Student Loans

Lord Loomba Excerpts

Thursday 23rd July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay]

Mr Lewis certainly has expressed his point colourfully and forcefully, but the department was glad to engage with him before the website launched. He also made his points known to the Augar review, which the Government are considering and to which we will respond alongside the next spending review.

[Lord Loomba (CB) [V]]

My Lords, can the Minister say how the Government will be more transparent with student loans, so that students are better equipped to make informed decisions on their finances and better understand how the system of repayments works?

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay]

My Lords, this website is certainly an improvement on the situation when I was paying back my student loan, when it was very difficult to find out the balance and how much still needed to be paid. That led to many people making excessive repayments, which then had to be paid back. It might be helpful to your Lordships if I cite briefly from the message on the new website, which makes it very clear that “there is no obligation” to make a voluntary repayment and that students should

“carefully consider whether it’s appropriate to make voluntary repayments because any outstanding balance is written off at the end of the loan”.

That makes the situation quite clear.