Petition · past parliament · Department for Education

Cut student loan's interest rate to properly reflect Bank of England's base rate

Closed 267 signatures

What the petition asks

Recipients of student loans are charged with an interest rate of up to 5.4% annually, despite the central bank's base rate of mere 0.1%. Students should not be charged an excessive premium on interest, and the student loan's interest rate needs to be reduced to reflect Bank of England's rate cut.
The interest rate of student loan is lower bounded by the Retail Price Index, an indicator of inflation. The rate is RPI + 3% for current students, and RPI + up to 3% after graduation. This means that Bank of England's interest rate cut in response to COVID-19 has no effect on student loan's interest, and an increase in inflation perversely leads to an increase in interest rate for students. This is vastly unfair and adds undue financial burden on students at this difficult time.

Timeline

30 Apr 2020 Petition opened for signatures
30 Oct 2020 Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 267
Status Closed
Department Department for Education
Opened 30 Apr 2020
Closed 30 Oct 2020

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.