Although I understand that Student Finance has very little competence when it comes to organising themselves, I still am in utter shock by their inability to produce the goods they happily advertise to students all around Britain, a loan. It is a sad fact that many of my peers have been left with no money for part or all of the academic year. You may ask how this has happened and, believe me, their parents are asking the same questions. Many people simply can’t afford to pay for their offspring to live away from home, have an expensive education and spending money and so some students find themselves on the brink of dropping-out due to a financial crisis.
Surely this is the loan seeker’s fault, I hear you cry, but alas students who got their forms in on time and had been very organised were let down by the inability of a over-stretched, under-staffed company. When these unfortunate souls are sent letters, emails or contact in any variety of ways and are told that they must ring the hotline to sort out the mess that has been created, frustration is quickly turned to blind rage. The high-rate number you are required to ring leaves you jabbing the buttons on your phone in furiously as it fails to recognise your ID number and then shoves you into what seems an endless queueing system. When eventually the call is taken off hold and an employee finally answers you spend a hideously long time repeating the fine details of your problem whilst the person on the end of the line shuffles through papers on their desk, rings numerous other departments and returns with the answer, “We do have that form, you did send it to us, but it hasn’t been processed yet. Just ignore that letter we sent you. However, we do need you to send us your bank details.” When you try to give them this simple piece of information over the phone the employee panics, insisting that they cannot possibly enter this into the computer directly and you’ll have to send another form which will, undoubtedly, get lost.
If you manage to get through this process without running out of credit or battery on your phone or without throwing it across the room whilst uttering a torrent of unseemly words then you may get your loan before the end of the year. Whilst this is not a problem for those who do not particularly need the support, for the vast majority, this leaves the underfunded student distressed and unable to to enjoy their university experience. We want successful young people who can be the future medics, engineers and novelists but how are many of the bright people in this country suppose to learn these skills if they can’t fund it. Even a undergraduate could take over this obviously flawed system and make the basic changes to which their concepts simply elude this badly managed, frustratingly unhelpful service.
thank you for your comment about student finance england, i’ve send in my application since 6/11/2009 and uptill today no joy my document wasn’t documented by untrained staff who supporse to be in the market selling fruit i am very depressed , but keep hoping that my form will be dealt if i commit suicide , but mind you there organisation will be liable and would be blamed for as i’ve forwarded all necessary requirement they might need i have attarched copies of my letter and will be sent to chief executive and president of national union of student Mr Wes Stressting.
thank you
Dont get me started. To give you a timeline.. As a non UK citizen, they require your physical passport. Decided in the end after refusing certified copies of my consulate to drive to Darlington and show it. From what i understand from my latest phonecall.. they made a copy of it…..
may 4th – at Darlingotn Office with passport
may 19th – details entered on system
today – still waiting on passport services to verify my passport is real
Letter sent may 15th.. till this date still not processed!
If this was a real business it would have been out of business already..
They are unbelievable!!!!!
This is the second year of doing this for my son.
They consistently lose very improtant documents with earnings information on them… who the hell is documenting the receipt of these bits of paper? (like you say.. untrained staff) Well I am sorry but this is not good enough. Do they actually realise how much upset and stress they are causing? Do they realise how difficult it is to obtain copies of the forms such as P60’s?
We just about got through the first year…
Second year (this year), ahh, less paperwork to send – excellent! We send it special delivery at a cost of £4.95 on 01.04.10 – it is signed for on 03.04.10 at the Darlington Office.
We receive notification of award during the last week of May – a basic non-means tested allowance, due to ‘non receipt of evidence’…… What???? I am so annoyed.
My son has tried on numerous occasions to get through to them, but an 0845 number on his mobile is just ridiculous (how can they pay thier phone bill with no money?).
So, I try – the guy really wants to get me off the phone, I ask for his name, I say that him suggesting I call back tomorrow is not good enough under the circumstances. He suggests that he organise for someone from Darlington to call me back. Several minutes later – I am sorry i am not able to request a callback from the Darlington office, you will have to call back tomorrow!!!!!
I feel like screaming! and I’m sure I’ll be screaming some more before it’s all over.
Erika I understand your problem
I have had the very same thing, however this is now the third time i have sent financial imformation to them. They have somehow recieved the details for only one parent when both were sent in the same envelope. They cannot tell me if this was from what i first sent or from when i sent it the second time. Send it again they tell me, i say what if it gets lost AGAIN, the say it wont get lost. What a joke, its got lost twice now… even when sent special delivery at a cost of over £5 each time it has been sent. I sent in my application on time, its halfway through august and duie to their incompetance I still have not been accessed for a maintanence grant. I am now writing emails to all the press and trying to get details of the education secretary. I am facing the fact now that as a student I need to appraoch the bank for a loan I will have to pay interest on, so i can afford to continue on with university until they sort themselves out, because otherwise I will be evicted from my flat. Its a disgrace, and I just dont know what to do anymore, I’m at my wits end…
Same problem as Emma and Erika, daughter clearly applied for a means tested loan, SLC wrote to me in January 2010 asking for me to provide financial evidence which I posted Recorded Delivery February 2010.
Student Loans took 3 months to decide that they hadn’t received my evidence despite Royal Mail confirming proof of delivery, and suggested in future that I send evidence by recorded delivery!
Second lot of evidence sent recorded delivery in May 2010. SLC stated I had provided incorrect P60 when my work’s financial year ends May each year so I fail to see how I could have sent incorrect evidence.
To date despite numerous phone calls the matter is still unresolved and I ended up today with an adviser telling me that the consent to share on my daughters account had been set up incorrectly so the adviser would not speak to me. Suffice to say I lost the plot with him.
I just don’t know what to do and feel like crying in despair. The only way forward is to start the compaints process and write to my MP.
I could not agree more with the comments here as have had an identical experience. Financial documentation sent in has “not been received” despite 3 different advisors confirming to me that it had been, and it been returned to me marked with a reference number. Then I was told I had not asked for my son’s application to be means-tested. I explained that I had and had copies to verify this. Another advisor (probably 10th phone call to them) confirmed I had asked for the application to be means-tested. The sheer frustration at not being able to have an application submitted in April processed – and we are now nearly in September – despite submitting all the documentation and sending by Special Delivery is hard to explain. How can an organisation be SO incompetent – and get away with it! The stress is causes is immense and it needs to be addressed at ministerial level.
Student finance!!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!! They are utterly incompetent !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Last year they informed us that my daughter had told them she was attending Swansea, she was actually about to go to KIngston. They insisted we had filled in the word Swansea on the form. Such an easy mistake to make.
This year she has been assessd as not asking for her maintenance grant to be income assessed ,even though we sent our evidence in. It had been returned to us with a blank complement slip so we thought all was well. According to them if you receive such a slip this means that there is a problem and you need to contact them! I could go on, indeed I could write a book. They operate on a parrallel universe. My daughter and I are now worried sick about what is going to happen. I only earn £10,000 per annum and can only do so much to help her. She is really good student and this is a disgraceful company.
I have been evicted from my flat due to the fact that i could not pay my rent because student finance took 3months to process my form and then only process the grant and not the loan. I’ve moved somwhere else now and still have not received the loan, am now left with the same problem with my rent. And now for them to process my loan am being told that they have lost my statemnet of income and i will need to send in anothere one. I did not receive an apology or any sympathy from this people and then when i requested to speak to the manager he or she refuse to take my call. I did not want to go to university before but then my parent presured me into it and then i quit my job and now i could be facing homelessness again because of the incompetent of this people called slc. I dont blame them, i blame the government becasue they don’t care about students, they speak of making changes and improvement but then never include university students. I am on the verge of commiting suicide, my rent has not been paid, am failing in my studies because i can’t afford fares, i have bills upon bills and my weight lost is threating.
I do not want to be a prophet of doom but it looks like Student Finance are beginning to look as if they have again made a year on year increase in their levels of total incompetence. Over the next few weeks, as students head to university we will witness the fruits of Student Finances continued efforts to mess things up. Thousands of students will start to realise that they have also been made a victim of the whole Student Finance scam.
You can probably guess that I am perhaps a little angry. I have several children at university and I can say I have never met so much ineptitude in all my life as in the case of Student Finance. I and my children have had it all. ‘No documents receive’, ‘what application’, ‘we did phone you’,’We have not seen your P60’. All this when I know for a fact that you had received them and you did not phone … . The fact is that you have lost them in your disjointed system. What is worst is the failing to return documents that they did receive. I wonder who is walking around with my P60 using it to get credit or worst still trying to steel my identify!
To day a very distraught daughter telephoned me from the other end of the country to tell me Student Finance had messed it up yet again! She is in her second year, but because of all the pain inflicted by Student Finance she just wants to give it all up and return home! Is this something the government should be proud of?
What I want to know is, when is someone going to take the reasonability for the running of Student Finance? The last government were totally inept, no one resigned over the chaos last year. All they did was reward people for failure. What about the current government? Are they going to stand up to their reasonability and do something about it or just carryon in the way career politicians do. Children are the countries future, it’s about time government treated them like that!.
we are in the same position as emma dated 11th aug 2010 at 11 06 am. my daughter has also had the very same problems . i have sent every document i have special delivery costing over £5 a time. and they say they have lost them or they find some then loose them again.my daughter is in her first year. this has been very upsetting for her .stressfull for myself.she still has no maintinence money and not enough for her accomadation so like you we may have to appraoch the bank for a loan and pay interest on so she can carry on with her university. or she will end up being evicted from her flat.It is discusting and they just dont care they are rude and not helpfull at all.i only have one wage packet coming in i am trying to help my daughter as much as i can also look after my wife as through no fault of her own has been ill. And like you am also at my witts end.
I’m experiancing similar problems, I sent my application at the end of July. Mid August I called to check the progress and asked if they had everything they confirmed yes they did. At the end of Aug I called again ‘it’s being processed’ Early Sept I recieved a letter saying I hadn’t completed an identity form! Why didn’t they say that when I called them. I compleated it sent it back with a DSA form. Called 2 weeks later they had the DSA form but no identity letter, ‘are you sure you sent it?’ No I imagined it but as they recieved the DSA form it must have arrived. They put a search out for it, but said it will probably be quicker if you send another one. I have sent another one.
