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If you are earning in excess of £15,000 per annum, your loan will become due for repayment on the 6th April following the date that you complete or leave your course.
If you withdraw from your course prior to your original intended graduation date, you will be eligible to start repayment of your student loan in the April following your last date of attendance.
If for any reason the April following your last date of attendance has already passed (e.g. you withdraw from your course but forget to tell us), your repayments will commence as soon as can be arranged, and you will be liable for repayments only from then.
The Student Loans Company (of whom Student Finance Wales is a service delivery partner) will advise HM Revenue and Customs (formerly the Inland Revenue) that your loan has entered repayment. They in turn will instruct your employer to deduct repayments from your gross income at the rate of 9% of any income earned in excess of £15,000 a year, £1250 per month or £288 per week.
If you are self-employed or go to work abroad, you will make repayments directly to the Student Loans Company or HMRC.
Why do you need my national insurance number?
It is extremely important that you provide us with your national insurance number since this will be required to enable the collection of student loan repayment deductions from your salary when you enter repayment. Because it is so important that we have this, there may be a delay in the payment of your student support if you do not supply it.
How is interest calculated on my loan?
The interest rate for new loans is currently 3%. Interest is applied to student loans from the moment they are paid until they are repaid in full. The amount you pay back will have broadly the same value as the amount you have borrowed and no profit is made on the loan itself.
This interest rate is based on the annual March retail price index (RPI) or the highest base rate of a number of major banks plus 1%; whichever is lower. To date, the RPI has always been the lower of the two. The reduced bank base rate plus 1% is currently lower than the March 2008 RPI so we have presently adjusted the student loan rate to 3%. The interest rate was 3.8% from 1 September to 4 December 2008.
If you are identified as a PAYE or Self-Assessment repayer, interest accrual will be suspended from the start of the tax year until the end-of-year repayment details are received from HMRC. Interest will then be calculated and applied to your account retrospectively.
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