HMRC stealing from Student Loan repayments??

HMRC stealing from Student Loan repayments??

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I just received an email, and was wondering if this was true and if so, is it legal? And is there anything that can be done?

"After querying my student loan balance with the Student Loans Company I was notified that they were unable to provide this information as they had not received the necessary information from the Inland Revenue.

The following month I then received a request from the Inland Revenue requesting my P60 for the previous financial year. This would appear to tie into the information below and is extremely concerning considering how much we have to pay back.

For most unsuspecting graduates who are paying back their student loans, the inland revenue takes payments directly from your employer in the same way as they take tax. i.e. the more you earn the more you pay, this includes bonuses etc. However after taking monthly amounts the inland revenue does not pay this directly to the student loan
company, instead they wait until the end of the financial year in April and then pay the entire year off to student loans.

The effect of this is that the inland revenue hold on to your monthly payments for up to a year earning themselves interest. During the same period, because student loans have not received these funds, they in turn charge the graduate interest on the outstanding amount even though it has been paid to the inland revenue.

Bottom line is that for those in this position we pay interest to student loans on money which has been taken from our accounts which the inland revenue keeps and earns interest on.

Personally I didn't sign up for this and it makes me MAD! I have researched this and there are others who have become aware of this and I plan to join the fight!

I am looking into the legality of what is being done to us as I can see no other description for this other than THEFT!!!!"

The email goes on to say there will be a march on parliament, and there is a link to a petition at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Student-loans/

Jenni Frost

Replies (4)

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By AnonymousUser
18th Apr 2007 12:20

So...

...Gordon Brown does not steal only from pensioners but also from the younger generation.

Disgraceful!

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By sheppitsgal
18th Apr 2007 13:12

Whilst I agree in principle....

To amend this situation, the Inland Revenue would require a Monthly return from employers detailing the amount of Student Loan deducted from the pay of each employee.

Do we really want to go down that road for employers?

In reality, the only way to deal with this is to take payments directly from the employee, rather than via the employer.

In the same way as Tax Credits, Student Loans really should not have anything to do with the employer.

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By AnonymousUser
18th Apr 2007 13:54

Government spin is alive and well!
They have actually managed to convince people to march on Whitehall about the interest charged rather than the actual principal of having to incur debt to fund your education in the first place! They really shouldn't be under estimated you know.

Another significant achievement is convincing millions of previous apethetic people to sign e-petitions on all sorts of topical issues. Oh, and by the way, they are even hosting the petitions on their own web-site to help everyone out. I wonder if Gordon and Tony take it in turns to hit the delete key on the inbox?

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By neiltonks
18th Apr 2007 16:39

Not quite what it seems?
I believe that interest is calculated annually on these accounts, based on the amount outstanding after the previous year's deductions have been passed on by HMRC and applied to the account.

Therefore, changing the system so that HMRC paid money over monthly would not make any difference to the interest unless the interest calculation were also changed to be monthly.

Neil.

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