It isn’t just this, everytime I speak to someone I am given different information and no-one seems to know anything about my claim or even student finance in general. I have been told I could have to wait another 4-8 weeks now why it was their error they lost it. If they were a private buisness they wouldn’t have survived 5 mins.
Hi everyone
I’m so angry about student finance cock ups I physically shake on the phone to them! I applied in February 2010, basically as soon as I was able. I then had a change of circumstances and called to ask what I should do. I followed their instructions and sent all evidence they requested by recorded delivery 28 April 2010. Since then I have been told they have received it on 5th May, then they haven’t, then they have! I have been constantly checking to make sure it was being processed only to be told last week, their records now say they received it and passed it to assessor on 10th September. When I asked a manager for an explanation, I was told to check the website to see how to complain! I’m a single parent and have already started my course, put of 13 of us only 1 person has received their student loan. I have made an official complaint but doubt I’ll even get a reply. These people are a joke and are messing with peoples lives, something needs to be done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I though last year was bad enough but Student Finance have surpassed themselves this year! I am a mature student and my son is also at university. We have just started our second year – I was told that the applications after year 1 would be more straightforward – not a bit of it!
I applied by post ( the system cannot cope on-line due to us both being students) on 17th May. In mid June (4 weeks later) I received another form to complete and a scrappy note asking for ‘more information’ regarding my husbands income. I sent them copies of tax forms and the tax office’s resulting calculations (i.e. THEY have accepted these figures), on 30th June.
On 28th August – yes – TWO whole months later – my husband received an email asking for yet MORE info. I phoned the office who eventually told me that the tax forms are not sufficient, and they want copies (they asked for originals – I flatly refused to send these)of proof all income less expenses for my husbands small business. We spent 3 1/2 hours putting all this together and sent it off on 4th Sep at a cost of £5.50. For good measure I included my inside leg measurement and bra size!!!
Ironically – thank goodness – my son’s application WAS approved, and his money should hopefully have been paid into his account today. The same family income, sent in the same envelope, yet I am still waiting.
It is now 27th Sep and apart from a reminder for the info we have already sent – I phoned to check it had arrived – I am still waiting. The joke is, if WE are late paying a tax bill, we are fined and charged interest, yet Student Finance seem unable to offer even an apology. THEY ARE USELESS!!!
I intend to apply for next year’s finance as soon as this year’s is sorted – if it ever is!!
Hi my name is Louise and I attended Huddersfield university, campus Barnsley 2010-2012. I have had nothing but trouble with student finance from the day I started uni, they have got me so mad iv burst into tears on the phone to them. I am from this day still sorting things out with student finance, evidence that’s been sent to them more then 3 occasions, not excepting evidence from certain companies for my bill payments, its a joke. Because of this iv been told iv had a overpayment and now i have bailiffs getting in contact with me. This as put me off going back to uni in Sep 2013 and wish i had never attend. Its caused so much stress its unreal.
Grrrrrrr I am so annoyed with them, my son has handed in everything he needs, was told his funds would be in his account on Wed 6th October, the date came…no funds, after calling them my son was told that an employee had ‘forgotten’ to do his and he has to wait another week because its only done on Wednesdays!! Never mind that he has been there almost 4 weeks and his 1st months rent is due the day after they now reckon it will be there.
Its a terrible service and is causing me no end of stress, especially as a single mum having to hand money out which tbh I just don’t have to give!
I have written a complaint to customer-complaints@slc.co.uk
They also have a ‘student Finance promise’
One:
To deliver an efficient and effective student finance service to all customers.
Two:
To process your correctly completed student finance application quickly and let you know how much student finance you will get.
SO that’s the 1st 2 failed then!
Yep have to put my two pence in…..
My wife and I have been students for about 4 years between us. Last few years we have been dealt with by the LEA and had zero probs.
However first year Student Finance – Disaster
Basically, I have completed a foundation degree and this year gone on to a Top Up BSc. As this is considered a “new” loan, we had to go through student finance england not the LEA. We put the forms in June – as of today still not sorted!!!
The main sticking point is my wifes income for 08/09.
She was a student at that point…….
They know this as the accounts are linked…..
The “Front line” say “yes we can see this”
However, processing say “Unless we see her Student Loan Confirmation for that year we cannot process it…..”
So……
I need to go onto there own website, log into the details they hold, print of a letter they can see and send it back to them….
Due to “Data Protection” – Even though my wife has sent a letter confirming she was a student for this time and about a folders worth of evidence……..twice
I am now looking at getting evicted (Mature student, 4 kids one disabled) as cannot pay rent as they have said they will take another 4 weeks to process this letter…..
However – I have complained and I have threatened to take this further if it is not resolved. It is not so much the front line (Which 90% have been ok) it is the a***e faced processors in the back office who are so Dogmatic of the “rules” they are no longer human. In this case, they can see on screen evidence that she was a student with only student loans coming in, however unless it is in hard copy (printed from there website) they will only except it then……. stupidity.
their terrible…..i have sent in my evidence 2 days before the deadline…i agree , i could have done it earlier…but i did send them on time…so online i noticed that im not being income assesed even thought i applied for it….in a month they sent 1 out of 4 of my p60/p45 forms…..i call them up, they say they havent received it…HOW THE FUUUUUUUU;;;;;;;;;;ccccccc********* THEY CAN SEND IT BACK TO ME, AND THEN SAY THEY HAVENT RECEIVED IT….2 weeks after my call, i reveive another 2 out of 3 left documents…im told that they never received it, im missing 1 p60 form, they tell me to send forms back to them, but that costs 5 pounds each time, calling them costs about 7 pounds each time, ffs im a student………the funniest thing,…..MY father received a letter with a student application form, saying that if he still wants the funding he needs to fill the form in and send it back….hahahahhah…MY FATHER IS BEING TREATED AS HE WAS A STUDENT AND NOT A PARENT SUPPORTING AN APPLICATION..
I cannot even start to explain how I would like to burn down student finance. I had everything applied for and sent in, they had recieved it, (at least the got that far) They had the delcaration from my mum for 2 months before they had even processed it. I phoned up twice a week for 3 weeks and still got nothing from them. It wasn’t untill I phoned and was in tears down the phone that an advisor told me that it hadn’t even been sent to processing! I was completely fuming! How could they have an application for over 4 months and not have processed it yet!
I have still got no loan, No money. and nearly nowhere to live. I was told I would have my finance on the 22/10/2010. Complete rubbish if you ask me. Rubbish being the lightest word I can use.
I can’t afford to be here, I have had to borrow money from my mother (who has no god damn money) just so I can buy food. and it’s pretty hard living off £10 a week, or trying to make that stretch two weeks.
Student finance is a complete joke and I am not impressed at all.
OMG don’t make me start.
We sent the application and finance documents 2 times and they claimed to lose them even though the second one was sent by recorded delivery and checked online for signature. I complain and no response from them, i complain again and no response and I complained again for the third time and still no response. then after losing my rag on the phone after being held on the phone for over 1 hour the documents all re-appeared wow. I Can’t believe they are this bad. the government must sack this idiots who have no brain. every week we call we get told a lie. today they blamed my son for not signing a declation and when he complained how could he sign something he has not got? they then said —-Oh sorry we will send you the link— what kind of stupid staff are these ???????????
Any OMG they even got my name wrong.
Student finance company is a joke and their staff are a joke
i agree with this completely, my application was recieved by fianace on march 31st of this year and my evidence sent just after… then i hear nothing and they send my evidence back with a little with compliment note.
then hear nothing until 3wks ago when we rung up and they tell me that they sent the evidence back without scanning it and i need to send it again… fault 1 on there part.
so i send it all off again and get my tutor to sign another declaration for my birth certificate, all gets sent fine.
then today get a letter from them saying they cant process my evidence until they recieve a decleration for my birth certificate which was sent.. so now i have to fill out another form, get my tutor to fill it out again for the third time and send it to them because they clearly lost it, fault 2 to finance.
this is increasingly filling my rage as im overdue on my firat rent installement and my accommodation agency are doing nothing to help me and are just as badly runa s finance when giving you information on what to do.
im certainly starting to give up hope and feel like packing my bags and heading home.
thanks a bunch stundent finance, your all crap!
i feeel the pain of every single person who has commented here. i made my application back in May 2010…. i still have no money till now and have sent evidence in THREE times by special delivery. they do not contact you when there is an issue with your application. YOU must ring them to consistently check the status of your application to find out if there is anything wrong, if they need anything else. I’m so tired of the rubbish, and untrained staff who do not know what on earth they are doing!.and the biggest slap in the face is that i know loads of people who apply for their loans last minute and still manage to get their money before me!
If i had not worked all summer i would be screwed now… I’ve eaten into alll my savings something i did not want to have to do! and i can’t keep going to my mother, i come from a one working parent household and i’m the eldest of 5. SLC are making my life hell!!!!!
Write to your local MP (as I have done) and/or David Willetts, Minister for Universities & Science (david@davidwilletts.co.uk). The only way we are going to persuade the Government to take any action is by providing them with hard evidence of SLC’s incompetence. Incidentally, if you go on SLC’s website and read their latest press release, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that they were doing a good job!!
A good idea James, but even writing to David Willetts via my MP has got me nowhere. He has just taken Student Finance’s word as being correct when they are clearly in error. I can happily report that I am now in receipt of both a loan and a grant – all be it a month late, BUT I am still unable to get my papers (ie MY property) including birth certificates back. I am now writing to STC accusing them of theft and will talk to the police if I do not receive my things back soon.
Doing the degree is a breeze after dealing with SFC!
