71,000 Plan 2 loan borrowers to receive refunds after balance errors

The Student Loans Company and HM Revenue & Customs have confirmed that technical errors have led to incorrect loan balances for approximately 71,000 graduates on Plan 2 student loans. The organizations are now contacting all affected borrowers to correct their accounts, with refunds to be issued to those who overpaid.

The errors, which have now been resolved, affected about 1.3 percent of current Plan 2 customers. Officials explained that one issue was a technical glitch within the SLC's systems that used wrong income information to calculate interest. The second was an HMRC income reporting error that impacted individuals with income from both PAYE employment and Self Assessment. Of the 71,000 affected, around 41,000 saw their loan balances incorrectly increased, while 30,000 had their balances wrongly reduced.

Both the SLC and HMRC apologized for the errors. Affected customers have been told they do not need to take any action, and their regular monthly repayment amounts will not change. Corrections will be reflected in borrowers' next annual statements, which will be available before October. For the 41,000 graduates whose balances were inflated, the correction lowers their...