UK Student Loan Plan Selector & Repayment Simulator (2026)

Auto-detects your UK student loan plan (Plan 1, 2, 4, 5 or Postgraduate) from study start year, nation and course level using official SLC rules. Simulates year-by-year balance evolution using current RPI (2.8%) and BoE base rate (4.75%), the correct interest-rate basis per plan (RPI-only for Plan 5, income-linked RPI-to-RPI+3% for Plan 2, lower-of-RPI-or-BoE+1% for Plans 1/4), 9% repayment rate above plan-specific thresholds, and write-off at 25/30/40 years. Provides a clear overpay verdict: "yes" if you clear well before write-off, "no" if the balance will be written off anyway.

⏱️ 4-6 minutes • 💪 Standard

Updated April 2026

How This Tool Works

📋 Purpose

UK student loans are income-contingent and written off after 25, 30 or 40 years. Overpaying only saves money if you would have cleared the loan before write-off — otherwise it\u2019s paying down debt that would have been cancelled. This simulator models your exact year-by-year balance using SLC thresholds, rates and write-off rules, then tells you clearly whether to overpay.

⚙️ How It Works

  1. 1
    Detect your plan from study start year, nation and course level.
  2. 2
    Enter outstanding balance from the SLC portal.
  3. 3
    Enter current salary and expected growth rate.
  4. 4
    Enter years since graduation (write-off clock).
  5. 5
    We calculate current interest rate per plan rules.
  6. 6
    We simulate annual mandatory repayment (9% or 6% above threshold).
  7. 7
    Year-by-year balance evolution until cleared or written off.
  8. 8
    Overpay verdict based on clearance vs write-off timing.

UK Student Loan Simulator — 2026

Which student loan plan are you on, and should you overpay?

UK student loans are income-contingent: you pay a fixed percentage above a salary threshold, and the balance is written off after 25, 30 or 40 years depending on plan. Overpaying only saves money if you would have cleared the loan before write-off — otherwise it’s wasted cash. This simulator uses the current PLAN5 RPI (2.8%) and BoE base rate (4.75%) to model your year-by-year balance.

Step 1 — Detect your plan

Detected: Plan 2 — English/Welsh undergraduates starting Sept 2012 – Aug 2023

Step 2 — Your loan & salary

RPI + up to 3% (income-linked) — 30yr write-off

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Complete Guide: UK Student Loans in 2026

How UK student loan plans work, when to overpay, and how the 2023 Plan 5 reforms change the calculation.

📅 Last updated: April 2026

Quick Tips

Jump-start your understanding with these essential tips

On typical graduate salary trajectories (£27k starting → £50k at 15 years), the loan is written off with a large outstanding balance. Overpaying = wasted money.

The 2023 reforms (lower threshold, 40-year write-off) mean most Plan 5 borrowers WILL repay in full. Overpaying saves interest — compare to ISA/pension returns.

Even if you should overpay, maximise employer pension match first (free money), then ISA/LISA for first home, THEN student loan overpayments.

Log in at studentloanrepayment.co.uk to verify PAYE deductions are reaching your account. HMRC can take 12+ months to transfer; extra delay costs interest.

If applying for a mortgage in 12 months, a £5k lump sum to clear the loan removes a monthly commitment and can increase your borrowing capacity by 4-5×.

Step-by-Step Guide

Follow these steps to get the most from this tool

Set your study start year, nation and course level. The tool picks Plan 1/2/4/5/Postgrad using the official SLC rules.

Log into studentloanrepayment.co.uk (SLC portal) to get your exact outstanding balance, including accrued interest. Don't guess — the number matters.

Use gross annual salary. Salary growth: 3% is a typical long-run UK wage growth assumption. Graduates in finance/tech may assume 5–8% for the first decade.

Write-off is counted from the first April after graduation. If you graduated 2 years ago, you have 23 / 28 / 38 years left depending on plan.

First run with £0 voluntary overpayment to see the default outcome. This tells you whether the loan is cleared or written off.

Re-run with £500 or £1000 annual voluntary overpayments. See if it accelerates clearance or just reduces an eventual write-off (= wasted money).

"Yes" = you clear well before write-off, overpaying saves interest. "Marginal" = you clear near write-off, compare to other returns. "No" = loan will be written off, do not overpay.

Advanced Topics

Deep dives for advanced users

Martin Lewis's standard guidance: "Your student loan is not really a loan, it's a graduate tax." This is accurate for Plan 1/2/4 for most borrowers. For Plan 5 it's less accurate — more borrowers will repay in full. The loan-vs-tax framing is useful for avoiding panic but shouldn't drive overpayment decisions.

Plan 2 uniquely uses income-linked interest (RPI to RPI+3% across a salary band). This means higher earners pay more interest, which is designed as a progressive tax. If you're on Plan 2 and your salary crosses the upper band (~£51k), your interest rate jumps to RPI+3% — worth modelling.

PAYE employees have repayments deducted monthly by payroll. Self-employed pay via Self-Assessment annually in one lump sum — this means a longer period of interest accrual, so SE borrowers pay marginally more interest overall. Plan accordingly.

A graduate starting at 22 on Plan 5 is written off at 62. Most graduates will be repaying the loan across their entire working life (and will still have 3-5 years of repayment during their peak earning years in their 50s). This is materially different from Plan 2 where write-off hits at 52.

Salary Sacrifice EV Impact, Marriage Allowance Checker, NI Gap Fill Priority Scorer.

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