Sorry, but you still have to pay student loan – at 80

A.H. writes: I am 80 years old and to my disappointment I no longer work. Three years ago, after paying off my student loan, I noticed that loan repayments were being taken from my pension. I queried this and the Student Loans Company informed me I had overpaid and it refunded £151. Now it wants the money back, saying there has been a mistake. I feel I am not obliged to return it as I have its earlier letter saying I owe nothing.

IN 2014, the Student Loans Company wrote saying: ‘You will be pleased to know your student loan has been repaid in full.’ In fact, this was wrong. Your income did dip below the minimum level at which loan repayments start to be collected and because of this it refunded £151 it had recently collected.

But the company explained to me: ‘Unfortunately, a “paid in full” letter was incorrectly issued to Mr H and we apologise for any confusion this may have caused.’

When it realised its error and found that your income was now above the threshold, the SLC told you it wanted to resume collecting repayments.

If the company were a bank or similar business, I would expect it to accept its own mistake and write off the money, particularly in view of your age and retirement.

But the loan scheme was set up by the Government and it is legally obliged to demand its money, which is collected by your tax office. A bad, sad situation, but unless your income drops again, the SLC is entitled to its slice.