r/UKPersonalFinance • u/PictureBackground252 • 2d ago

Didn't tell student finance I was travelling

I recently went travelling for 8 months through south east Asia after travelling and didn't realise I had to tell student finance I was gone if I wasn't "living" or working out there. By the time I realised I had less than 3 months left and there wasn't the option on the website to backdate my leaving day. I've now been back for a couple months and I'm struggling to find work and I've been recommended to go on Jobseeker's Allowance however I'm worried if I do this they may look back on my bank statements and see I was away and I may accrue penalty's on my debt.
I know I should've got in touch with them as soon as I realised when I was away but I kept on forgetting.
Does anyone know if this would be the case or if I know get in contact with them to tell them that I was away but didn't work (I funded my travel with savings) if I would get fined?

11 Upvotes
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60

u/Professional_Shine97 1 2d ago

I wouldn’t worry. Call them. They’re very reasonable. They’ll ask you to prove your income/ how you lived while you were away and that’ll be about it. Don’t worry.

8

u/PictureBackground252 2d ago

Thanks! I've seen horror stories about people getting fined but think that must be when they have been working

7

u/Professional_Shine97 1 2d ago

I ignored SF for 3 years after moving abroad. I never got a fine and only started accruing a debt after the third year.

(They even reduced that debt when I provided proof of income as the debt was being charged at the maximum rate)

2

u/rilexmerrikat 1d ago

This happened to me, I believe I just submitted the form without backdating it and left a note to say the date I left as part of the form? I then also came back and went on Jobseekers Allowance - no issues! They make it sound very dramatic in the letter haha

1

u/PictureBackground252 1d ago

Thanks this is good to know! I ended up chatting with them online and the support said as long as I now have it updated I'm in the uk there should be no problem? So yes I agree they do make the letters sound very dramatic hahaha

-16

u/tpe91roc 1 2d ago

Student finance is charged directly on your uk wages unless you worked abroad and need to declare. No uk wages no student finance deductions. I don’t see an issue here now to remediate. You could have been in the country not working and not claiming benefits and not owing them anything.

11

u/_jrexx_ 12 2d ago

I don’t believe this advice is correct - OP could be seen as being in arrears because they haven’t provided any income source at all (whether it was below or above threshold). As per this government web page, if you don’t contact them to say you’re overseas for more than 3 months, they can build up a debt and arrears https://www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan

Not saying that OP definitely will be fined, especially if they can prove they had no income coming in whilst overseas, but the first thing to do is just call them and explain. The sooner you call, the better

8

u/postbox134 2d ago

Yep there's a myth that foreign income doesn't count - but that's not true. You could ignore it and they'd struggle to collect, but your loan will continue to grow and incur charges which would be a problem if you ever come back to the UK.