28 November 2005
Student loans look increasingly likely to be treated in the same manner as any other after the Student Loans Company (SLC) urged to have its bad debtors blacklisted for future credit.
People who fail to pay off their debts on time will be prevented from taking out high street mortgages, personal loans or credit cards if the SLC's wish to be allowed to pass on debtors' details to credit referencing agencies is given the green light.
SLC chief executive Ralph Seymour-Jackson told the Times about the reasoning behind the desired change to the existing rules, saying that perceptions of the nature of student debt are changing and that regulations must be altered as such.
He said: "First, this is a debt to the taxpayer and needs to be collected. There is also the issue of responsible lending where banks need to have a full picture of the debts a borrower has in order to make the right lending decisions. We should play our part in this.
"I suspect in the early days this was viewed as a very different sort of debt. There has been a change in attitude and a recognition that this [data sharing] will improve the way we manage the debts of the Exchequer."
Over 59,000 graduates are currently in arrears with monies owed to the SLC, giving a bad debt total of £162.5 million. Furthermore, another 58,000 are behind with their repayments and threatening to become a credit risk.
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