70,000+ student loan balances miscalculated – are you affected?

Plan 2 graduates are English students who started university between 2012 and 2022, and Welsh students who've started since 2012.

Note: This blunder is a completely separate issue to recent campaigning for reform to Plan 2 student loans over concerns they've become a "stealth tax". This is something MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis has called out – see his Plan 2: Should you overpay now? blog for more.

Plan 2 grads have had too little or too much interest added to balances

The amount of interest added to your Plan 2 loan balance each year depends on how much you earn – for the current 2025/26 year, it starts at 3.2% (if you earn £29,385 or less) and rises to 6.2% (if you earn £52,885 or more).

But recent errors at the SLC and HMRC meant the wrong income information was used to calculate the interest due on 71,000 accounts. These errors have now been fixed, and balances are being corrected automatically. The SLC says no one affected will have to pay more than they otherwise would have done as a result of the errors.

You'll be able to check this when your next annual statement becomes available online "before the end of September".

An SLC spokesperson added: "Those affected do not need to take any action and regular repayment amounts will not change. SLC and HMRC are very sorry that this has happened."

Been overcharged? You WON'T be left out of pocket due to the errors

Those who've been overcharged interest will see their balances reduced by £66 on average.

If you've already paid off your loan in full, you WON'T need to pay anything else, and if you've already paid more than you should have, you will get an automatic refund from the SLC, it says.

In this scenario, you won't be contacted, but the error will still be corrected automatically.

You'll be emailed if your balance has increased

Those who've been undercharged interest will see their balances increase by either £138 or £592 on average, depending on the specific error they were hit by.

In this scenario, the SLC will contact you directly, via this email address: webmaster@slc.co.uk.

The SLC will NOT ask for any personal or sensitive information – so beware of scammers trying to take advantage of the situation to catch you out. If you're worried you might be talking to a scammer, end all communication straight away and see our What to do if you think you've been scammed guide for more help.

Still think your balance is wrong? You can complain

If your balance has been updated but it still doesn't look right, or you're worried you've been charged the wrong interest, you can raise a complaint.

You can find details of how to do this and the information to include on the SLC's website. Once you submit your complaint, you should get confirmation within five working days, and you should be given a "detailed" response within 20 days.

If you have an issue with how the complaints process has gone, you can also ask for a review – to do this, you'll need to ask the SLC officer who's handling your complaint. They'll assign you to an assessor, who'll give your complaint an independent, impartial review.