Martin Lewis lists 4 methods to ‘wipe’ student loan debt | Personal Finance | Finance

Students across the UK have several ways to clear the debt they owe on university fees, Martin Lewis has explained. While some people are expected to pay out for “almost all of their working lives”, certain methods could clear the debt early.

In an Instagram post, the founder of MoneySavingExpert said there are four ways former students in the UK can have their outstanding loans “wiped”. Some are fairly common, while others will only happen under extreme circumstances.

One of the most obvious ways is to simply pay what you owe. This will include tuition fees taken at the time, as well as any maintenance loans, plus any interest that has built up on the total loan since graduation.

Students can benefit from grants, bursaries, and scholarships without having to pay back a penny from that specific sum of money. It is often intended to support living costs. One of the most common ways debt is sorted in the UK is when the time limit on your loan reaches its deadline.

For the vast majority of UK graduates, paying off university tuition debt in full is historically uncommon. In reality, most student debt is automatically cleared once graduates hit a certain age – though recent rule changes mean younger graduates are now much more likely to clear the balance.

The time when the loan is cleared depends on which UK nation you come from and when you started university. So, if you are from Scotland or Wales and you started from 2012 onwards, your loan wipes after 30 years from the April after you left university.

Martin says: “In Northern Ireland from 2012 onwards, it’s 25 years after the April after you left university.” But, England’s system involves a lot more specifics.

Martin explained that English university debt varies depending on when students started their courses. Below is a simple breakdown of what age (roughly) debt is wiped:

• Started from 2012 to 2022: 30 years – after the April following the year you left university
• From 2023 onwards: 40 years – after the April following the year you left university

Martin said that there is a chance 2023 students and beyond “could be paying for almost all of your working lives”.

There are two other ways in which debt could be cleared from a person’s name – but they are quite specific and extreme in nature. Firstly, when someone dies, their debt is cleared and does not pass on to another responsible person.

Martin said: “That’s important to know because it means if you were to die, no one would have to pick up the debt from you afterwards.” And, secondly, if a person is declared “unlikely to ever be able to work again” due to either physical or mental illness, their debt is also wiped.

You can check the exact balance of what student finance is owed online in just a few minutes. Graduates need to log in to their online account managed by the Student Loans Company (SLC).