Your loan plan depends on when and where you studied. Plan 1 applies to students who started before September 2012 in England/Wales or current Scottish students. Plan 2 covers English/Welsh students who started 2012-2023. Plan 5 applies to English students starting from August 2023 onwards. Use our Plan Finder tool if you're unsure.

Repayments start the April after you leave your course (graduate or withdraw), but only if you earn above your plan's threshold. For Plan 2, that's £28,470/year (£2,372/month) in 2025/26. For Plan 5, it's £25,000/year (£2,083/month). If you earn less, you don't pay anything.

It depends on your expected lifetime earnings. Most graduates on Plan 2 or Plan 5 will never fully repay their loan before it's written off (30-40 years), so overpaying effectively gives the government free money. However, high earners who will repay in full can save on interest by overpaying. Use our Overpayment Calculator to model your scenario. Read our detailed guide: Is Overpaying Worth It?

Pension contributions reduce your taxable income, which also reduces your student loan repayments since they're calculated on pre-pension income. For example, if you earn £35,000 and contribute 5% (£1,750) to your pension, your loan repayments are calculated on £33,250 instead. This can be more tax-efficient than making direct overpayments. Use our calculator to model this - enter your pension percentage to see the impact.

You must inform the Student Loans Company if you move overseas for more than 3 months. You'll still need to make repayments based on your overseas income using country-specific thresholds. Interest continues to accrue. Different countries have different threshold levels - for example, the USA has higher thresholds than the UK. Visit our international guide for detailed information.