Student Loans

Cathy If your son needs a loan, tell him to look for a credit union in his area, and to ask a lot of questions about how much it will really cost him to borrow. Read about it here -

Citizens Advice Bureau - about Credit Unions

Cathy If they will lend to anyone without a credit check, then you can be sure that their charges are sky-high so that THEY don't lose out if anyone defaults. Not that that will stop them hounding the people who were so desperate for cash that they took on a loan at any price and then could not pay it back. The interest then piles up until they can never repay.

They have people over a barrel - no prospects of money so they can't get a bank loan, no money so can't afford to pay back the loan, so borrow more to pay the interest . . .

Info here. Money saving expert is useful for all of this sort of thing.

These short-term loans usually have prohibitive interest rates unless they are paid off as soon as the borrower's wages come in which, of course leaves him/her short of cash again and it's a vicious circle. The clue here is that they don't do a credit check.

Oh I forwarded this to my son!!! is it some kind of a scam then

This sounds like payday loans to me. Reported.

More advertising. Reported.

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Nine years ago I borrowed £6000 from Student Loans when I was doing my teacher training. Although I've been paying it back for several years I still owe over £4000. When I stop being paid in December no further payments will be sent to Student Loans. After that although I don't have to pay anything the interest will accumulate and before you know it I'll owe the £6000 and more. A student loan never goes away.

Another financial scam like pay day loans.

Hiya - I've just come across your reference to my letter in The Times. So glad it was useful for you. All the information is available here https://www.gov.uk/student-finance but you do have to dig deep to find it. It is all so well disguised behind the PR story that it's a good dealfor all. It is hugely expensive and, in my experience, very few parents and students understand what they are signing up for. Hence my letter.