Repaying your student loan
Getting a refund
You can ask for a refund if:
- you鈥檝e paid more than the total amount you owe
- your annual income was below the threshold
- you started making repayments before you needed to
- you鈥檝e repaid more than you need to because your employer had you on the wrong repayment plan
You cannot get a refund for extra repayments.
If you pay back more than you owe
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will tell your employer to stop taking repayments from your salary when you have repaid your loan in full. It can take around 4 weeks for salary deductions to stop.
This means you may pay back more than you owe.
You can avoid paying more than you owe by changing your payments to Direct Debit in the final year of your repayments. Keep your contact details up to date in your online account so SLC can let you know how to set this up.
If you have paid too much the Student Loans Company (SLC) will try to:
- contact you to tell you how to get a refund
- refund you automatically (this will appear in your bank account as 鈥�SLC 搁别肠别颈辫迟蝉鈥�)
You can check your loan balance in your online account.
If you鈥檝e overpaid and have not heard from SLC you can ask them for a refund.
If your annual income was below the threshold
Your income is the amount you earn (including things like bonuses and overtime) before tax and other deductions.
You can ask for a refund if you made repayments but your income over the whole tax year (6 April to 5 April the following year) was less than:
- 拢24,990 a year for Plan 1
- 拢27,295 a year for Plan 2
- 拢31,395 a year for Plan 4
- 拢21,000 a year for Postgraduate Loan
If your annual salary is less than this, your employer may still have deducted repayments. For example, if you were paid a bonus that put you over the monthly threshold for your plan, they would deduct a repayment for that month.
You will not get a refund for any repayments until after SLC have confirmed your annual income with HMRC. This will not happen until after the end of the tax year. You can only ask for a refund for tax years that have ended.
If you鈥檙e repaying a combination of Plan 1, Plan 2 and Plan 4 loans, you can only get a refund if your income was less than the lowest threshold.
Example
You鈥檙e repaying a Plan 1 and Plan 2 loan.
The Plan 1 threshold is 拢24,990 a year.
The Plan 2 threshold is 拢27,295 a year.
The Plan 1 threshold is lower.
This means you can only get a refund if your income was less than the Plan 1 threshold (拢24,990 a year).
Check which repayment plan you鈥檙e on if you鈥檙e not sure.
You can check previous thresholds if you ask about a refund on repayments made before this tax year.
If you started repaying before you needed to
If a deduction is taken from your salary before you鈥檙e due to start repaying, you can ask for a refund.
If your employer had you on the wrong repayment plan
You can get a refund if you鈥檙e on Plan 2 or Plan 4 but your employer had you on another plan. Check your employer has you on the correct repayment plan.
How to ask for a refund
If your annual income was below the threshold for the previous tax year
Sign into your聽student loan repayment account and ask for a refund.
If you need a refund for any other reason
Contact the Student Loans Company with your customer reference number.