Student loan refund could get you back £1000s you've overpaid without knowing

You may recall last year, when former students with student loans were encouraged to check if they could reclaim £100 or even £1,000s by MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) founder Martin Lewis.

This followed an MSE investigation that discovered over a million people had overpaid their loans the previous year, and you can still claim it back now if you haven't done so yet. Stories have emerged of individuals receiving up to £3,773 back- and according to the Reclaim Students Loan Guide for the 2022 tax year, over a million university leavers overpaid their student loans.

According to Money Saving Expert, this often occurs due to incorrect details or processing by you, your employer, or the Student Loans Company. Based on the 2022/23 data, 833,000 repaid loans despite not earning enough in the tax year.

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So, if you think this might apply to you, here's what you need to do. If possible, gather old payslips, your payroll number, and a PAYE reference number.

But don't worry if you don't have these, as this can often be sorted out with a phone call, reports WalesOnline. There's no expiry on claiming back your cash, so even if it's been a decade, you've still got a shot at getting your overpaid student loan money back.

The process for securing a refund depends on the type of overpayment, but keeping your contact and bank details current is crucial.

The Money Saving Expert website clarifies: "Below threshold refunds wait to be contacted: If you've overpaid, unlike previously, you no longer need to fill in a form to request a refund if your income was below the repayment threshold.

"If you think you're due a refund for the 2023/24 tax year, hold tight. SLC can only let you know if you're due a refund for the previous tax year when your earnings information has been received from HMRC.

"It will contact you to advise you are due a refund, then all you need to do is sign in to your online repayment account and select 'request a refund'. As part of this process, SLC will check for any refunds from previous tax years you might be owed. Once you've been contacted and you've requested a refund through your online account, it will be processed in 28 days and the money will get paid into your bank account - so make sure your details are correct.

"If you need a refund from any other tax year but not 2023/24, you can request this through your online account now.

"Credit balance refunds don't need to do anything: If you've paid over your loan balance and additional payments are taken, you're due a credit balance refund. You don't need to do anything for this, if SLC can verify your bank account is still active and used by you, a refund will automatically be paid into your account. Meaning it's important to keep your contact information, including bank details and email address up-to-date.

"Incorrect repayment plan refunds need to call SLC: If you're reclaiming because you think you're on the wrong repayment plan, you should have checked what plan you're on with your employer or ex-employer first and double-check this doesn't correspond with the plan you should be on (if your employer won't help, see the quick questions below).

"You will need to contact SLC to get your wrong repayment plan refund processed. You can call on 0300 100 0611 (for Wales it's 0300 100 0370 and +44 141 243 3660 from overseas).

"Started repaying too soon refunds need to call SLC: If you have started repaying before you are due to (pre-statuary repayment due date), you need to contact SLC. You can call on 0300 100 0611 (for Wales it's 0300 100 0370 and +44 141 243 3660 from overseas) to get your refund processed. But bear in mind that phone lines can be busy, so be prepared to wait.

"When you get through, explain your situation and ask to reclaim the money you're owed. To make the process smoother, before ringing see if you can dig out any old payslips, your payroll number, and/or your PAYE reference number. If you don't have these and think you may have overpaid, it's still worth giving it a go - though it may take longer.

"In addition, there are no restrictions on how far back you can claim, so while many reclaiming will be recent graduates, there's nothing to stop you doing this even if you overpaid years ago."

There have been many cases where people have been successful, and claimed large sums of cash back, such as Fiona, who wrote to the Money Saving Expert in October 2023, saying: "Thank you so much. I knew something wasn't right when I lodged my tax returns and reading Martin's article was the catalyst for a sustained attempt to work out what had happened. I received £3,773 back."

There are more details on how you can pay your loan back here.