Student Loans to be Privatised

So apparently the government is planning on selling all student loans taken out between 1988 and 2012 to private companies.

Well that’s good isn’t it? No more strain on the old public purse and the private sector will be obliged to keep to those good old low interest rates…oh wait my mistake, that’s utter rubbish.

There has been no confirmation that the private companies buying the debts will have any obligation to keep to the current interest rates and I can tell you now that they won’t.

First reason for this; well what kind of business would you be running if you charged such little interest on money owed to you? A really bad one is the answer, s no one in their right mind would ever take on such a massive amount of debtors without the government having to sweeten the deal by allowing them to get creative with the amount they can make off it. 

Second reason; have you ever encountered a bank or private financial agency that didn’t try to screw you over with interest?

So here’s the thing; I took out a student loan in 2009 to pay for my Law Degree and in my time at Uni, I don’t think I met single person who didn’t. I (and everyone I met at Uni), agreed to the loans we agreed to; the reason we did that was because they were such a good deal.

You go from Uni and start at the bottom of the jobs ladder (for which ever profession you choose). I knew that when I started University in 2009 and part of being willing to do it was knowing that when I went into work and started earning enough, paying back the money I was borrowing wouldn’t be a massive strain.

Under a private company, it will be, under a private company, I’ll be paying back twice as much. It’s not right and it’s not what I agreed to.