Student Finance Shambles-Who Can I Complain To?

[ganesh]

Having worked in finance, I cannot believe how shambolic the SF system is. My son dropped out of uni after a term and we and the uni know exactly how much is owed. We want to pay this off as the loan is earning 6.6%. The figures have been wrong since he started, we have had numerous phone calls, over 10 letters quoting different amounts,sometimes 2 in the same envelope and even the uni have spoken to them several times,been told different things and they are unable to just put it right.
Is there anybody, like the FSA perhaps who we could complain to or somebody who could just sort it out?.It's not even a complicated case but as it's a government body I'm not sure where to turn to.I have heard others who have had problems with them,they are ridiculous.

[Peter Pedant]

No, as a general principle I think you have to exhaust their own internal complaints system.
that'll take a few weeks
and then AFTER that..... MP and ombudsman ?

This is a bit Staffordy only in finance in that you are correct the whole system is rotten and there is no guarantee that SF will do anything besides sit on their a+ses

Oh find out who is the CEO of SF and write to him recorded delivery at his home address. That always irritates and may rouse to action

[buildersmate]

I'm not clear whether the FSA has any remit over this organisation - one might have thought so since it is offering loans.

The chain of command would seem to be:
Mick Laverty, CEO
Ed Smith, Non-Exec. Chairman of SLC, based in Glasgow
David Willetts MP, Minister for Universities and Science
Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills

The SLC is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), which basically means it is not part of any Government Department - it provides a service (sic! - or not) associated with the public sector, but it has a Framework Agreement and it runs at arms-length. However this one seems peculiar to me as it is actually a private limited company, not-for-profit, that is OWNED by the Dept BIS.

I'd start by writing to Mike Laverty.

[ganesh]

Thank-you, I will try this guy. I have asked to speak to someone 'in charge' and I have been 'put through' to different people on a couple of occasions who have vowed to put it right by the following week -they admit it is wrong-(can't see why in the computer age you can't just put it right straight away) and then nothing happens, or worse still, the figure increases again.It is such a simple case too and even the uni can't believe it.I did think of my MP but I will try and sort it with this CEO. I know that if it isn't right by April,another load of money will be sent out as they seem incapable of actually stopping payments!

[ganesh]

Or maybe better still, get the name of the next person I speak to who promises to fix it,and then threaten to report the situation to Mr. Laverty if it doesn't happen?

[ganesh]

Thanks for your suggestions back in february. I wrote to Mr Laverty, who merely wrote back thanking me for bringing it to his attention and passed it onto the 'complaints procedure' at customer relations. They then contacted me a fortnight later to tell me exactly the same thing-yes the figure is wrong and we will put it right.Nothing happened,still wrong.That didn't work then,who now? Would my MP be interested or is he only concerned with local issues? I honesty don't know what to do, it's very depressing.