Starting university? Don’t let scammers target your student loan

If you’re getting ready to start university, you may be managing your money for the first time. As your maintenance loan payments begin, it’s important to stay alert for scams.

For the 2026/27 academic year, the Student Loans Company (SLC) is reminding you to be particularly careful around payment time.

What’s a maintenance loan?

A maintenance loan is a government-funded loan designed to help you cover your day-to-day living costs while you’re at university or college. This can include things like:

• rent
• food
• bills
• other everyday expenses

Your maintenance loan is usually paid in three instalments during the academic year.

You’ll need to repay your loan, but only once you’ve left your course and are earning above the relevant income threshold.

In September, the SLC is scheduled to pay around £2.6bn in maintenance support to 1.1 million students.

What’s the scam?

Scammers know lots of students are expecting payments, so they may try to catch you off guard.

You could receive a convincing text message, email or phone call claiming there’s a problem with your student finance.

Criminals may pretend to be the SLC and try to steal your personal information or money. They’re particularly active around student loan payment periods in September, January and April.

They might tell you:

• your bank details need updating
• your payment has been blocked
• your account will be closed
• you need to act urgently to receive your money

Don’t panic and don’t click on any links.

How can you protect yourself?

The SLC will never:

• Ask you to provide or confirm personal or financial information by email, text message or social media.
• Send you a message with an urgent deadline, such as “failure to respond in 24 hours will result in your account being closed”.
• Contact you through WhatsApp about your student finance.
• Initiate contact through social media to discuss your student finance application or entitlement.

What to do if you receive an unexpected message

If you receive a message that claims to be from the SLC, don’t click on any links.

Instead, sign in to your student finance account through the official GOV.UK website.

You should also:

• Never share personal information online that criminals could use to impersonate you. This includes your name, date of birth, customer reference number, course information, or current or previous address.
• Check your bank details carefully. If you’ve asked the SLC to change your bank details, they’ll send you a text message confirming the change. If you receive a message about a change you didn’t request, log in to your online account and check your information.
• Report suspicious emails by forwarding them to [email protected].
• Report scam texts by forwarding them free of charge to 7726.

If you think someone may have accessed your student finance account, contact the SLC using the official contact details provided on GOV.UK.

Remember: stop, check, don’t click

If a message about your maintenance loan makes you feel worried or rushed, take a moment before you do anything.

You don’t need to respond immediately. Go directly to your student finance account through GOV.UK and check what’s happening.