Oh NO-I looked this web site up after feeling my blood boiling away inside of me due to yet another hopeless phone call to Student Finance England regarding my daughters application, which to date has taken 7 months to process! I could not believe what i am seeing on this web site. Again after last years mess that the press forced student finance to have to admit to, and i’m sure Price Waterhouse London (who were commissioned to investigate the mess) made hundreds of thousands of pounds out of by producing the glossy 72 page investigation paper. It appears to not be just my application (how foolish was i to think such thoughts) but hundreds of others yet again struggling to get the correct money or even get their application processed. Oh and what a surprise, it appears to be due to the untrained and quite frankly apathetic staff employed and expensive long winded phone system- did i not read in the Price Waterhouse report that this was the main problem during the 2009 fiasco? And is it not true that the person who headed that government commissioned report is now the head of student Loans England in 2010? What faith can the hard working person living in the uk today have in Government headed Depts that just always appear to operate in complete chaos, with staff that do not care, or seem to be bother about their job. I am now in the process of a complaint to student finance in Edinburgh (what good i hear you say!) if anyone wants to e-mail me with their complaint i will be MOST happy to forward that to Student Finance along with mine as well as sending copies of complaints to the MP for education and Channel 4 Television. Student Finance is a non-profit making company!!– are you shocked by that?, prob not, im quite sure judging by the errors they make, hardly surprising and a good job really that its not profitable eh!! For the record over 2250 complaints where lodged last year (2009) i wonder if the figure will be less this time, if so, maybe its not for them to pat themselves on the back saying things have improved this year-its just that the people have given up complaining!!! Sent me your complaints via e-mail lets see if things have really improved..
Hi Carole,
I am reading your complaint and wondering if you got any where with your complaint?, as i have made 3 now and no corrospondence as yet, i wrote a letter to the chief executive and then 2 by email to the complaints centre , and what a joke as 2 of them were sent in december of 2010 and nothing. so just good luck with it all as my claim went in for june 2010 and we are in february 2011 and i am still waiting.they are a complete shambles and for such a big financial institute, their customer service’s and the way they deal with us stinks,i have actually sobbed down the phone to them because myself and my 4 children went hungry over christmas,let alone buy them any presents and they did not give a damn, they were ok though in their big houses with their wages being paid while they had all of the time off. I am in my second year doing a degree and it has turned into the worst time of my life and i have the opportunity to do my BA’S but i am certainly not doing it because to hell with the stress, which i may add is worse than doing the degree it’s self.
Just as I’d finally got my daughter’s loan sorted for this year and being relieved that I’d only had to send the same information 2 times, guess what? They’ve reassessed last year’s loan and now say that she was overpaid as we didn’t send in info about our income for 2009-10. Not only was this sent last year as soon as they requested it, but it was sent again in June when they requested confirmation, and again in October as they were refusing assess her for a means tested loan this year until we did, As we’d received our documentation back after the 1st two occasions, you would assume some one has actually read and recorded the information, wouldn’t you? I did.
Not only that, but they actually still have our documents from when i sent them last month and had sent a letter the day before this one saying she had been assessed for a means tested loan, so someone must have read them.
We had 3 years of applying through the old local education authority system with my elder daughter with not a single problem. In the last 15 months I have spent hours on the phone and written so many letters to them trying to sort out their incompetence. I have sent every piece of evidence they have requested without any delay on my part and they can’t even seem to record any of it. How many times do they need to have the same information pass through they hands before they pay attention?
What is the point of such an incompetent organisation? Why is it still incapable of doing it’s appointed job? Or is it’s secrete mission to stop university applications by causing such stress and frustration to students and their parents that it’s easier not to bother?
Unfortunately, I expect to have exactly the same problem next year and now never send them anything without scanning and saving all forms and letters so I have evidence that I have done my part, even if this is futile. I also now refuse to send original documents as I don’t believe I will ever see them again,
I will be so glad when my kids finally leave higher education. it’s just not worth the stress.
omg what a bunch of complete w…..s round and round with no explanations.( why is england student finance based in scotland…….. ) Never calling back or following through we applied in may and in november still waiting its a joke, every time we call just the same thing is said. words can not explaine the frustation …gggrrrrrrrr
I am a second year Drama student, and i’m STILL waiting for ‘income assessed’ payment from my first year! They are ridiculous. I have been told to ‘ring back next week’ every single time i’ve called them since October 2009, and i’m still no closer to being paid. They have all evidence and *apparently* payment is just waiting to be signed and sent…. so SEND IT ALREADY!!!
Are they aware that Christmas is just round the corner? I dont hold out hope for payment before i graduate.
Student finance is a complete joke and they are the best of bunch of cabbages
I have applied for tuition since fees April 2010 as a part time student will be Christmas in 9 days time and my application still not processed can anyone here tell me how long an application can take to be processed, If you think I am wrong describing student finance as a bunch of cabbages please correct me!!!!!!!!!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
In my 2nd year studies. Basic loan and tuition fees for term one paid. Loan done straightaway…bills to pay, people to pay back!! Send evidence to get Maintenance, Adult Dependant Grant, and Parents Allowance. I got these last year with no problem…this year BIG BIG problem!! Last year claim was Provisional! Why? What was the point of that? This year wait, send evidence, wait, send evidence, wait, send evidence, wait, send evidence….have I missed anything? I don’t think so!…wait, send evidence, wait, send evidence…..Did they not have this information last year…at least some of them? Why did they send me funds? If it is not good now, why was it good then?? Who organised the processes? A seven year old? A three year old? Mind you, in today’s world, they would no doubt do an excellent job! We need more evidence, I send it, they ask for more, I send it, they ask for more!!IBut I already sent it the first time, ages ago!!! I am sure every time an evidence is sent, a new untrained person starts the application again!!! That’s what it feels like! Another thing, they ask for more evidence to process the application. I send it. What happens? My claim goes to the back of the line because I now have to wait another two weeks before the mail is dealt with….1st class or Recorded Delivery! That is so unfair! Who made up this rule? Nimkompook! You know what I mean! Oh did I mention, I have no money since September, I have lost my internet/telephone services, my car insurance will be cancelled in a few days time, I have untold bills, debts, gas, electricity needs charged up…..and …..the fridge is empty!!! Third world poverty? Not overseas, but in advanced technology United Kingdom!!! By the way, my course in on xmas vacation….wasn’t the purpose of the grants to support/help me through my studies? Well, even if I get something now, when I needed it, they failed me…BIGTIME!! at the cost , not of them, but of myself and my family! I wonder if someone in the Student Finance is out to purpose make my life a hell?? They have treated me very vindinctively, with a vengeance!! Why? All I did was to apply what they advertised I was entitled to! You wou think the money was coming out of their pockets personally!!! Any suggestions anyone??
Hi ,
my god i am in the same position, i am a mature 1st year student with 4 children and a mortgage, my husband is self employed and times are very very difficult to say the least, my first year no problem as non income based but yes they still had to have evidence for proof of income ! my start of the second year which yes was september of 2010 and now we are in february 2011 and i am still waiting for my money, in the meantime this is taking over my life, my poor kids are feeling the effects of my stress , i cant pay the mortgage let alone put food on the table, i have sent in everything slc want from me and again i wait and then it is wrong or they have claimed not to have recieved it, i feel my privacy has been violated by this so called large financial institute and call them selves professional, thats a joke i have written a complaints letter and sent an email as they suggest and guess what no reply , the finance office in my university have rang student finance themselves and are getting no where ,so has my local MP , so if they cant get any where , what chance have i got ? suppose because of them i might lose my home and so what the hell am i doing this degree for cause who will want to employ a homeless women ?
I am just so angry and upset, my studies are suffering and nus have given up on me and suppose all my friends have had enough of hearing me going on that i have no money and no income. so much for making our education a better one !
Daughter now on way home after first term at uni. Latest call to SFE today has revealed another hoop to be jumped through, despite us having supplied all details required in May. Latest ‘carrot’ is that her payment should be received in the new year – we’ll see. Had made a formal complaint about SFE’s abject systems failings – which was not acknowledged (what a surprise – no doubt they’ll say they have no record of it) and I have therefore asked for it to be escsalated. The SFE bod didn’t understand how the complaints system worked so I had to explain it. They will be getting a bill for all the interest and other costs we have incurred and we will be contacting our MP – what more can you do? Glad to have found this forum – sadly SFE is all too typical of life in England – is this really the best we can do in this country? We’d all like to emigrate …
I have just come across this website , and I agree the Student finance England are totally incompetent, They totally messed up my loan application , and like other have said, they never rang to let me know there was a problem with my application, I have had to constantly chase them, when eventually they did process my grant , they miscalculated what I was owed and I only got a third of what I was entitled to, I was told that they would deal with this problem in 48 hours as it was their mistake.. well that was over 2 weeks ago, and every time I ring I get someone else who gives me different information, none of them seem to know what they are talking about, and some of them have been so rude!! would not even listen to me , talking over me. I have now been waiting 3 months.. for this to be sorted, and it is just so frustrating, I cannot understand why they are so badly trained and so disorganised.
I am a mature student and have 2 children, I applied for the parents learning allowance, and they misplaced the documents so I sent them in again and then I had to get to the back of the pile again!! When I asked for some info on the PLA nobody could tell me what the threshold was , or anything about it??
I was told that they are currently processing documents sent in on 1st December, and today is the 21st!! for the last 2 weeks they have been processing the 30th November… it is just crazy,
Good luck to everyone , and I hope things improve very soon
They’re absolutely horrible. The amount of incompetence they possess is simply mind-blowing.
I originally finished my Application form on the 16th of June, and sent the evidence a couple of weeks later. It took student finance three months to only process one piece of evidence, and send the other two back, seemingly without even taking a look! I sent the evidence in again, and after two months it still hasn’t been processed, what a joke! To add insult to injury, these cretins never dare mention that there’s a problem, and how we might go around fixing it. Instead, we’re forced to consistently phone them up to ask what’s going on, and then be kept on hold for an hour only to talk to someone who’s got precious few to spare.
True, they have a lot of applications, but if they were stupid enough to not only hold on to incompetent employees but also not hire enough people then why is it that students must suffer for something that was the fault of these imbeciles?
Hi everyone,
I feel for all of you who wrote and I so well understand the frustration there is.. I don’t even know where to start my story.. I shall try to be as brief as possible:
I came to live in the UK at the age of 16 in 2005 where I did my A-levels. In 2007 I was accepted at University and I applied duly at the Local Authority for the Student support. Completely unaware of how it works, I just followed what the LEA wanted and submitted all the documents they requested. They gave me a tuition fee loan + maintenance grant and support. It all went perfectly well until the academic 2010/2011 application where it all went very wrong.
