Student Loan Repayment Calculator

Monthly repayment, years to clear, and how much gets written off.

£
£
Started Sept 2012 onwards (England/Wales)
% per year
Assumed annual salary increase
Thresholds for tax year 2025/26. Does not include interest accrual on the loan balance.

How to Use This Calculator

Enter your student loan balance, annual salary, and select your loan plan (Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, Plan 5, or Postgraduate Loan). The calculator instantly shows your monthly repayment, total amount repaid, and how much may be written off.

Expand "More options" to set an expected salary growth rate. This gives you a more realistic projection of your repayments over the full loan term, as your salary — and therefore your repayments — are likely to increase each year.

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The Formula

Student loan repayments in the UK are income-contingent. You only repay when your income exceeds the threshold for your plan, and the amount is a fixed percentage of earnings above that threshold.

Monthly Repayment = (Annual Salary − Threshold) × Rate ÷ 12

Plan Thresholds & Rates — 2025/26

Plan 1£26,065 threshold (9%)
Plan 2£28,470 threshold (9%)
Plan 4£32,745 threshold (9%)
Plan 5£25,000 threshold (9%)
Postgraduate Loan£21,000 threshold (6%)

Write-off periods

Any remaining balance is written off after the write-off period. Plan 2 loans are written off after 30 years from the April after you graduated. Plan 5 loans are written off after 40 years. Plan 1 and Plan 4 loans are written off when you turn 65 or 25 years after the April you were first eligible to repay (whichever comes first).

Example

Alex — Plan 2, typical graduate salary

Alex graduated in 2020 with a £45,000 student loan balance and earns £35,000 per year. He wants to know how much he'll actually repay before the loan is written off.

Loan balance£45,000
Annual salary£35,000
PlanPlan 2
Threshold£28,470

His annual repayment is calculated as:

Income above threshold£35,000 − £28,470 = £6,530
Annual repayment£6,530 × 9% = £588/yr
Monthly repayment£588 ÷ 12 = £49/mo

With 3% annual salary growth, Alex repays approximately £28,000 over the 30-year term. The remaining ∼£17,000 is written off — meaning he never repays the full balance. For most Plan 2 borrowers on average salaries, this is the typical outcome.

FAQ

Usually no. If your projected repayments over the write-off period are less than your outstanding balance, you'll never repay the full amount — so making extra payments is essentially giving money away. Early repayment only makes sense if you're a high earner who will comfortably clear the balance before write-off, or if you want to reduce the interest accumulating on a large balance. Use the calculator to see whether you're on track to repay in full or have a portion written off.
It depends on when and where you studied. Plan 1: you started before September 2012 in England or Wales, or any time in Northern Ireland. Plan 2: you started on or after September 2012 in England or Wales. Plan 4: you studied in Scotland. Plan 5: you started on or after September 2023 in England. Postgraduate Loan: you took out a postgraduate master's or doctoral loan. You can check your plan on the Student Loans Company (SLC) repayment portal.
No. Student loans in the UK are not reported to credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion), so they don't appear on your credit report and won't affect your credit score. However, lenders may factor in your student loan repayments when assessing affordability for a mortgage or other borrowing, since the repayments reduce your disposable income.
You must report your income to the Student Loans Company (SLC) and continue making repayments. When you live overseas, HMRC no longer collects repayments through PAYE, so you make payments directly to the SLC based on your foreign income. The SLC sets fixed repayment thresholds for each country. Failing to keep the SLC informed can result in penalties and a fixed repayment amount being imposed regardless of your actual earnings.

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