ASK TONY: I paid student loan off but payments continued – I lost £492

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In October last year I repaid £20,000 of my student loan. In January I paid off the rest — around £4,000.

The Student Loans Company (SLC) confirmed the debt was paid and gave me a £24 refund. But a further £492 was taken from my salary until April.

My employer, a local borough council, says it had stopped the deductions by May. It told me to contact SLC, which said that as I voluntarily repaid the loan I’m now not due a refund.

N. W., London.

The problem here was with your employer’s payroll operation.

When you repaid your loan in full, SLC sent a stop notice to your employer to advise that further repayment deductions should cease.

Yet, SLC received further deductions taken by your employer in February and March. It has refunded these to you directly. A further deduction was taken in April, but no more have or will be taken.

The issue with your employer also meant that SLC was not aware of the April payment, and would not normally have been able to refund it until this issue was resolved.

However, SLC refunded the money after I made contact, and it should be with you by now.

SLC explains that when a loan is repaid in full, it advises HM Revenue and Customs, which tells the employer to stop taking repayments from the salary.

All repayments taken by the employer are then reported to HMRC, and this information is made available to SLC.

If any further deductions are made these will be refunded.

I took a £13 per month SIM-only deal with Vodafone two years ago. This recently increased to £19 per month.

I received a bank statement this week, and to my horror £197.79 was taken in April.

I have no idea how this was calculated and there was no breakdown of any charges.

Customer services couldn’t tell me how the firm arrived at this figure. However, someone did arrange for me to receive a different package costing £9.98 per month.

C. A., Shrewton, Wilts.

When you sign up to a mobile phone contract, you are usually given the option of receiving bills by email or text, via an online account, or in the post (for a fee). Always check which method you are signed up to, and look at your bill monthly.

In your case you had gone beyond your monthly call limit so were being charged 55p per minute for phone calls — which is why you received such a high bill.

Mobile phone companies can put a credit limit on your account to stop overspend and Vodafone has now done this for you.

It has also added £178.79 to your account as a gesture of goodwill — that’s your bill minus the £19 monthly fee. Your account will remain in credit until this is used up.

Your new tariff includes unlimited minutes and texts. It really is worth checking mobile phone contracts and negotiating, because many phone companies now offer this for a reasonable monthly fee.

I, for instance, pay Three £10 a month for unlimited minutes and texts with 12 GB of data on a SIM-only contract.

My neighbour’s house is slightly higher than ours. They built up their garden by placing tons of earth and a patio against our garage (which is attached to our house) well above the damp proof course.

It was only when I couldn’t open my garage door some years later that I realised that my property had been damaged.

A builder said that it looked as though the neighbour’s concrete patio had initially been laid up to the brick wall of our garage, which meant that it would expand in the summer months and put further pressure on the garage wall.

My insurance company, More Than, has refused to cover the damage. An insurance assessor described it as accidental damage caused by the added weight against the garage.

I have full accidental damage cover on my buildings insurance. However, More Than says the problem is due to a natural breakdown of materials and not the result of an insured cause.

It says that as I have legal expenses insurance, I must sue my neighbour. I am concerned about taking on the legal costs.

I am 79, not in good health and the primary carer of my husband who has terminal cancer.

I have been greatly distressed by the treatment I have received from More Than, and I am really not keen on the course of action it has suggested.

M. D., Wigan, Gr. Manchester.

when you are sitting in an insurance office it is easy to talk about suing a neighbour, but most of us would be very reluctant to do this.

Perhaps it is better to think of it instead as (hopefully) suing your neighbour’s insurer.

The good news is that if you take this course of action, you would not incur any expenses because of the legal expenses insurance.

If there were any likelihood of expenses, then you would be warned in advance, and would have the option of not pursuing the action further.

A More Than spokesman admits it did not correctly explain the reason why the claim was declined. Also, when you disputed this decision, it did not address your complaint correctly.

More Than has apologised, and is arranging for a detailed cause of damage report to be carried out. This will help confirm if it can be covered by your insurance.

More Than will be offering you compensation once it has made a full review of the claim.

A spokesman apologises for the stress and inconvenience caused, adding: ‘We always strive to handle claims swiftly and sensitively, but on this occasion our service fell short.’

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