The SLC have asked me for different documents at different occasions. They wanted to assess me as a “European Migrant Worker” (a term I heard for the first time). After 10s and 10s of phone-calls and emails, I gave them what they seemingly needed and had expressly asked for.. Buuut.. they sent me a letter in mid-august (their letters somehow always arrive at least 10 days after the date on the letter?) saying that: well, you didn’t send the necessary documents and your application has been unsuccessful. You cannot be classed as a Migrant Worker and hence you will receive no support.
As a result, not only have they left me in a total financial shock, they are now asking all the money back from previous years. With immediate due date. as other people above, I don’t know whether to scream, to cry or to break things… And it is also the super-anti-personal attitude of all the staff in there.. you feel like talking to robots; they might as well just put computers to talk.. like when you pay your gas or telephone bill.. 🙁
2nd year mature student here. First year grant processed no probs except for bizarre letter half way through second term stating that SLC had ‘received notification’ that I had ‘withdrawn’ from my course and that the grant was to be repaid in full. Sorted via one phone call.
Second year grant processed and approved, sceduled payment letter sent to me. Letter received Nov ’10 to ask for my partner’s P60 2008-2009. Again. He rang that day and they said they’d already got those details, letter sent ‘in error’.
Just got a letter through today stating that this year’s grant has been ‘reassessed’ and that I would need to repay my grant in full. A phone call ( HINT: 0141 243 3600 gets you through to the same hotline, but cheaper) to a polite but totally ineffective lady revealed that they needed my partners P60 2008-2009. Again. When I said that they had already had those details and a call in Nov 10 had re-confirmed this by SLC, she said that due to a ‘random sampling process’ (?) that we would need to resend it. Again. She stated that if I was ‘unwilling or unable to send those details then the grant would have to be repaid’. When I asked to speak to a manager she said she’d arrange a callback but ‘couldn’t guarantee when that would be’.
I’ve worked in a BT callcentre and for the Rural Payments Agency and understand it’s not their fault, but it’s just SO HARD to be polite and reasonable when you’re shaking with anger.
If my second year grant has to be repaid I will have to leave the course. Simple as.
Try contacting your MP – the more complaints David Willets gets, the better the chance of something being done. MP’s can get information much more quickly than us mere mortals and also gave me a direct dial number. SFC have now admitted that they have indeed lost my son’s birth certificate which is a pain as we will have the hassle of getting anew one, BUT they WILL be paying for ‘reasonable ‘costs’ which will include the hours of my time spent chasing them over the past few months. They will find my hourly rate interesting!
I really don’t know where to start with my moaning, i am a mature student and my first year of university life no problem, i received my loans,tuition fees and grants great i could budget and afford books etc,, but second year no way, my husband is self employed and work has dried up so very difficult time, i applied for my grants etc and handed it to student finance in june 2010 ( this met their deadline) , i sent all the relevant paperwork that was asked but then 2 months would pass and they would ask for more and more and more ( i actually think i offered to send them my poo in a pot as they knew so much about my finances) , they then wanted to look back into my finances for the year 08/09 what the hell i was not even there then, so i call HMRC and request tax returns but because it is not in colour this is not good enough, so another phone call to HMRC and now i have to wait another month for this tax calculation ,but in the mean time i am unable to pay any bills including my mortgage, i cant really afford to travel to college and the most people that are suffering in all this are my 4 children because i have to beg or borrow of other people to put food on the table for them. I have even written to the complaints department twice one by letter and the other by email and surprise surprise no correspondence from them so what happened to the 10 day we deal with complaints ! , i have even asked my local MP to get involved but even he has got no where so what chance in hell have i got ? i am in despair now and so depressed over this that my time at university has turned into a right damn sad one and i finish in 20 weeks, and i don’t think i am going to see money till i finish.
My complaint about student finance is a little different to most of the comments above, in that it concerns repayment.
Back in September of 2010, I started a course at Glamorgan University to find I didn’t enjoy what the course was offering or the lifestyle too much, so pulled out relatively quickly (about two weeks). This was before I received any payment from SLC, so I jumped online and cancelled my loan as soon as I could (the day after leaving).
I figured this would be relatively simple for them to solve themselves and just not pay me the money. But alas, a week later I received payment for a course I was no longer doing. Considering there was no correspondence from them for the next two months, I let the money just lie in my account, not bothering to spend any “just in case”. Also I planned on going to a different uni to do a different course next year and figured it might come in handy if they wanted me to just pay it back after completing my studies (it would’ve been simpler, I suppose, and would make uni life a little easy with the extra funding).
Last week (February 5th) I received a letter from SLC, stating that they wanted payment back. “Fair enough” I thought, until I read when they wanted it back. They wanted the loan repaid a week after the letter was dated…. The letter was dated January 21st. February 5th was a Saturday, so phoning them was not an option, so I attempted to repay my loan online.
After punching in my account details on their website, I was met with an error page stating that it could not be processed due to a technical error. I put this down to bad luck and decided to wait a day or so and try again. Yet again I was met with the same problem on Sunday and not only that, but my loan had accrued interest over the course of 24 hours. This presented a new problem for me; not only would I have to brave the premium rate hotline, but I would also face the possibility of my loan amount increasing before I could pay it off properly (say I offer to pay the amount stated online and they don’t receive payment for a few months, resulting in more correspondence. Etc.)
Considering the fact that online repayment would generally be quicker, cheaper and easier for them (it’s fairly obvious they don’t want to spend their work hours actually working), they should really treat the non-ability of their payment server as a top level problem.
I’ll be phoning them up today to offer repayment and also offer a piece of my mind.
Hi All,
I’m so angry with the student loans company – I am 2 months (started in end of Jan) into my 2 year LLB Law course, 6 weeks before my first set of exams and they have turned round and said I am not entitled to any funding and that all the money they have paid me this year needs to be paid back.
This is despite the fact that they confirmed my assessment in September 2010 and then again on the 15th of February 2011 with a letter to take to my university finance department if requested (after paying my first instalment on February 1st) and then on the 28th February wrote to me saying that all the money paid needs to be paid back.
The reason given was that because I had previously completed 2 years of my LLB course back in 2009, I was not entitled to receive funds,
I tried to explain that I left a good job in Jan 2011 based on their confirmation of support back in September, however they have come back to me saying that they are governed by legislation.
Any advice/ similar stories?
Kind regards
James A
This exact same thing has happened to a friend of mine, only she is studying to be a teacher. She has been told in August that they wont be funding her this year and have also not paid for last year for her. She had 2 weeks to pay them for last year which she had to borrow. She is not sure how she is going to pay for this year. They said it is because she had previously done 2 years at uni on a different course and they will only ever fund someone for 3 years so they will only pay for year 3 this time. Apparently this is to stop people just doing course after course after course and borrowing more and more money….
I have found that SF have been using a fictitious set of figures for one son at the same time as the local authority were using the correct sdet of figures for his elder brither. Now SF England have taken over all students the wrong figures are being applired to both with a request for paying back overpaid grant! They won’t tell me where these figures have come from. Trying to escalate complaint but being met with a stony silence.
Terrible organisation not fit for purpose.
My gripe tonight is that the student loan side of the govenment have sent out forms to my wife and I, dated the 22nd April and we receive on the evening of the 3rd may, I have been at work for 18 hours today for return by the 6th May, the ref numbers do not work, the letter wants me to proe my earning (p60). what the hell, they know all this as i am a tax payer. if i got a speeding ticket they would know all about me then.
I will not be voting on Thursday as it shows what ever we have in govenment are all a waste of space, and I object to the millions being wasted on a vote that makes know difference to us the tax payer. why should i waste fuel to the polling station, 2 miles of which Mr bloody Chancellor will get a good share in tax, and if I walked I will be taxed on the leather i use to get there.
The whole system needs to be run by real people with common sense.
I DON’T WANT TO BE A MOM AT 23 AND LIVE On BENEFITS!!! I WANT TO BE SOMEBODY !!!
until today i thought i was one in a few people but i actually can see that many people are having the same problems with student finance.
it’s been 3 months since i submited my application and i haven’t heard any decision from them apart from more and more papers, always asking for the same information because the have lost my documents.
my course starts the 1st of september and still don’t know how the hell i’m going to pay my tuition fee or my rent. i call them and all the answers are the same: “no advise because computer systems are not working”, “it takes 10 days to put your information in the system”..seriously!!!!.. i can’t make any more phone calls, all i do is crying and crying, i cant take anymore this people are just so f** lazy, THIS MONEY IS NOT FOR FREE!! we have to pay back so why is the stinginess..
please if someone knows where i can complaint let me know..please!!! i just don’t want to let them get away with this..
I could tell the same story as all the above, however I just wonder if anyone can give me a story of how they got it sorted. I too want to scream, cry and lash out but nothing is getting me anywhere. I have not got to start from scratch for the third time and I began in april this year.
Please…if anyone know how to get them to jump please let me know
Sophie
I can only suggest that you contact your MP and ask them for a direct line telephone number of a named person at SFC. I daren’t put the number I’ve been given up on this site as I have been told not to, but now that I can get hold of a specific person things have improved. Their computer is still sending me revised payment schedules etc at will but at least it gets sorted quickly. Good luck.
Hi all,
I have left various comments here and eventually got my student loans etc sorted last year , but i did get my local MP involved who did a brilliant job and a day later all my money was in the bank but it still seemed all a bit late because only the day before my husband had a massive heart attack and nearly lost his life all because of the financial situation we were put in. I did also mention that i would not be returning to do Ba (honour) because of the stress SLC cause to myself but i have changed my mind and hey guess what i filled in for my final year but by mistake had filled in for the wrong year and it has taken SLC from June till now to tell me i had done wrong and need to redo the whole lot, so that means i am going back in a bad financial situation and not being able to afford books etc.. But also they asked me for evidence for 09-10 and i thought to myself “i am sure they asked for that last year ” and sure enough in an envelope that they returned all last years evidence was the 09-10 stuff. how the hell do they justify all this and think they know what they doing. Thank god this is the last time ever that i need to be doing this as never have i felt so stressed in my life and doing my degree was what i thought was hard !!!!
