Student Finance: What happened when my loan never arrived…

Robert Paynter tells his tale of money misfortune, but proves that help is at hand.


The first week of each semester contains two momentous events, the first night out and the day your Student Loan arrives. You look forward to cracking open that first bottle of beer, bank account brimming with opportunities for fun. But what happens if this day doesn’t come?

Last year my overdraft remained intact and I had a source of income. This year I did not. Around the beginning of September I wanted to buy tickets to see Crystal Castles (oh Alice!) but this would have meant going into my overdraft. Not a problem! I thought, I’ll only be around £200 overdrawn by the time I get my loan and then I will be fine.’ This, however, was not the case….

The blur of Freshers week came and went, and no money arrived. I soon found that this year there was a problem where about 10% of the student population didn’t get registered as attending their university.

A week later: still no money and my overdraft was ever-expanding.

After incessant calls to Student Finance – they informed me they were waiting for my application to be processed. ‘Should be another week’ a soft reassuring voice told me.

This phrase was repeated back to me as each week went by. I’m surprised myself and the call centre staff were not on first name terms.

October came, and my pals at Student Finance informed me that there was no record of my sponsor’s financial information. This vaguely translates to: someone had lost it. This delayed my loan payment even further as I have effectively had to reapply.

If you find yourself in a similar situation please do not worry. I was relieved to find that The Dean of Students offer short term interest free loans for students in my situation. I could finally buy the textbooks and get on with studying! (And invest in some hard-earned JD…)

Student Finance have now contacted me to say they are going to pay me money but having been at university for 8 weeks without any financial support, I am more than a little bit frustrated! They are also going to pay my tuition fees, which is a huge relief but at the same time has caused me unnecessary stress.

Luckily, my landlord was understanding when I told him I was unable to pay my rent. I have also had to apply for, and use, a credit card to keep me out of the red. I have borrowed more money from the Dean of Students to avoid sliding into the interest charging part of my overdraft.

This stress, inconvenience and financial worry has not been the result of me blowing all my loan on a flatscreen TV and £100 bottles of vodka on nights out (although that would be fun.) It is the sheer bureaucracy of the Student Loan Company and the lack of interest the organization shows in looking after it’s customers.

Have you had similar experiences with Student Finance? Comment below.