Students overcharged by £10,000 for loans

Laura Suter

Katie Morley GRADUATES are being systematically overcharged in student loan repayments for periods of up to seven months, HMRC has said.

The taxman’s outdated systems are thought to be behind an 80 per cent rise in graduates repaying more than they owe, with tens of thousands facing bills for extra sums as high as £10,000.

While HMRC collects repayment data monthly it only reports this to the Student Loans Company (SLC) at the end of the tax year, it said. However, the SLC said that the data could take up to seven months to reach it after the tax year ends.

It means some graduates must wait until November to find how much they have paid, during which time they will continue paying.

An SLC spokesman said it was exploring with the HMRC how to “manage repayment information more effectively”.