Please sign my petition about student finance at studentfinancemessup@gmail.com
just send an email with with subject heading STUDENT FINANCE NEEDS SORTING NOW
just state your name, and reason why you have a complaint,
and I will get back to you will an email,
Together we can fight this
Kind regards
Tracey Jarvis
DO THEY NOT REALISE THAT THEIR SLOWNESS AND AFILURE TO PROCESS APPLICATIONS IS LEADING TO PEOPLE DROPPING OUT!!!
I applied for this years finance as soon as it opened back in April. I recieved confirmation of my tuition fee loan, maintenance loan and miantenance grant but am still waiting to hear about my childcare grant. My childcare costs over £10,000 a year and without some help I cannot re-enrol this year. I have been sent numerous emails telling me I must re-enrol before sept 12th but until I know if iam getting help with childcare I cant!!! I have called them at least twice a week every week since i sent it in and they keep telling me it hasnt been processed yet. I have requested call-backs from head office 3 times and not recieved one. I have had my local MP contact them who was told they are dealing with my application under their guidelines and i will hear in due course. My childminde is now tlaking of filling my spaces as she can no longer hold the places without knowing for sure that i will be paying her. At this point, my only option is to take a year out, unless I hear from them in the next 10 days…..I dont hold out much hope….
Please sign my petition about student finance at studentfinancemessup@gmail.com
just send an email with with subject heading STUDENT FINANCE NEEDS SORTING NOW
just state your name, and reason why you have a complaint,
and i will get back to you will an email,
Together we can fight this
Kind regards
I dont know if someone else got the same problem. i m in final year and i found out they have reduced my loan and grant by 30% my cirumstances havent change a bit though. i try to speak with Student finance (robots) and they told me that final year is deducted (is thar right or they just come up with any answer as long as they say something) .
they have also put some deductin for previous years as they have overpaid me and now want to claim the money back— god they do know how to piss off people dont they??
I am having hell with SFE.
I have applied for my 2010/11 loan on the 12th July 2011 and still have not received it. I have phoned numerous times and have been given incorrect and misleading information. It is utterly insane that I am not allowed to have a managers contact information and need to go go through random people. I emailed complaints on the 23rd August and have only received automated responses. I have tried the ombudman but they do not have any Jurisdiction over SFE.
I am a single mum and receive no finance support. I managed to extend my overdraft last month to pay my food and rent but I don’t know what will happen now.
This system is not workable and needs to be sorted out.
There needs to be a complaints procedure where you can contact one person who knows your history and if that person can not help then you should be able to go higher up. If that does not work then you should be able to contact the regulators.
I have contacted watchdog – if you are having the same troubles please get in touch with them http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/
Also get in contact with your MP. It may not help now but hopefully sort it out for next year and others in the same position.
Good luck
Susannah
Hi,
The regulators for SFE is The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS)
Send your complaints to enquires@bis.gsi.gov.uk
Then write to David Willetts mpst.willetts@bis.gsi.gov.uk He is the Minister of State (Universities and Science), Business, Innovation and Skills (since 12 May 2010).
If we all write to him maybe he will address this crazy system.
Good luck
Susannah
I hope my MP is going to be just as successful. I got a text from student finance Wednesday last week saying they have put the money in my account…………. I still haven’t got it. I am now incurring charges on my account.
By the way the BIS complaints email address is complaints@bis.gsi.gov.uk (not enquiries as I wrote above)
Wish me luck
If you look back at my post on 19 August you will see I was desparate. I had been messed about for 5 months. I contacted my MP by e-mail. He replied almost by return saying he would look into this. Within 3 days I had a call from a named contact at Student Finance who said they had ‘found’ all the documentation they had told me they hadnt received (then had) then later hadnt??? He promised he would be back to me with it sorted in 45 minutes !!!! Infact I had a call back in 20 minutes and a confirmation e-mail immediately after that saying all my finance was approved and dates for when I would receive it all. The written confirmation arrived 3 days later.
All I can say is my MP and his secretary were fantastic and it worked for me. (well as long as they actually put the money into my account on the day they say they will!!!)
I hope I will have the same success……….
I contacted my MP and he got in touch with SFE for me but all he got back was a letter saying they will deal with my application under their rules and guidelines in due course. This was in July and it is still not done
Try contacting –
BIS complaints email address is complaints@bis.gsi.gov.uk they are the regulatory body
and
David Willetts mpst.willetts@bis.gsi.gov.uk He is the Minister of State (Universities and Science), Business, Innovation and Skills (since 12 May 2010)
When I phoned BIS the secretary recommended contacting David Willetts.
Keep the pressure on them
Good luck
Glad you eventually got success Sophie!
I have quite a few ongoing issues with Student Finance England, and can only conclude that, despite some helpful and understanding staff (and even here I may have just been lucky!), they are hindered across the board with systematic errors in their methods of processing student’s accounts.
My first problem with SLC came when I decided to to an intercalated degree, which involves taking a year out from my MBBS in order to gain a BSc. During this I would be MBBS registered, still undergraduate, still first degree, still entitled to everything. Despite phoning and sending in written confirmation (both from myself and from my department) student loans never seemed to understand this concept.
I received 3 confirmation letters that I would be receiving a maintenance loan, grant and tuition fee loan. Then in January I recieved a letter saying my account had been reviewed and I was not eligible for the tuition fees loan or the grant. I immediately phoned up and the man said that it appeared to them like I had dropped out of medicine and started a new course, and if this is not the case I should get the Uni to send a detailed letter to explain. I sorted all this out (funnily enough 3 out 9 of us doing an intercalation had this problem) and rang back and the guy said yep, everything back how it was we will send you another letter.
This letter was sent to my old address, even though I had changed my address online when I applied. So next scenario – I need to hand in my dissertation, and my card gets declined at the printers. I go home and notice that my landlord has attempted to take my rent out and it has been denied. It was student loan day so I looked and saw that my loan was considerably smaller then it should be. I phoned and they have reclaimed all the grant they had paid me that year, despite the fact I know I am entitled to the grant!!! When I tried to argue my case I got transferred to people and confused with babble – eventually one girl said she agreed with me, but perhaps they didn’t do a less loan for grant and thats why it had been taken back. I am pretty sure this isn’t the case especially as my brother would then have been receiving a lot more than me. That was a year ago and still isn’t resolved.
Now this year they have calculated I somehow recieved more grant than my brother – and I am terrified they are going to take it back again. Its not paying the other thing back as it is not enough. They have sent all my correspondence to an old adress and now despite being back for 3 weeks and registered and printing of my own declaration and sending it two weeks ago I still have not gotten any funding. I’m sick of borrowing money from my boyfriend. My family cannot afford to give me anything. I am an unfortunate borderline case where I qualify for a few hundred pounds worth of grant but not much, but my parents can not afford to help me in anyway. I am really tight for money and it is making me really stressed!
Hi Laura
I can relate to all the stress, pain and suffering that you are going through and I’ve only been going through it for the last 2.5 months!!
I would go to the citizens advise bureau to find out what you are legally entitled to. Then email Rt Hon David Willetts on willettsd@parliament.uk or david@davidwilletts.co.uk, contact you own local MP and watchdog http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/. If enough of us complain then then they must do something about this awful company. It is a joke that there is no way to have a advisor assigned to you when you have a problem and their is no complaints procedure where your case looked at properly and you can get answers.
I emailed the complaintsdepartment over three weeks ago. I only got automated responses until today when the most rude and ignorant person contacted me. Stating I hadn’t ticked a box – this had been rectified a month ago. Which in any rate is insane as I had phoned them, sent them letter, resent the form and they still hadn’t got the message that I wanted the loan???? I tried to explain this but he would not listen and basically blamed the whole mess on me. I was so angry, frustrated and overwhelmed by his attitude and the lack of money that i phoned him back and asked to speak to his manage which he point black refused. I then asked him for their contact details and he said he would email them to me………… I’m still waiting.
Please Please Please email the people mentioned above lets sort out this madness once and for all.
Wishing you peace and luck
Su
Its been 3 weeks into my course now and I have had no funding (even though applied in June as over 25 single person -no cmplications). The 0845 number will end up costing me more than the actual student loan itself. Each time I call it is a clueless person who I have to explain the situation all over again that for some strange reason because i am Scottish my application has been sent back up to Scotland (even though I live in London and go to an English University) . I am constantly told that ‘our hands are tied’ and I have to contact SAAS in Scotland (which is impossible as they are so overloaded that they just cut you off) Today I called SLC (deep breath) and they told me I dont have an application in processing and each time they say they will call back it never happens. No wonder students who don’t have mummy and daddy to fund them struggle to go to University. The irony is that you can not get funding from the actual University until you have your student loan or payment plan. I have ended up quitting the Drama part of course and switched to single honours Philosophy because cant afford to be going every day- as its the other side of London and costs £8 day or more expenses.
I have had to just sign back on to JSA now and id advise all students who dont get their loan on time to just claim Job Seekers Allowance and dont state you are at Uni. Crazy method but desperate times…
AND TODAY I HAVE CONTACTED MY MP. ID ADVISE YOU GUYS ALL TO DO THIS….x
Hope some of you find your MP is more useful than mine was. I contacted David Willetts in the end and he got things moving
Excellent the more pressure we put on the people in charge the better it will be for all of us.
I have been paid!!!!
I have contacted my MP, the Minister of Buisness and Innovation, BIS and watchdog. My MP and the BIS were very helpful and contacted the Chief Executive, Ed Lester, of SFE but nobody has got back to me.
I did get a call from a extremely rude man from customer services. (I contacted complaints and they took 3 weeks to get back to me) He didn’t want to hear what my problem was and said if I didn’t tick the box then I can’t get paid (never mind that I sent in the form 4 times ticked and signed).
I was so distressed by his attitude that I phoned him back and asked to speak to his manager. He point blank refused although promised to send on the information – this information I have not received. He did sort out my money after I filled in another form. Now my problem is what happens next time?? I want answers to why I went through a summer of hell and what they are going to do to ensure this doesn’t happen again. If the CEO is not getting back to me then we know where the problem stems from.
Good luck
Susannah
Check out this article http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/may/28/ed-lester-student-loans-comapny
Have emails David Willett today can,t face another usless phone call to Student Finance might as well talk to a robot, so watch this space have sent email to complaint at slc as well
Good luck, I hope you don’t have to wait as long as me 🙁
I need to sort out my childcare but I haven’t got the heart to contact them. I know that however well-meaning the staff may or may not be there is absolutely nothing I can do if they screw up!! I don’t know if I have the energy for that………………………………
Hi everyone, just been reading your comments and I am another student living away at Uni, and still haven’t received my loan/grants either.
