When do I start repaying my Plan 5 student loan?

Who is on Plan 5?

Plan 5 is the repayment plan for students from England who started an undergraduate course on or after 1 August 2023. If you started before that, you're probably on Plan 2. Students from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are on different plans (more on that below). Not sure? Your plan is shown in your online student loan account, and our lesson Which plan are you on? walks you through it.

When do repayments start?

The earliest you'll start repaying is the April after you leave your course. That applies whether you graduate, drop out or switch courses. So if you finish in June 2027, the earliest anything comes out of your pay is April 2028.

Even then, nothing happens unless you earn more than the threshold. For 2026/27 the Plan 5 threshold is £25,000 a year, which works out at about £2,083 a month or £480 a week before tax.

How much do you repay?

You pay 9% of everything you earn above the threshold. Not 9% of your salary, and not 9% of what you owe. Just 9% of the bit over £25,000.

Some real examples for 2026/27:

• Earn £24,000: you pay nothing. You're under the threshold.
• Earn £28,000: £3,000 is over the line, so you pay £270 a year, or about £22.50 a month.
• Earn £35,000: £10,000 is over, so you pay £900 a year, or £75 a month.
• Earn £45,000: you pay £1,800 a year, or about £150 a month.

Notice what's missing from that list: the size of your loan. Someone who owes £40,000 and someone who owes £70,000 pay exactly the same each month if they earn the same. Your balance only decides how long you might keep paying, not how much leaves your payslip.

How do you actually pay it?

If you're employed, it's automatic. Your employer takes it through payroll alongside Income Tax and National Insurance, and you'll see a "Student Loan" line on your payslip. You don't set up a direct debit or remember a due date. If you're self-employed, you pay it through your Self Assessment tax return instead.

If your income drops below the threshold, repayments stop on their own. Lost your job, went part-time, took a career break? Nothing is owed for that period, and it doesn't count as missing a payment. Want to understand those payslip lines? Try Reading a payslip.

Interest and the 40-year write-off

Plan 5 loans charge interest at the Retail Prices Index (RPI). From 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 that's 4.1%. Interest is added from the day the first payment is made to you, so your balance can grow while you study.

Here's the twist: whatever you haven't repaid after 40 years is written off. That clock starts from the April you were first due to repay. Many people will repay a big chunk, some will repay all of it, and some will have part of it written off. Our lesson Interest, overpaying and write-off shows how those three outcomes play out.

Does a student loan hurt your credit score?

Your student loan isn't shown on your credit file, and if you're paid through PAYE the repayments come out automatically, so there's no bill to miss. A mortgage lender may still ask about it, because the monthly deduction reduces what you take home. That's affordability, not a black mark. We bust more of these in Student debt myths.

Should you overpay?

You can make extra payments at any time, but this is a personal decision and we don't give advice. The thing to understand is that overpaying only saves you money if you'd otherwise repay the full balance before the 40-year write-off. If you wouldn't, extra payments may simply reduce an amount that was going to be written off anyway. Free, impartial help is available from MoneyHelper.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

The bit to remember

Plan 5 behaves less like a normal debt and more like a graduate tax with an end date: 9% of income over £25,000, taken automatically, stopping when you earn less, gone after 40 years. Want to feel it rather than read it? The student finance library has a game where you fast-forward a graduate's career and watch the balance move.