What David feels is a lack of a credible threat from the Student Loans Company, and the fact that they haven’t made attempts to contact him in years, means he has lost little sleep over the debt.

“I haven’t even heard from the Student Loans Company in a while, but if they do get in touch I still won’t give them anything,” he said. 

“I don’t think they’ll come after me, and even if they do, I have no significant assets they can seize, unless they’re interested in my record collection.

“I have no intention of ever returning to the UK. If I did, things might be different – I’d want to fully understand the consequences of not making repayments. But even then, I don’t think they’d do much except increase my repayments a bit.”

Lack of legal action

For somebody living abroad that plans to return to the UK at some point in the future, a decision to bury their head in the sand and stop making repayments may have severe financial consequences.

When a graduate with a UK student loan moves abroad, the SLC requests that they provide accurate salary information along with evidence of means they have to support themselves, if applicable. They may be asked to provide a copy of a payslip as proof of income.

If graduates fail to comply and provide evidence of their salary, they will enter arrears, which will begin to accumulate. They will also be expected to make a fixed monthly repayment which can be as high as £295, depending on the country they reside in. 

If a graduate fails to make due repayments, they can face financial penalties as well as being asked to repay their full balance on the spot. If they return to the UK and join the workforce, they may find that their monthly payments are far higher than they otherwise would have been. 

However, action taken by the SLC against those who don’t make repayment, and who remain overseas indefinitely, appears to come mainly in the form of threats of penalties, rather than concrete action or litigation.