Started my course 19th september, went into 2nd year but transferred from another university which I informed them about in May. 2 weeks ago they finally started processing it after weeks of them telling me to send this and there was nothing else to send when there was and then waiting further for them and they never get in touch to tell you there is stuff missing like evidence.
I have checked my account on student finance everyday since september 20th and still haven’t been told anything, like I said above I am living away I do an art course, and I haven’t paid my rent, got art materials that I desperately need, can’t even buy my own food, my mobile phone has been cut off due to not having any money to pay, the money I saved has all gone as you can imagine and now I am in a very bad financial situation!
My landlord is saying that if i can’t pay soon then they will have to ask me to leave, I was told it takes 2 weeks to process, I then call back up to find out how long after 10 days to be told 4 weeks, I then get told again in a following call that its 6 – 8 weeks. I find these people idiotic and can’t believe they have such incapable people working here for something thats meant to help people in the future! Hmmm.
I have two sons at Uni, one in his third year and the other one in first year. We had massive problems with SF in 2009. Last year no problem. This year is a disaster, we started the process in May and June. Our problems started when one son got a provisional award which gave him more grant than the other. When we queried this SF withdrew both the awards and gave them far far less than they are entitled to instead, I think it’s the barest minimum you can get.Its been a nightmare ever since because our circumstances havent changed at all. We had submitted all the evidence they asked for including my husbands P60 which they rejected as insufficient evidence, and asked for a statement of earnings from the Inland Revenue inorder for a review to be done so the correct award could be made. My husband has submitted his P60s in previous years and there has never been an issue with this. Anyway we had to wait 3wks for the statement from the Inland Revenue and then sent the originals when they arrived. It took 4wks before they were scanned by SF but we were shocked when these docs were returned to us all cut up, defaced with the bits held together by Sellotape. There was no explanation no covering letter as to how and why this had happened. Contacted SF to query progress and to find out why the documents had been ruined. There is virtually still no progress, the person we spoke with said the matter relating to the grants had been resolved and basically gave us the same old wrong figures and when we explained that we had resubmitted info they had asked for so a review could be done she seemed clueless. She also could not explain why the documents had been sent back damaged and glued together. My husband asked for the Chief Exec name so we can complain, she initially refused but he insisted and was eventually told its Derrick Ross but from what I have read here this doesn’t seem to be correct. We are going to see our MP about this today and I shall also be writing to David Willetts as suggested here. I am so angry.
I have finally received a reply from Students Loans Company LTD address 100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7JD from Mark Cassidy Head of Processing Services. In the letter he apologises for the problems that I have had. He does not give me any guarantees that it will not happen again and no evidence that the matter has been sorted out with his department. I still do not have a name and number of somebody that I can contact – I get the feeling they are hiding from us.
I will pursue this matter.
Susannah
I had replies from Mark Cassidy too. He wrote a load of rubbish shoeing he hadn’t read th ecorrespondence, but you may be lucky. In the end he ignored my letters then out of the blue answered a month after I wrote to someone else asking for an independent assessment. They hadn’t bothered to reply and he too ignored my request. David Willetts got them moving eventually.
I felt his answer was totally unsatisfactory. I will take up my correspondence with David Willetts. Their total lack of professionalism, courtesy and care makes me incensed 🙁
Why does Student Finance England have to make life so painful every year? This is my third year now and every year we ALL go through the same palava, no-one can ever login to the website! ‘Your customer reference crap was incorrect’ or my secret question is someone else’s secret question. SFE wait from April when they received my application until September to tell me I’ve started my application with the wrong form, that asks every question the same anyway! Then when I finally send off the correct one with all the right evidence they wait 6 weeks to only to send it back because my mother’s name was not written in capital letters! This is UNACCEPTABLE, I cannot pay rent and I’m facing eviction, cannot afford food or bills, living on fucking super noodles and stolen reduced goods.
I’m studying full time, working 20 hrs. a week and can’t pay for life or put in time to study. Supposed to have a 3000 word report written by yesterday, have to deal with all this shit first or I can’t study at all, can’t pay rent or tuition fees. WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO…?
Every academic year I do exactly as I’m told by SFE, and every year I am reduced to a screaming crying mess, at some point through the year suicidal, and most of each year convinced I am not going to make it through the year, ALL DOWN TO STUDENT FINANCE. SFE are not creating equal opportunities they are simply making life exhaustingly difficult for those who cannot just pay for tuition fees themselves.
HAVE THEY NO SHAME? THEY RUIN UNIVERSITY LIFE FOR THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS EVERY YEAR.
I can relate you your anger and frustration!! Life is hard enough as a student without added pressure. It is not as if this is a free service. Have you tried your MP or MP Willett? I feel this is a nightmare that is not going to get better 🙁 The fact that after all my complaints nobody has had the manners to phone me makes me see red.
SF have had my initial application since March and I am still waiting for them to sort it out! So far I have had a mere 1300 pounds since I started in September! I am utterly distraught at their total lack of interest in the fact that I am about to be evicted from my flat. Last month I borrowed from my elderly mum the cost of my rent but this month she simply hasnt got it…..I too live off reduced food or make a pan of soup which can last me for 3 days..I am mature student and unlike some of my younger fellow students who live at home I do not have the luxury of spending it on a new ipad or driving lessons…they need to prioritise those students living independently and deal with these applications first (at least it may help those of us who have rent and bills etc) . .I am getting desperate and feel like stuffing the whole University experience up their ignorant arses!
People, I understand all your pain since i had to make over 12 calls to student finance over my application. I have received a lot of b*****it, regarding them saying that, ‘Sorry, but we didn’t scan your documents into our system, since we cannot seem to find them’. I almost threw my phone across the room as soon as they said that since I have been waiting over 2-3 MONTHS for this to be sorted and they still haven’t. So, basically, after 2-3 months, 12+ calls to various advisers (all with different degrees of intelligence. Most really dumb and pathetic), they finally had the audacity and the balls to come up to me over the phone to say, ‘If you can send us a reference number from the Post office, saying that you did send us the relevant paperwork, then we shall overlook this and assess your application’. I was like ‘Are you out of you goddamn mind?!?!!?’.
People, Please ring this number to not spend anymore money on these pathetic calls to a pathetic 0845 company. Please ring this and save money:
Number 1: 01413062000
Number 2: 01412433600
Trust me,at least you will save a LOT of money, and they can’t get a single penny.
Thank you.
Thanks for the numbers.
Its alright. At the end of the day, no-one (And I mean NO-ONE!) deserves to suffer the stupidities of Student Finance. This way, I can at least ease off your phone bills (hopefully) by providing 01 numbers. I urge ALL students to please use these numbers since Student Finance needs to learn that there are more students than student finance employees. Also, the students are those who are studying to be doctors, engineers, lawyers, game designers, ICT technicians, business managers, biologists and many others. But, Stupid Finance doesn’t understand that there are people who do want to have a future. Even with the Debt at the end.
EVERYONE!!!!! Please use the numbers in my previous post. Thank you
SHAX7864LIFE
Basically, I am in my last year and I am suffering at uni because I can’t think clearly. I am worried and stressed about my lack of finance….Student Finance messed up my life and caused me to pick up loads of debts last year because of their imcompetencies and immaturity. Now, I have loads of debts, no money at the moment. The thing is, they just get away with it, while destroying people’s lives. I am so cheesed off with the whole thing. If I fail my degree or drop out of my final year will just happen when it comes. I don’t care anymore. They have personally messed up and damaged my studies and life …….all because they promised but failed to deliver!!!Someone has to pay for this foolishness. Yes, I am the one with the consequences!!! What is the point of trying anymore? I have stopped that long time!
Thank God I am not one of you poor students who have to go through this process three years on the trot. SFE is the most inept,incompetent I was studying my Cert Ed at Wolverhampton on a simple two year course at the end of year two the decide to inform the enitre cohort we all have to pay back overpaid loans of approx 1.5k each roughly 50k for the whole class. My repayment has gone from £665.65 to £1456.00 why? This is one class in one University and they can’t get it right. Who are these people accountable to? If this business was in the private sector it would have gone bust by now. Surely there must be people in this organisation who know what’s going on.
I have written and asked why this is, but no response. I received another letter yesterday saying that I am to receive £2500. I completed the course last year and not applied for another grant so what is this for? I am 49 years of age I have managed businesses, delt with customers and I am shocked that the government can allow this company to continue providing finance to students when they are so inept. They suggest you call and speak to an advisor. Every time you ask a question the line goes blank and they go off and ask someones else. They are poorly trained and the system structure for dealing with this is not fit for purpose.
This is bigger than getting a few MP’s to pull a few strings this about looking at a complete overhaul of this institution to find out what is going on. I for one will ensure that this will run and run I will not repay one penny until someone tells me who is responsible for this error and how they have arrived at their calculations.
Too much time is spent worrying about this instead of focusing on the qualifications. The complaints on this page go back nearly two years how many more years will they be allowed to provide such a shoddy level of service.
I wish you all the best,
Hi, has any Parent had the problem of Student Finance taking untaxed redundancy pay into account when awarding a Grant, and if so what have you done about it?
Hi all of the above,
I know how you all feel, my anger has now turned into something something more positive,
and I need your help, Rather than rant on these pages and see nothing getting done
I have decided to start a petition,
please can you send me an email with the subject heading Student Finance England needs Sorting NOW ststing your name and a short message detailing why STUDENT FINANCE needs sorting, Please trust that your details will not be used for any other purpose except to make sure someone is called to account at SFE for the suffering they’ve caused various people including myself.
I’m hoping to get over 200 people sign my petition so please tell anyone you know, who’ve had similar difficulties to email me at studentfinancemessup@gmail.com
I can’t sit back and do nothing, no more.
Better still please email the following, and quote in support of Tracey Jarvis’s email,
then share your story.
watchdog@bbc.co.uk and thatsbritain@bbc.co.uk
Lets fight this together
Student Loan Finance European department is completely incompetent. No logical or common sense inhabit this company.
