Student Loans Company Avis 

Appalling slow, dysfunctional company! There is no need to be so shockingly bad and yet here we are! Terrible company.

Be aware you could get absolutely nailed on interest as much as 8% and above so if you're thinking of going to uni just to fit in be aware that it could really dig you in a hole in the future as the government in the UK is a tax machine and is designed so that you lose.

5/5 stars for taking your money and charging you ridiculous interest rates!

Utterly useless!!! I've had troubles with accessing my online repayment account for about 4 years, I go through this loop of calling them up to get it fixed, being passed around multiple teams, kept on hold, to eventually reach a dead end where they just ignore me and never call back. I then get fed up and try again in a few months time. 4 years and counting and I've yet to get this issue sorted.

Truly appalling service when I have £70k+ debt with them that I want to manage, and who take £100s out of my salary each month. It should be illegal for a financial institution to behave this way.

If I could give NO Stars I would - the service is APPALLING, they either do not help or give wrong advice...the chat bot always kicks you out with NO follow up...I am now in debt because they have not paid my loan even though they have all the evidence they need

I am a PhD student on a scholarship and therefore not liable to make loan repayments. Despite sending my contract and scholarship payslips multiple times as evidence, arrears are continuously being added to my account. I even filed a formal complaint, but received no response.
Instead of resolving the matter, the company chose to block my email address. This is highly unprofessional and shows a lack of accountability. Legitimate complaints should be addressed through proper review, not ignored.

Tanzeela was very helpful. I was on the phone to her for almost an hour but never happens with to me without me getting frustrated. She was very patient and she broke down all the payments that I need to owe back to them as I was overpaid after leaving University halfway through. She was very friendly and kept apologizing to me when not needed.
You feel like you are asking too many questions but then they are there to help. Other people just want to quickly get off the phone to either go on lunch, finish for the day (as one advisor hung up and acted like calls dropped because I knew they closed at a certain time) or they just get frustrated.
Credit to Tanzeela for just doing her job. We all or most of us work in customer service and the amount of bad reviews they get, no matter which company. It's not actually the individuals fault but the companies (depending on what the complaint is) but majority It's the customer not happy when it's not the advisors fault but they get blamed anyway.

I now have a full breakdown of what I owe, as this was never given to me in the post.

Horrible company

As a parent of a student on a gap year applying for student finance the experience has been appalling. Ridiculous requirements for evidence of “connection to the UK” for a young person just on a gap year. Appalling lead times, over engineered processes and no individual empathy. It is obvious that they work to a restrictive script that has no baring on reality and individual circumstances. This excessive requirement for information for a UK citizen leads to crazily long lead times, high levels of stress and poor outcomes. All while they sit and charge punitive interest rates on the students once they do give the loans. Complaing is also pointless. Like speaking in an empty room. The company and the student loan system is broken.

If there was a degree in losing paperwork and asking for the same documents endlessly, the Student Loan Company would graduate with honours. They seem to specialise in registering people under the wrong names (despite having passports right in front of them) and then sending letter after letter demanding “evidence” that has already been sent multiple times.

It’s almost impressive how consistent they are at being inconsistent. You would think an organisation that deals with education could at least read, file, and process basic information. But no – their real curriculum seems to be bureaucracy, stress creation and applying interests faster than anyone can say “overpayment.”

I never studied a degree with them, yet somehow I still end up treated as if I owed them half a lifetime. It’s a system that feels designed not to support, but to squeeze.

If you enjoy sending the same documents ten times, having your legal name rewritten incorrectly, and being pursued for money that grows with interests you never agreed to, then congratulations – you’ve found the perfect company.

Otherwise, brace yourself!!

A big thank you to Dianna (Geordi accent). A very polite, professional and courteous individual who helped me with my query today.

I did look for a formal means to say thank you on the SLC website but it appears they only accept complaints lol. So Trust pilot will have to do.

Cheers for your help.

Truly appalling, unhelpful, inadequate, stressful, useless. Absolutely disgusted by this joke of a company. Enough to put anyone off applying for higher education if they will need a loan or even just to apply for a bursary. Their despicable systems and ( lack of) customer service has brought my family member to their knees and they are at the point of giving up on their course due to the last 5 months of Student Loans totally useless systems and staff.

