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Money Box: Beware student loan overpayments

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02/09/2017

Beware student loan overpayments

BBC Radio 4 - Money Box, Beware student loan overpayments

Beware student loan overpayments, the business of doorstep loans, and investment clarity.

90,000 graduates were refunded hundreds of pounds after HMRC took payments for their student loan even though they had paid it off. Plus doorstep loans.

More than 90,000 graduates were refunded hundreds of pounds last year after HMRC took payments for their student loan even though they had paid it off. Money Box has discovered these overpayments are routinely taken for many months because HMRC fails to communicate properly with the Student Loans Company. The programme hears from graduates who've experienced this and from tax expert Graham Farquhar at RSM.

The UK's biggest doorstep lender is in trouble. Shares in Provident Financial plummeted 65% at the end of August. They have recovered slightly but now the company has issued another profit warning after trying to modernise its business and save costs. Doorstep lending began over a hundred years ago. Local agents arrange loans in customers' homes and collect repayments weekly. The sums involved are often small. But the interest charged is very high - more than 500% on a six month loan. 
A former Provident Financial Agent Ian sheds light on how the business of doorstep lending works. And Peter Tutton from the debt charity Stepchange outlines his concerns.

Big changes are coming in the way that investment funds treat their clients. From January they will have to bill customers separately for the cost of research - at the moment it is bundled into the annual charges. Some funds - like the US mutual Vanguard - have said they will absorb all research costs. That could bring charges down. But there are other changes all being brought in under a European Directive that could put charges up. Louise Oliver, Chartered Wealth Manager and Director of Piercefield Oliver and Gina Miller, Director of fund manager SCM Direct, debate the issues.

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