Martin Lewis shares student loan dates that will give you big pay day boost

Ah, the mystical student loan that looms over many of us, popping up on our pay checks each month as we continue to pay off our debts off years later.

For some of us, it really can feel like we will never pay it off.

But, Martin Lewis says there’s ‘four ways it could be wiped’ and who else is there to turn to for money matters like this?

The Money Saving Expert himself has previously said that when student loans will be written off, cancelled or paid off is a question he gets asked all the time.

And thankfully, he’s issued plenty to help answer that, having shared dates that in a way, will give you a big boost on pay days.

He broke these down into four categories, as he listed the years those with student loans will have to wait for.

‘Four ways your outstanding student loan could be wiped’

Lewis shared a handy video to social media explaining all of this as he pointed out the most obvious one first.

“It’s if you pay off what you borrowed plus all of the interest,” he says.

“The second is important – it’s if you die. And that important to know because it means if you were to die, no one would have to pick up the debt from you afterwards, it would simply disappear.”

Lewis then explains that the third way is if you end up being ‘deemed unlikely ever to be able to work again’ due to physical or mental illness.

Then, of course, the fourth is ‘after a set time’.

This all depends on which UK nation you’re from and when you started university. But Lewis does warn that for a lot of people ‘there is a chance you could be paying for almost all of your working lives’.

How many years are there until outstanding loans are wiped?

So, this part all comes down to the year you started higher education. And it’s important to know that the repayments stop and the loan is wiped regardless of how much you still have left sitting in your loan account.

Once you hit the stated number of years after you leave university (when you were first due to repay), the loan simply wipes.

Of course, your eligibility to repay your student loan kicks in once you’ve left university and you earn enough (which is worked out depending on which loan type you have).

For anyone in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who started higher education between 2006 to 2011, then the timeline is 25 years from the April after you leave.

For anyone in Scotland who started higher education from 2007 onwards it’s 30 years from the April.

Then, in Northern Ireland, if you started from 2012 onwards it’s 25 years while in Wales it’s 30 years.

And for those in England, if you started higher education from 2023 onwards, then it’s 40 years from the April you were first due to repay (the later of April 2026 or the April after you leave university).

You can find Money Saving Expert’s full guide here.