligibility for a refund and explain the reason behind it.
For instance, it might state that you made repayments through your salary during the 2022/23 tax year, even though you were below the annual threshold for that year. The email will then provide a link to the gov.uk slc login site where you can access a form to request a refund.
Before logging into your account, you’ll need: your customer reference number or registered email address, your password, and the answer to your security question, such as your mother’s maiden name.
Warning over scam emails
However, be wary of scam emails. Fraudsters may pose as SLC representatives and contact you claiming you’re due a refund.
They may ask you to update your payment details so they can process the repayment, thereby gaining access to your private banking information. While SLC does send emails about refunds which may include links to a sign-in page, if you want to play it safe, you can manually log into the official Student Finance website to check if you’re due a refund.
More information on obtaining a student loan refund can be found here.
