Martin Lewis says there are 'four ways to wipe your student loan'

Martin Lewis says there are 'four ways to wipe your student loan' The personal finance guru has shared a new one minute guide to the rules Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis has said there are four ways your student loan debt can be wiped out. Taking to social media on Wednesday, the personal finance guru said your huge university debt can be cancelled for a number of reasons. Rising criticism of the system this year has focused particularly on the repayment terms for plan 2 loans after the Chancellor announced at the autumn 2025 budget that the repayment threshold would be frozen for three years. These loans are those taken out for undergraduate courses and postgraduate certificates of education since September 1 2012 in Wales, and between September 1 2012 and July 31 2023 in England. Interest on plan 2 loans is charged at the rate of Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation plus up to 3%, depending on how much a graduate earns. The Government announced earlier this year that this interest will be capped at 6% from September to protect graduates from rising inflation during the war in Iran. The repayment threshold will be frozen for three years at £29,385 from April 2027 under the autumn budget changes, meaning more graduates will start making repayments earlier. Once graduates cross the threshold, they repay 9% of their income above it. Martin said the four ways to wipe the debt start with paying off what you borrowed plus all of the interest. The debt will also be cancelled if you die. Thirdly, the debt will be cancelled if it is deemed you are unlikely to ever be able to work again due to physical or mental illness. The debt will also be cancelled after a set time, which depends on when you went to university and which nation you are from. Writing on Money Saving Expert, Martin said: " Current students from England now need to wait 40 years after leaving university before their loans will be wiped, their predecessors only 30 years. Yet there are more options even than that, it all depends on when and where you started university." He added: " To ensure you understand the process: when you have a student loan, you're eligible to repay it after you leave university and once you earn enough (exactly how it works depends on which loan type you have), but you’re only eligible to do that for a set time. "Of course, some will clear the student loan in full before then, in which case they won’t need to pay any more. If not, once you get to the time deadline ... you don’t need to make any more repayments, whether or not you cleared what you owed in full. This happens automatically. " That means in practice the student loan is wiped, or cancelled, or written off – however you want to think of it."