If I could rate minus minus stars I would. Poor advice. Lengthy waiting times. Waste paper by sending so many letters it is embarrassing. Unhelpful staff who cannot help on queries. Misled on investigations which are started but don’t go anywhere. Got a refund in the last month because they took too much money. They won’t tell me how much but I have to agree first and then I will find out sometime in the next 28 days and if I give any detail incorrect they won’t give it and they asked me please not to contact them regarding it either on the phone which is a disgrace really. This has happened on many occasions where they refuse to complete any investigation I started. Corrupt.

Just trying to cancel an application is the worst thing in the world. You go to the website and it tells you to call them up to cancel it, and then after calling you get an automated response that leads you straight back to the home page of the website, ultimately sending you in endless circles. I still haven't solved this issue, and i've been going in circles for the past 3 hours.

The most unhelpful, useless and arrogant company I have ever dealt with. There is clearly no come back for employees or management.

Speak to a robot on the phone, be sent through hoops and circles, finally navigate after being reminded you can do it online (which online told me I have to call..) to be told of 20 minute call wait.. Of course interrupted the poor hold music every minute to tell me how important my call is and they know I am waiting - crucial information I couldn't have worked out on my own. And which meant I had go stay actively listening for the eventual human to answer. Poor. But they don't care, they have my money and I'm paying interest on it every minute they keep me on hold...

I called to try to find out the interest rate that would be applied if I took out a loan. I had to do this as the information on the website was inconsistent. They insisted on wanting me to confirm who I was as I had a record from over 30 years ago - as I couldn't remember the address and telephone number from my student days we were in a perpetual circle. They would not tell me what rate would be applied. The experience was so terrible and I have no confidence in them that I will not use them and will approach a bank for a loan instead - who will be regulated and provide clear information. I feel that this company is simply out to confuse and make money out of vulnerable students and families.

Don’t kid yourself – this scheme isn’t about helping you pay your university fees, it’s about chaining you to debt for life. The interest rates they slap on are nothing short of extortionate.
Their customer service is abysmal, and the website never updates properly. They’ll charge you more interest than you actually owe, and then fob you off with lies over the phone or by email.

If you want to do something meaningful with your life, fine – but do not go to university unless it’s for a course with a very clear and practical outcome, like economics, medicine, engineering, or law. Otherwise, you’re signing yourself up for a parasitic relationship with the government.

And don’t be lulled into the whole “don’t worry, the debt’s wiped after 30 years” line. Think about what it actually means: your salary reduced by £150–£300 or more every single month, while the debt quietly piles up with interest. That’s not help, that’s a shackle. Use your money wisely.

Don’t do it.

I would give 0 but apparently your not allowed. The most unhelpful company I have ever had the misfortune of having to deal with and that's the problem -you have to deal with them. They know this and genuinely don't care how unhelpful they are, rude and try to complicate even the most basic of things,. Lucky if anyone speaks English and the ones that do are just as unhelpful.

A family member is trying to sort out a loan for a degree. He has secured a place at an amazing University and we are all so happy for him. However this is being jeopardised by SLC due months of absolute horror of dealing with SLC. They are incompetent, rude, disrespectful, dismissive and as if this is not enough they utterly contradict themselves. No one knows the definitive answer to simple questions and Managers hide from the very people they should be helping.
I cannot believe this company is allowed to continue in business and why the Government has not looked into it. It’s a national disgrace and needs shutting down.
I am contacting my MP regarding this dreadful company.

A ruined graduation day we will never get back. My son was elated to get his degree, even got student of the year...went to get his certificate only to be told they couldn't release it due the fees not being paid which was a massive shock. My son was devastated and the rest of the day was spent on the phone to SLC to people who blamed my son although 2 assistants managed to work out it was their error but generally none of them read the notes properly. The plans with family who had travelled long distances were all cancelled and the afternoon was spent trying to support my very upset son.
Still awaiting for the to retrospectively agree the tuition fees again.
The stress and disappointment of this who scenario has been hideous.
He had no correspondence that they'd cancelled them. They'd made an admin error and still haven't rectified it. Everyone you speak to tells you you have to wait longer. At the moment I'm worried despite them having previously agreed the fees they won't reagree them as I fear they can't understand their own system. I'm so upset about the whole thing and still my son has no degree.
It's made me very low. I feel noone understood on the phone that we had one of the best days of his life ruined.
So hope this can be resolved.