You will normally start to repay your student loan the April after you complete your course. However, you will only start repaying once your income goes over the relevant threshold, which is currently £27,295 per year for those that normally live in England and Wales, £19,835 if you normally live in Northern Ireland or £25,000 if you normally live in Scotland. If you are from the EU, your repayment rate is set at the equivalent amount of £26,575 in the country you normally live in.
If you need more information about what happens to your loan after you graduate then you can look on the Student Loans Company repayments website.
If you are going abroad for more than three months, you will need to complete an Overseas Income Assessment Form available from the Student Loans Company. You will need to provide the Student Loans Company evidence of where you are going, what you are doing and how you will support yourself if you are not going to be working.
❯ More information and an Overseas Income FormIf you are not working, you do not have to make any repayments. Your student loan repayments will only commence once you earn over the threshold of £27,295 for students from England and Wales, £19,895 for students from Northern Ireland and £25,000 for students from Scotland.
However, from time to time the Student Loan Company may contact you regarding work or other matters. Do not ignore their correspondence; they have been tasked with keeping in touch with you over the length of your repayment period. In most cases, they will only need to know your details are up to date.
Once your course ends, your bank will contact you regarding converting your student account into a graduate account. The terms and conditions of graduate accounts vary between banks so you should check what your bank offers before you make a decision. They tend to offer graduate accounts as a stepping stone to repaying your overdraft. Check the terms and conditions including any interest as your student overdraft is interest free for a specific period. What all banks have in common is that they will all expect you to repay your overdraft over a two or three year period. If you decide to swap banks at this stage, then we suggest you use a comparison website to look for the best deals.
As you move into the world of work and start to think about the next stage such as renting privately, buying a house or even swapping bank accounts, you may want to think about checking your credit score. You can do this free via a number of organisations.
❯ More information
Once you finish your course, you are no longer exempt from paying Council Tax. You should be aware that this change applies from the end of your course. This means in some cases you may have to pay Council Tax on a student property if your contract continues over the summer. However, this also means that you may be able to claim Council Tax Support (benefit) for any period after your course ends that you are charged Council Tax.
Once you complete your course, if you do not have a job that you are starting immediately, you may be eligible to claim benefits as a jobseeker. It is important to claim on time, as it is normally impossible to backdate any claims.
It is also worth knowing that if you have secured a job for later in the summer you can still claim benefits for the period between the end of your course and the start of your job. You will obviously need to be available for and actively seeking work during this time, but it does not matter if you have little chance of obtaining work in this short period.
The type of benefit you can claim is dependent upon your individual circumstances. The majority of claims are for Universal Credit and are made online.
If you should need written confirmation of your course end date you can contact LJMU Registry however, in the majority of cases this will not be required.
The university has invested in an online financial literacy platform that all students of LJMU can use. It is free, easy to use and created specifically for students. You can register and log on using your LJMU email address and start to take control of your finances today. You will find lessons and videos about Income Tax, National Insurance, budgeting and much more.
Alternatively you will find lots of helpful resources on the Money Advice Service website.
