How to check if you've overpaid your student loan after mates claim back £1,000 refund

Whether they had a good or bad experience, anyone with a degree will always be reminded of their time at university thanks to one annoying monthly expense: the student loan repayment.

But it's important to check what you're paying, with some owing hundreds at the end of every year.

It'll take at least 25 years to see your debt from uni automatically written off, with that luxury only available to those who started studying before September 2012 (known as Plan 1).

If you started after then (Plan 2) you're looking at an unpleasant 30 years. And it's even worse for those who have just started their uni years, with a 40-year plan (Plan 5) in place if you took up uni in August last year.

You'll start repaying your student debt once you find a job after graduating and earning enough to qualify. Those on the most recent Plan 5 scheme will only start paying back when they earn more than £25,000.

It's higher for those on Plan 2 (£27,295) and lower for Plan 1 (22,015). So it's definitely worth checking if this is being done correctly on the Student Loans Company (SLC) end.

But following advice from Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis, two friends found out they'd actually overpaid on their deals and were due refunds.

And it's not small change either, with a combined £1,000 being paid out to the pair.

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Lewis warned graduates could be owed 'hundreds or thousands' depending on their individual circumstances.

Over on Reddit, the mates revealed how much they saved by simply giving SLC a call.

One of them wrote: "Hope this is the right place for this, but it’s helped me out this morning and thought it might be useful for others.

"Saw this video from Martin Lewis and decided to give SLC a call. Five minutes later I’m told that I can get a refund of £640 from an overpayment in 21/22. A friend has just found out that they overpaid too and have gotten £360 back.

"Worth noting that these amounts are added back on to your loan. But as Martin explains (far better than I can!), as I’m barely paying off the interest, and the loan will eventually be wiped, it’s better for me to have the cash payment now rather than sinking it back into the loan.

"Just contact SLC and say you want to check if you’ve ever overpaid. They will check through each year and give you an answer there and then. So easy to do and well worth checking."

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Replying, another Reddit user said: "£800 refund coming my way thanks to postgraduate loan plus normal Plan 2 loan payment when I shouldn't have. Probably never going to get close to paying either off in full, Martin Lewis, my hero!"

One of the most common reasons graduates end up overpaying is when payments are taken despite earnings not being where they are required for the money to be taken.

How to claim back student loan overpayments

Firstly, be sure to check if you could be due a refund by logging into your online account here.

The SLC says the easiest and quickest way to get a refund is to now fill out its new online refund request form. You can find that here.

You'll need to tell the SLC your student loan account customer reference number, your National Insurance number and your date of birth. You should also say which tax year you're claiming for.

Sorted? Then it's time to email completed forms to: [email protected].