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Student Loan Scheme Act 2011

Excess repayments

120: Commissioner must notify borrower of excess repayment

You could also call this:

“The government tells you if you've paid too much on your student loan”

If you have a student loan, the government keeps track of your repayments. Sometimes, you might pay more than you need to. This is called an excess repayment. When this happens, the person in charge (called the Commissioner) needs to tell you about it.

The Commissioner will send you a letter if you’ve made an excess repayment. They will do this as soon as they can. In the letter, they will tell you:

  1. That you’ve made an excess repayment
  2. How much extra you’ve paid
  3. That they’ve used the extra money to reduce your total loan balance
  4. What choices you have about what to do with the extra money
  5. How long you have to tell them what you want to do

The Commissioner doesn’t have to send you a letter if the excess repayment is $5 or less.

If the Commissioner checks your past repayments and finds out that they made a mistake in working out how much you should have paid, they’ll also let you know if this means you’ve paid too much.

You can find out more about your options for excess repayments in section 121 of the law.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM3180274.

Topics:
Education and learning > Higher education Money and consumer rights > Banking and loans
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Part 3 Excess repayments

120Commissioner must notify borrower of excess repayment

  1. Subsection (2) applies if subpart 2 of Part 2 applies to a borrower and—

  2. an excess repayment is made for the borrower; or
    1. upon investigation by the Commissioner of the borrower's repayment obligation for a prior tax year, the Commissioner is satisfied that—
      1. the repayment obligation assessed by the Commissioner is incorrect; and
        1. as a result, an excess repayment has been made.

        2. The Commissioner must, as soon as practicable, notify the borrower in writing—

        3. that an excess repayment has been made for the borrower; and
          1. of the amount of the excess repayment; and
            1. that the excess repayment has been offset against the borrower's consolidated loan balance; and
              1. of the borrower's options in relation to the excess repayment (see section 121); and
                1. of the time frames within which the borrower must notify the Commissioner if the borrower wishes to exercise 1 or more of those options.

                  1. Subsection (2) does not apply if the excess repayment is $5 or less.

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                  Notes
                  • Section 120(1): replaced, on , by section 21 of the Student Loan Scheme Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 10).