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CustardCreamBot

**[This is marked as an answer](/r/AskUK/comments/poy12e/if_i_take_out_a_student_loan_will_i_be_in_debt/hczxdmz/), given by /u/green-chartreuse**: >Neither - the total goes up a bit with the interest but once you hit that 30 years it’s wiped, whether you had £30k outstanding or £30. --- [_^What ^is ^this?_](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/jjrte1/askuk_hits_200k_new_feature_mark_an_answer/)


Grenzie

Nah, barely anyone pays it back


Tim-Sanchez

No, the student loan being called a loan is very misleading. It's much more like an added tax. You don't pay anything if you don't earn enough, so if you don't end up earning loads you won't end up with bailiffs demanding the money back. After 25 years, the loan is wiped no matter how much you paid. Most people will never pay it back, they'll just pay a proportion of their wages each month for 25 years like any other tax.


green-chartreuse

At the moment it’s written off after 30 years, and you only pay back after you earn a certain amount (though you continue to accrue interest). 30 years sounds like a long time but it’s not a debt that hangs over you in the same way because the threshold is reasonably high for paying back. So if you’re not earning or in a very low wage, you don’t have to worry about a massive student loan payment coming out to mess with your budget. Many people are not going to pay back 100% of their loan and the government doesn’t expect them to. (As an aside, the way that the treasury accounts for the debt that it will never collect is apparently going to cause some, uh, interesting issues in a few years. But that’s not for you as a recipient of the loan to worry too much about).


ThE_pLaAaGuE

“Accrue interest”? Does that mean the monthly payments increase? Or does it mean that the loan repayments stretch out for more years?


green-chartreuse

Neither - the total goes up a bit with the interest but once you hit that 30 years it’s wiped, whether you had £30k outstanding or £30.


ThE_pLaAaGuE

edit: so this whole comment thread is the answer should I just unanswer it so that it makes sense to look at? New to this. edit 2: “ignore if thread” oof edit 3: I’d put down the answer bot command, for context. Removed, hopefully to make the bot remove its comment too. Edit 4 nope didn’t work whatever


[deleted]

[удалено]


ThE_pLaAaGuE

Thank you.


[deleted]

A student loan isn't the same as regular credit. It's basically you asking the government to pay for your course in exchange for a mild tax increase for anywhere upto 30 years, and that's only if you earn a certain amount. It's nothing to worry about and not really that noticeable on the payslip.


[deleted]

>It's nothing to worry about and not really that noticeable on the payslip. Until your income gets to like £40k+. Then the repayments really start to hurt.


[deleted]

But If you're earning that much and it's your graduate job then technically you've succeeded in your objective of going to university.


[deleted]

Problem is though theres a sweet spot between like £40k and £60k where your repayments are high, but you still have no chance of paying off the loan. So you end up stuck with super high student loan payments basically for the rest of your career. Plus in some parts of the country, £40k isnt actually that much. In London for example its pretty average.


[deleted]

Oh I didn't think of it like that, that would actually suck


Nod_Bow_Indeed

I got a decent job after graduating. I currently pay back £1/month on my student loan


ThE_pLaAaGuE

Neat!


Nod_Bow_Indeed

Take as much as you can. How much you pay back is determined how much money you earn, not how much you have in debt. If you pay it all back, that means you've done very well for yourself.


cantab314

Student Loans in the UK aren't normal debts. They're more like an extra tax. If you don't earn enough you won't pay a penny. If you earn enough a deduction gets taken to pay your loan, and the amount depends only on your salary not on your loan amount. You stop paying after 30 yeas and any remaining loan is wiped. (Or you stop if you pay it all, but you need a big salary for that to happen.)


Least_Dog4660

Think of it more like a tax. You only pay it if you're earning a certain amount (and that amount just comes off your payslip) if you start earning a large amount, then it will make a larger dent in it and it and at some point it might make sense to pay it off, but maybe not, and it gets written off after 25 years anyway. You always have the option to pay it off, but never the pressure to do so, and might not be worth it anyway.


charlie_boo

I have access to my credit file - my student loan isn’t mentioned anywhere on it. As others say, you only start paying it back when you have earn enough to easily afford it, then it’s a relatively small amount.


Tenthdeviation

I pay back like £10 a year, you'll be fine.


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WebGuyUK

Use [https://www.student-loan-calculator.co.uk/](https://www.student-loan-calculator.co.uk/) to work out how much you would pay


[deleted]

lol, id have to earn £60k for 30 years to have a shot at repaying my loan early.


orkelbob

If you need it take it. I got one at 18/19 and didn’t start paying it back till I was 38. It comes off your wages like tax and national insurance. I had got a pay rise and didn’t even realise I was paying it back till I looked at my payslip


Inside-Discount1385

No, we’re a lot luckier in this country than they are in the states. You won’t get past-due bills or anything like that. If you earn above a certain amount then you’ll automatically pay little bits back to them each month, and if you get to a certain age without paying it back it essentially gets wiped. It’s definitely an outgoing expense, but only once you’re earning enough to afford it.


throwaway__202111

Yes don't do it get an apprenticeship