I am dealing with them from October 2011. I sent my original ID each they lost and don’t get responsible for it. Now with a new ID I sent a copy certified from the program leader of my course and SL tell me they can’t accept it because program leader of a course is not in their list …. all of this is so ridiculous and to make a complain don’t help at all….
We are left alone in the most desperate situations and we don’t know were to ask for help. Something as to change! If will be a manifestation in front of Darlington offices count with me….!!!!!
I could have written so much of the above!! On a possible up note I have managed to locate a local rate number
0141 243 3600.
Persevere, I have just got of the phone & it has been agreed that although I still have to post all documents to the randomness of SFE I now have a point of contact, one lady who each time I call I can be transferred too or a message can be left and she will call me back. I don’t want to hold my breath but I am secretly quiet hopeful, watch this space…..
Another pointless, futile and exhausting non-conversation with SFE this morning.
Have I received the form sent on Feb 15th, yes, Have you received it at SFE, We don’t know yet as it is in the system and might take 7-21 days to process!!!!! This is the 7th form of a variety of forms and p60s and P45s they have received and lost or misplaced or are processing.
In the meantime my daughter has had her loan this year reduced, no access to her bursary and I am on full disability with no access to extra income.
They are totally incompetent, disinterested and unprofessional.
The easiest way to do it is to ring up your local MP and tell them your issues and get them to send a letter. 2 weeks time you get a manager not the paper pushers in the call centre phone you and do it all over the phone, within 2 days student finance sorted after 9 months of waiting 🙂 just got to do battle with them again this year. what to see the same evidence that i sent in last year and the year before. it has not changed in that time……
Also love the point on their website, if you wish to make a complaint phone us. when you phone them the tell you to write. Love that part. Push enough on the phone you get to speek to a ‘team leader’ not a manager, usless as a chocolate tea pot….
Contacting our MP and asking for him to take action was the only thing that worked for us too. He wrote to David Willets who’s office replied to say they were looking into this on our behalf. We were contacted by a “senior manager” (now there is a rareity) and promised we wouold have our money within 4 days and this was confirmed by e-mail. The money was transferred two days later. Dreading next year but I wont wait 5 months before I go to the top if it happens again
hey yeah i am trying to get hold of my dads P60 for my student finance application but he says he hasnt got it :/
It has taken 6 months to sort my student finance for my parents learning allowance and Adult dependents grant. It is still not sorted but I have now made a complaint. The last 3 advisers that I spoke to said that they would put my details throught he resolve team and every time I ring back nothing has happened and the following two advisers said that they would put it through again. I rang today and Tanya who seems to know her stuff said that they should have been putting it through to the Grants for Dependents team. The resolve team would have send the application back to the individual who put it through in the first place for them to send to the right team but clearly these 3 different advisers did not do this. I still have to wait another 10 days now but I feel they should get it right now as I spoke to someone in complaints. It has caused me a lot of stress as well as lending money off of people since January.
SF/Loans
For the second year running the student loan/grant application is being held up because SF say they’ve asked one parent to provide additional info which she kept on sending to the SF/loans by registered post but they kept on saying they needed it again. This year they are saying the same thing. They’re telling me that they’ve contacted the same parent for info but the parent concerned hasn’t received anything in the post from them. SF/Loans are incapable of realising that not all parents have access to the internet and therefore need to have Royal mail deliver whatever letters SF/Loans want to send. But this incompetent SF/Loans organisation can’t seem to accept that not everyone has a phone and not everyone has internet access. Why are adult students required to rely upon their parents’ details before SF will process & pay a loan? Universities adopted policies long ago to treat their students as adults as soon as they reached 18yrs. Why can’t the government make SF /loans adopt a similar approach? We are no dependent upon our parents, especially when they also earn no income. Is there anyone who will join me in a legal action against SF/Loans /the government to tackle this policy of having to rely upon information to the SF company about your parents, before they will allow you to be served? And is there anyone who will join me in an action to tackle SF/Loan company malfeasance and mal-administration that certainly appears to be deliberate on many occasions from what other students & parents say throughout the UK. The minister responsible doesn’t do anything to help either. The more you complain the more this minister and his SF/Loans organisation seems to ignore your claim. Perhaps if enough of us tackle his department and the SF/loans system through legal action, we’ll be able to stop SF/Loans from crippling our economy. Because if we don’t do something collectively to combat this incompetent and malfeasant organisation soon, they’ll just continue to stop young people from studying. Or at least those young people who need a grant in order to study. By not treating young people as adults in their own right and not treating them fairly, the minister responsible for SF/Loans is losing himself the vote from thousands of students and their parents. The minister is also setting up the government for an expensive time ahead as he tries to defend our legitimate legal claims against the government policies which are handed down to SF/Loans to implement. It’s always the public purse that ultimately suffers when incompetence and poorly thought through policies govern the affordability of higher education by students.
So if you are serious and want to combat this dreadful set of policies that set up SF/Loans and which maintain the chaos and incompetence of SF/Loans, contact me. Then we can see what can be done for the next generation of students and their parents, to escape the tortures of the current incompetent SF/Loan company.
Surely one would have thought that SF and the so called authorities would have done something to improve this strenuous predicament faced by many. I’m surprised that we are in 2012 and years after earlier students complained about this, still nothing positive has been done to improve SF efficiency. Either both SF and national authorities collectively are not interested in improving the plight of those exposed to this torturous process, or merely enjoy being reputed for giving applicants hell so that it looks like a normal process for all applicants. Student finance company is not fit for purpose and does not work in the public interest nor care about limited national resources or the idea of conservation, in my opinion.
I am still wondering what makes them justify giving false information to the public among other malpractices and still get away with it, despite MP’s and Governing authorities being aware of it. There must be a good reason that makes them the only company exempt from social and moral responsibility as other public and corporate bodies would have been held accountable and pressured to improve by both authorities and the public.Those of us who have gone through this nightmare prior and present ought to be strong and willing enough to do the extra work in improving this for future students.
Exposing this incompetence appropriately (i.e) at national level and showing the damaging effeects of SF on our nation and future students who can be hindered from being productive by this process may be better than seeking the help of MP’s who only deal with individual cases and leave the rest for later. Student financy company will remain incompetent until they have better reasons to prompt change that are beyond dealing with individual complaints and requests from MP’s, then reverting to their old ways with the rest of applicants.
The future of our education system and societies is vague and questionable as a result of SF practice, given that its impact is beyond education but also the values and moral ethics of our nation at various levels. Use of the word “may” entails that SF company can hide change their demands on student evidence, and the application process at will including giving conflicting information and refusing to give any valid information as well. It also seems unfortunate that they seem to be exempt and dissociated from other public services binding and legislative requirements as they gladly confirm. This situation may be here to stay for long since the government and others who could helps with improvements seem to condone it, hence SF may continue being the nightmare of many students and parents unless we take alternative action as Sam above suggests which can prompt accountability and need for change in how SF company operates.
I can only suggest that we all work beyond personal interests and help improve things for the better than continue this cycle of having to write MP’s or go through the Complaints procedure which takes long to address what is normally an urgent pressing matter for some and most of us. An SF company advisor gladly told me that their complaint team could help resolve my application but would also take longer in a way that suggested they were equally unhelpful and probably not an option….I could go on and on, but only hope that people take necessary steps to improve this for future students and other’s that may follow suit to taunt vulnerable members of the public in similar fashion..
I applied for my student finance in Jan 2013. In May 2103 I received a letter from the Open University telling me they still had not received payment and that I’m liable. When I contacted student finance they told me that whilst they could see I had opened an account I had not applied for any finance! When I replied that I had indeed applied for finance that’s why there was an account and I had to do this in order for them to issue me a CRN number, they replied that was a good point and they must of lost my documents between departments! I asked how this was possible since I applied online and was given a mumbled apology and some lame guff about them printing out forms their end. Basically I had to apply again. So I did. By post this time. Immediately. Recorded delivery.
Two weeks later I called them and was told it was being processed.
Two weeks later I called them and was told they needed UK PROVIDER REFERANCE NUMBER. I call the OU and they tell me that student finance don’t need this as its only a part time course. I call student finance back and they accept this.
Two weeks after that I called them to ask what was happening and they told me there was a form missing. They were going to send me this form and I was to return it promptly so they could process my application. So I waited for this form. One week,
The form arrives. It was a form that I had already completed and sent with the application. Both times! I called them straight away to complain. I was told that they were looking through my file. They found it. It was indeed there and they were sorry and they would forward it to processing.
Two weeks later: I called. Spoke to Clare. I again asked what was happening. I was told that there was a signature missing from my application. I get very upset at this point. I demand to speak to a supervisor about this, there was no way anything was missing and I felt this was another fob off. The lady did not pass me on to a supervisor. She looked at my file. Lo and behold she found that there was a signature and that she was very sorry and could not understand why my application had not been processed. She would send it though now.
Two weeks later. Speak to Mark. Mark assures me that he totally understands my frustrations. That he was passing my application to ” Tier Two” This apparently is the crack team who would express my application through in three days! I would definitely have an answer by Friday 16th August.
Tuesday 20th august 2013: Speak to Dale Smith. He is very sorry, he explains that the tier two team have been very busy I would definitely have an answer by 23rd August 2013.
Friday 23rd August. I speak to Gill Mitchell. Bless her cotton socks this woman seems to really want to help. She actually calls me back! She has a problem that she needs the course details. I tell her what was on the form. She tells me there are various variations on this course. I tell her the start date etc. She tells me ok its sorted all I have to do is sign another form of acceptance that she had someone sending me right now. It’d be on my correspondence section online. I thank her profusely. Get home and no form. I call again, speak to Laura Dylan. She repeats me the same old line of needing a provider number. Again I explain that they don’t need this. Basically back to where I was in May.
I have spent on average 45 minutes per call at a premium rate. I have spent money on postage that took them over a month to acknowledge.
My exams are in three weeks and the OU have threatened to kick me of the course on the 12th. I have, it seems worked all year for nothing. My academic career is over in its first year. I cannot even enrol on my next courses until this is resolved so I will have to wait a year. Which I can’t. So short of going up to their office and blowing my own head off I don’t know what I can do. How on earth can I sue them I can’t afford a lawyer. I have a baby on the way and work full time. These utterly incompetent people are ruining my life and yet carrying on with theirs regardless.
