One million university leavers have overpaid their student loans and could be owed  hundreds to thousands of pounds according to the latest figures from Student Loans Company (SLC). 

One student, Lisa mentioned on Martin Lewis’ website, “I spent 15 minutes on the phone and got £555 back for overpayments on my student loan. Most was because of my maternity leave. Thanks so much, couldn’t have come at a better time.” 

Another student, Charlotte Gill received £68 back. She said to the BBC it did not make a huge difference “but every little helps when you are a student”. 

“At the end of the day, it’s your money, it’s not the government’s money, so if you’ve got any entitlement to a refund then absolutely take it,” she said. 

The main reasons an overpayment could have happened is due to repaying the loan in some months despite not earning enough in the full year. Another reason could be that you are on the wrong plan and could be repaying too much.  

The latest figures from SLC Shows that 20,575 students were on the wrong repayment plan in 2023/24. 

You could be repaying your loan too early. According to Martin Lewis, “If you graduated in 2023 (or left uni for any other reason that year) you shouldn’t have started paying anything back until April 2024.”  

It is easy to check whether a refund is owed by logging on to the government’s Student Loan Company portal. 

Steven Darling, Customer Experience Director at SLC, said: “With a below threshold refund being the most common reason why a customer might be eligible for a refund, we’ve made it quick and easy to request a refund through the online account. The figures in our latest report demonstrate the value of these improvements, with £61.6m being paid to 248,000 customers since May 2024. 

I would encourage customers to keep their contact and bank details up to date in their online account to ensure they don’t miss any key communication regarding refunds.” 

The Student Loans Company has introduced ways to reduce overpayments and improve the repayment process for students.  

This includes introducing an online repayment service, issuing automatic refunds and actively contacting those who might have overpaid. 

While these changes have helped to reduce the number of students making overpayments, more than a million former students still overpaid in the 2022/23 tax year – so it’s well worth checking. 

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