student finance

[Hicks12]

Ok so this is a bit of a rant, i apologize in advanced but this is PEEING ME RIGHT OFF!.

Basically, i applied for student finance early april and sent all evidence that i said i would send which was my birth certificate/identity form/mums p60, i listed my dads P60 as non evidence as we couldnt find it at the time, this all arrived on the 25th of april to student finance, well within the 25th june deadline.

I have a massive hiccup with them saying they havent received it and royal mail sayings it not been delivered, eventually this got sorted by another 2 weeks and it was infact delivered but student finance was processing it and RM had failed to update their online tracking. Eventually i got these back (about 4 weeks), all returned saying its been processed and thanks for the evidence, however i kept checking my online finance and it was "awaiting further evidence" after many phone calls to there flipping 0845 (scamming peckers) number it seemed that they needed my dads P60 to go further, nice of them to tell me after i waited ages and for the fact they have an option online to say your not providing it, whats the point you might aswell not apply!.

Thankfully i found my dads p60, sent that first class recorded and it arrived on the 1st of june now i was curious of the status so every week i kept ringing to check if they have received it, each time they said to ring back in a week, until i got a nice support assistant that told me their systems are updated until its processed which is ~7weeks. I thought, right what a crap system but thankyou for telling me!.

Another thing i had to do is my mum got made redundant so had to fill out a change of income and send it to them, this was sent with my dads p60 aswell. Now i got a letter today, asking for my birth certificate or else it wont continue! I was furious, the amount of time ive wasted running after them and them just failing in communicating with me of problems, ive sent them my birth certificate they processed it and so why do i need to resend it a few months down the line? Do they think im not who i say i am, ive changed in the few months surely!.

I ring up regarding this as its stupid, finally got through to support and immediately wasnt happy... i havent got great hearing and the support persons line was SO FLIPPING quiet, i could barely hear him, it took 5 attempts to hear him.

Basically he was saying its my fault for not sending support in, i need to send in log books apparently for my parents rented houses, even though i stated i wont send this, eventually he said they hadnt received my dads p60 and i firmly told him that no your wrong, RM wouldnt lie and the fact that your support told me it takes 7 weeks to be updated which will be next week so hes reading it wrong, he accepted that eventually.

He then told me that they must not have checked my birth certificate properly and that i should send it again, he also said that not to bother with the log book now (even though he said 5mins ago that the system requested it!) since it wasnt mentioned on the letter sent to me.

So again, im gunna have to send a birth certificate and wait another 7 flipping weeks.... i asked him if i will get my loan intime because it really is getting late and he said i dont know!. I would have asked to speak to a manager if it was a business and his line was LOUD cause i wouldnt be able to hear the manager .

This is so annoying, everyone i know has got their loan done except me and its not even my fault >.<. Sorry for the bad spelling and long text, i just need to vent this fustration, it hasnt been a good week and this just tops it up!.


edit: forgot to add the question, has anyone else had crap experience with student finance?

[midzt]

I think everyone who has ever tried to contact student finance has bad experience with them, don't think I've spoken to anyone who doesn't think its the worst designed system.

They seem to take forever to do anything....reapplying for the next few years aren't as difficult but I wasn't means accessed so not sure if you'll have to go through all this again.

Good luck with it all anyway. Hope you get your loan on time, sucks not having it for freshers week.

[finlay666]

edit: forgot to add the question, has anyone else had crap experience with student finance?

Every single year I had to use the service

Messed up details, late payments, tried to withhold grants etc

Glad I get the payments sorted via PAYE now I'm done with it

Oh, never expect your loan to go in at the start of uni, they are usually a week or 2 late

[Hicks12]

Well atleast im not the only one then .
Finlay, i assume universities dont mind a late payment or is it actually due later in the year?(i seem to recall needing it before you start or something.). Now to worry about other things like sorting out my job haha.

[Steve]

Lots of people have trouble with Student Finance. I didn't have to wrestle with them very much, fortunately.

[Bugbait]

Sounds bad but to be honest it’s nothing compared to the Home Office. Be thankful you don’t have to apply for Visa extensions with them every couple of years. You pay £700+ (last I checked it was £850) upfront and it’s non-refundable regardless of the result. You can’t even lodge an enquiry about the status for the first 14 or 18 weeks. If you forget any key documents then kiss your application fee goodbye. Key document evidence cannot be submitted separately after the application is sent in. Appeals must be formal and in writing, none of this arguing over the phone stuff. Count yourself lucky it’s “only” 7 weeks with the ability to submit supplemental evidence without the upfront fee. Better yet, the rules and forms change every year or two. Government services suck a bit in this country.

[arthurleung]

Well atleast im not the only one then .
Finlay, i assume universities dont mind a late payment or is it actually due later in the year?(i seem to recall needing it before you start or something.). Now to worry about other things like sorting out my job haha.

Not sure about all other universities mine is somewhere mid-December when payment is due for home students. If you let the university know the situation they might be able to help you from their side.

[finlay666]

Well atleast im not the only one then .
Finlay, i assume universities dont mind a late payment or is it actually due later in the year?(i seem to recall needing it before you start or something.). Now to worry about other things like sorting out my job haha.

It's never late to the uni, as they get paid towards the end of the semester direct from them

It's more the maintenance loan/any personal grants that are usually late

My uni was towards the end of each semester for the due date for payments, when you get to uni it's much quicker to sort out issues as you will be on their system

[Terbinator]

I'm pretty much in the same position as Hicks. Sent financial data off circa 8 weeks ago, website : "awaiting further info", person on phone: "hurrr de derp". Also, not to come across as an idiot but the fact everyone on the phones seem to be Scottish makes them really hard to understand.

[TAKTAK]

I seemed to have dodged a bullet on this, i sent mine off (Circa January time IIRC), they requested the paperwork which was sent through and then a month or so later everything came through hunky-dory

[TAKTAK]

Yeah, mine went through as such:

16/03/2010 Post Notification letter GIF
16/01/2010 Electronic Email request for financial information from sponsor/spouse Email
16/01/2010 Electronic Email request for financial information from sponsor/spouse Email
16/01/2010 Electronic Student on-line details received Email
22/12/2009 Electronic Welcome email Email



Hopefully yours will sort itself out shortly

[666moe666]

edit: forgot to add the question, has anyone else had crap experience with student finance?

Yes, they took forever processing my application and when it finally looked like something was happening they kept on trying to get me to send identification to prove I was english. This was after i sent my birth certificate...

[jim]

They keep emailing me asking for "vital documents" even though they agree over the telephone that I've provided everything that they need.

Useless

[Terbinator]

They keep emailing me asking for "vital documents" even though they agree over the telephone that I've provided everything that they need.

Useless

Deja Vu.

[Odc]

Looks like I'm the odd one out judging by you lot!

In three years I never had a late payment, or any kind of problem with the application.

Just lucky I guess

[TheAnimus]

I had an issue with my application (7 years ago now, **** me my life is slipping away)

In the end I had to go down to my LEA with my passport and stuff. The loverly girl in the Elliot hut told me that West Germany is not a country, Germany is a country.....

'tard.