Please can someone tell me how I can get justice over this?
I can’t begin to list all the problems and frustrations – SCREAM !!!!!! – that we have had with the stupid, incompetent, unhelpful and arrogant staff at SFE. They are USELESS! They are completely unable to communicate clearly with you and their arrogance is breathtaking.
My son has Aspergers and a serious nut allergy and we desperately need a Needs Assessment interview so that support can be put in place for him when he starts university. This should include a fridge in his room to help prevent cross-contamination of food. FIVE weeks have gone by with SFE sending out useless, automated letters telling us that my son’s ADIF forms were “only partially completed”. They were not. They were fully completed, I saw to that, and they fulfilled EVERY requirement listed.
Only yesterday, 2 weeks before my son is due to start, thanks to the intervention of the Head of Disabled Student Services did we find out the ridiculous reasons why the forms were being rejected. They were not ‘partly completed’ at all. The reasons, apparently, are that the confirming person, who is supposed to confirm my son is who he claims to be, has put his job title as ‘semi-retired schoolmaster’ and this, apparently, is unacceptable. WHY? He teaches part time and has done for years. He has taught my son for 6 years, which fulfils the “must know the student for more than 2 years” requirement.
Oh, and you can’t use the word ‘schoolmaster’ either. Or ‘tutor’. It has to be ‘teacher’! What is this?!!
And, there are two forms, one for my son to fill in and sign and one for the confirming person. These APPARENTLY must be signed and dated ON THE SAME DAY! We are being told this only NOW, 6 months after starting all this, but it is NOWHERE in the paperwork!! ARE WE SUPPOSED TO JUST GUESS?!!
SFE are USELESS, USELESS, USELESS.
I applied for student finance in June 2013 and to date they still have not processed my award. I understand that I had to complete the relevant form regarding my indentification and I do agree that this is partly my fault because I had not completed the form properly but even when I got ot right they still have not made a decision regarding my payment and each time I am greeted with I AM REALLY SORRY, sorry cannot pay my rent or the debts that I have accumulated because of this issue. I contacted SF again on 24/9/2013 and still I have no received a decision regarding my award as again a decision has not been made it is ridiculous
I’ve complained to Student Finance – not heard a response as yet (I won’t hold my breath), just about to email my MP and Michael Gove. An absolute farce!
I am sooo mad right now. My son is in his third year and to get money from student finance every year has to be the most traumatic experience ever. I got married last year and between us we have eight children. We currently do not live together. Student finance is hasseling my husband, not my sons father, my husband, who has his own children, bills house etc and is unhappy to provide his personal details for someone he has little to do with. We have both sent evidence after evidence of our income but they want more. The whole thing is getting down right stupid. I really don’t need this and will be seeking legal advice. What’s worse is that every time we call we get different information. Urgggg
I have had very unpleasant experience with Student Finance England. My daughter is a second year student and in the first year she starte 2012 she received her loan on time, but was not means tested( I guess this suits Student finance better). The second year the same thing happened again and she was approved for a basic Maintanance Loan. When she called them to say that she needs to be means tested, everything changed shape. All of a sudden they sent her an e-mail stating that her Student Finance has been suspended. When we checked on her online account there was a message saying that she is not eligible for Student finance. We called the Customer service and we were told that sending more evidence will help. I have now submitted 2 loads of documentation and still waiting for development on this issue. I am hoping that it is true they have employed extra staff to process the applications and to deal with their backlogs.
I thought I was over and done with SFE over 10 years ago when I paid off my own loan for teacher training. However, I have today discovered that I cannot submit an application in support of my own daughter’s application for a maintenance loan, unless I have my own CRN number (which in those days was called an ART number anyway)! Over a decade after my loan was paid, I have discovered that SFE are therefore still holding data on me! How can be correct under the terms of data protection etc? Anyway, after answering a lot of personal questions about address and ‘secret’ answers to questions from 10 years ago that I could not remember (surprisingly!) they then gave me my old CRN number and said that I would be able to reset the password ‘in up to 10 minutes’. Three expensive phone calls later on their 0845 number and I have lost my temper. Twice I have waited for rest information so I can get on and complete daughter’s supporting info, and received nothing. Third operative now tells me that I may have to wait up to 24 hours for the reset to come through, and I will now have 3 resets and will have to use the most recent – of course, I could complete a paper form PFF2 downloadable from gov.uk. Well, why not just have told me that in the first place! As for the robot women you have to give your personal and financial data to before you can even get near an operator – this is just a scam to make the calls last longer and charge you more. The number of times my south of England accent apparently could not be understood by ‘Roboflop’! I think this is an appalling service and I am deeply concerned by the amount of information still held on people who have long since paid off their loans. This has to be very, very wrong.
Has anyone been unexpectedly paid by grant/loan by Student Finance, checked with SF that the payments were correct and that you were entitled to them, only days later to receive reassessment for the following year in which those payments are clawed back. My daughter took a medical leave of absence in Dec 2013. SF were notified and all the correct procedures followed. Her loan/grant payments stopped. She returns to Uni this Sept and applied for funding for 2014/15 in the usual way and received her finance offer. So far so good. Then last week two amounts totalling approximately £3000 was paid into her account. She immediately phoned SF to query this and the person she spoke to checked with someone else and came back to confirm the money was hers and it was due to her following a miscalculation for 2013/4. She then received two identical letters within a few days of each other from SF showing the two payments that had been paid into her account. Now she has received a replacement offer for 2014/15 in which the money they paid into her account is being taken back by reducing what she will receive. After checking with SF that the money paid into her account was correct, being given an explanation for it and having received two written notifications showing these payments as being due to her, she paid off her overdraft which she had to take out while she was on medical leave of absence to help with her living expenses, repaid us what we had leant her for rent and gave up her 10pm to 3am job as it was making her ill again. SF made the mistake, my daughter queried it, they confirmed it was correct. Surely they can’t reclaim the payments in those circumstances.
making her ill again
Student finance is a pain !!!!! my daughter is going to her 3rd year at uni and they request again all her documents like a new student !!!! still waiting for confirmation letter after 3 months and lessons already begun last Monday…..what a bunch of unqualified people is working there….
I’ve been waiting since June 2014 when I sent in my application for my first payment. Everyone else on my course have had theirs and I haven’t receive any. I’ve set of my birth certificate twice after they lost it the first time. I’ve now just received a letter saying that my proof of income wasn’t enough because I’m on a 0 hour contract and didn’t get paid some months so they need a wage slip from that month. Also since September when starting uni I’ve had to drop my hours so I can attend, but even then I can’t work enough to earn my rent let alone anything else. I didn’t work so I don’t have a wage slip! I live on my own and I have been in debt since September with rent and utilities because of student finance. I have gone so deep in my overdraft which will take me forever to scrape out of no thanks to student finance. I have low attendance on my course because I’ve had to work instead so I can put food on the table and actually survive. My course tutor is very supportive especially when I had to go to court for owing rent due to not getting my student finance. So thank for taking so long and messing my entire life up.
I have been a full time undergraduate student since sept 2010, i have send in proof of my ID and eligibility twice in 2010 and 2012. l am now doing my final year in 2014/15 as the original ID which l have submitted in 2010 and scanned to get the initial loan was stolen and replacement will take six month according to the home office, the sfe can’t assess my final year funding. I have been left without a penny coming in since september 2014 to date and there is still no light at the end of the tunnel. my MP has written to sfe, l have written to the practitioners numerously, no one bother to even reply, let alone take action.
I have left cold and hungry and nobody seem to care, not the student union or my instituition.I wonder how Mark Cassidy sleep at night ?
Bang on right – there are few things I dread more than having to phone Student Finance England.
Even in 2016, they are still an issue. What makes it worse is who do you even complain to them about? (that will actually take action). This system is a disgrace and frankly makes people – myself included lose the will to live!
Why would I ever want to pay taxes to a government that did not take care of my rights as a student, utter and total nonsense!
Hour long phone calls, conflicting information given. Not acting on information, i.e. giving permission for them to speak to a parent who has the time to spend hanging on the telephone….not. Need I go on. One week to Christmas and no sign of any money. These people take incompetence to an entirely different level; they are only exceeded, in this, by the idiots who run the DWP!
I agree !!
I sent them all my docs and 2(two) prepaid special delivery envelopes. What they done – sent me back my passport and ID card a special delivery and also return my prepaid envelopes. All other documents as a marriage certificate, tenancy agreement, p45 8items, driving licence, statuary declaration they sent me just a standard delivery. I live a communal house where everyone can pick something, particularly if it’s British documents, who know how are these people going to use now…
I contacted SFD together with people from local post, they tried to help to find a tracking number which SFD lied they were looking for making a mess with me and post people. Then SFD accepted the fact that they just throw my docs away sending them by standard post.
Why they didn’t use my prepaid envelope?! what is a logic? SFD rejected my special delivery envelope and sent just ordinary post complaining meanwhile now it’s quote here: ‘ This is because returning all evidence by recorded or special delivery would be a huge cost to the department and subsequently to the tax payer, versus the small number that are actually lost when returned. The system we
use therefore considers the value of the evidence when determining the method of post for return. ‘ Then they complain about a lack of funds !!!
They also decided for you what document are important and what they can easy wroth in a bin sending for standard delivery. Look!! quote again:
‘ A passport for example will be returned special delivery due to the value and the cost of replacement. Other evidence to support an application (whilst of course valuable to the individual) do not cost as much to replace if they are lost or damaged.’ (end of the quote) Wow !!
And also they even don’t list a student – what they say, that they try to explain them, just ignore all information and keep doing their horrible damaging things. Another quote, please:
‘ The advisor updated your contact address and advised you that your documents would be returned to this address, which regrettably was incorrect. Documents are returned by our Evidence Return Team and are always posted to the customer’s home address on their file. On 5 July 2017,
our Evidence Return Team returned the following documents to the address….’ (end of the quote)
How do you like all of this?!!
What about data protection? Now someone has a lot information about me and able to use it as he/she likes. Look like SFD supports crime situation in the country….