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Student loan debt

Student loans overpayments: How to claim a refund

Student loan overpayments happened when incorrect study end dates were provided and when employers set up repayments to start too early. If you believe you’ve overpaid you can apply to the The Student Loans Company (SLC) for a refund.

Because student loan repayments are deducted at source, and can often be spread across many months, it’s not easy to track just how much you’ve paid over time. It might be worth taking a closer look at what you’ve been paying, as it recently came to light that there’s over £28m of unclaimed overpayments on England-based student loans.

Over 500,000 students are said to have been affected. You could be one of them.

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What’s being done to resolve the issue?

The Student Loans Company (SLC) is in the process of contacting those who’ve been affected in order to arrange refunds. However, as some time has passed, they’ve found that some graduate contact details aren’t up-to-date. If the SLC are unable to reach these people, it means that they could potentially miss out on a significant amount of money that they’re owed.

I think I’ve overpaid my student loan - how do I claim for a refund?

If you believe you’ve overpaid your student loan, you can get in touch with the SLC to seek a refund.

Before contacting the SLC, take some time to check your payslips and your P40 forms for the last few years. This will give you an idea of how much you’ve paid already. Having these to hand will make it easier for the SLC to check your payment history. They may need your payroll reference number, so keep this to hand as well.

You can find more information about getting a student loan overpayment refund on the SLC website.


A claims company says they can get me a refund on my student loan. Should I trust them?

If you’re owed a refund on your student loan, you can discuss this directly with the SLC. You don’t need a third party to facilitate this for you, and you shouldn’t pay a fee for any such service.

I’m dealing with debt from university. What should I do?

If you have debt such as loans, credit cards or overdrafts from when you were in university, free online debt advice is available. You can also chat to one of our friendly debt advisors about your situation. Once we know what you’re dealing with, we’ll take a look into any debt solutions that may be right for you.