Plan thresholds to 2025/26
Plan 2 Student Loan Repayment Calculator
Plan 2 student loan: 9% of earnings over £27,295, interest tracking RPI, written off 30 years after repayments started. See if you'll clear it before write-off or pay interest for nothing.
- Your balance
- With £0/month overpayment
The balance is written off in Apr 2049 with £112,452 still outstanding. Total repaid over the loan's life: £34,361.
| Year | Balance | Balance with overpayment |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | £45,000 | £45,000 |
| 1 | £46,629 | £46,629 |
| 2 | £48,321 | £48,321 |
| 3 | £50,084 | £50,084 |
| 4 | £51,924 | £51,924 |
| 5 | £53,847 | £53,847 |
| 6 | £55,863 | £55,863 |
| 7 | £57,979 | £57,979 |
| 8 | £60,207 | £60,207 |
| 9 | £62,556 | £62,556 |
| 10 | £65,039 | £65,039 |
| 11 | £67,668 | £67,668 |
| 12 | £70,459 | £70,459 |
| 13 | £73,428 | £73,428 |
| 14 | £76,592 | £76,592 |
| 15 | £79,973 | £79,973 |
| 16 | £83,588 | £83,588 |
| 17 | £87,363 | £87,363 |
| 18 | £91,305 | £91,305 |
| 19 | £95,426 | £95,426 |
| 20 | £99,735 | £99,735 |
| 21 | £104,243 | £104,243 |
| 22 | £108,961 | £108,961 |
| 23 | £112,452 | £112,452 |
Information
Plan 2 is the repayment plan for students in England and Wales who started an undergraduate course between 1 September 2012 and 31 July 2023. You repay 9% of everything you earn above the £27,295 threshold, taken automatically through your pay, and interest is linked to RPI: RPI while you were studying, then a rate that tapers from RPI to RPI plus 3% across income once you're repaying, capped at a prevailing market rate. Any balance left is written off 30 years after repayments first became due.
Will you clear it? Because Plan 2 interest can run a few points above the repayments for a mid-income earner, the balance often grows for years before write-off. This calculator projects your balance to the write-off date and tells you, in plain terms, whether you clear it or it's cancelled with a balance still outstanding. If you're heading for write-off, a voluntary overpayment saves nothing, and the verdict above says so directly.
What's simplified. The projection uses a single salary growing at a flat rate and holds RPI and the base rate constant. It models the PAYE repayment on your salary only. Open the full planner to model a real income path and weigh the loan against the rest of your finances.
FAQ
- Will I ever pay off my Plan 2 loan?
Many mid-income Plan 2 borrowers don't. Interest is linked to RPI and can run a few points above it while you're earning well, so it often accrues faster than the 9%-above-threshold repayments reduce the balance. The loan then grows for years and is written off 30 years after repayments started, with the remainder cancelled. Enter your numbers above to see whether you clear it or it's written off.
- Will I ever actually pay off my student loan?
For a lot of mid-income graduates, no, and that's not a failure, it's how the system is designed. Repayments are a fixed percentage of what you earn above the threshold, while interest accrues on the whole balance. If interest outruns repayments, the balance grows until it's written off (25, 30, or 40 years after repayments were first due, depending on your plan) and the rest is cancelled. This calculator tells you which case you're in: look at the "Written off" figure.
- Should I overpay my student loan to clear it faster?
Only if you'd otherwise clear it before the write-off date. If your loan is heading for write-off anyway, every extra pound you pay just reduces a balance that was going to be cancelled, so you save nothing. Enter a monthly overpayment above and the calculator shows a red verdict ("you'd save nothing") or a green one ("saves money and clears it earlier"). When in doubt, that money usually does more in an ISA, a pension, or paying down higher-interest debt.
- How much will I repay each month?
9% of everything you earn above your plan's threshold (6% for a postgraduate Plan 3 loan), taken automatically through your pay. On a £35,000 salary with a £27,295 Plan 2 threshold that's about £58 a month. Earn below the threshold and you repay nothing that month, regardless of how much you owe.
- When does my loan get written off?
It depends on your plan: Plan 1 after 25 years, Plan 2, Plan 4 and postgraduate after 30 years, and Plan 5 after 40 years, counted from the April after you finished your course, when repayments first became due. The "Write-off date" figure shows the exact month for your inputs.
- Why does the region matter if my plan is the same?
Your plan sets the threshold, the percentage, and the write-off term, and those are UK-wide. The region sets the interest formula: England's plans are RPI-linked with a market-rate cap, Scotland and Northern Ireland charge the lower of base rate plus 1% or RPI, and Wales uses an income-tapered RPI rate. Pick where you took the loan out so the interest matches.
- Is this calculator up to date with current rates?
It uses the published per-plan thresholds and the statutory interest rules from our legislative data, and pre-fills the latest RPI and Bank of England base rate (shown, and editable, under Advanced). RPI and the base rate are held flat across the whole projection, a simplification, so treat the long-run figures as an indication.
Sources
- Repaying your student loan: what you pay (GOV.UK)
- Interest rates on student loans (GOV.UK)
Disclaimer
Not financial advice. The figures above are a projection from the inputs and assumptions you provided; your real repayments depend on your actual income each year and future changes to RPI. Check your statement at the Student Loans Company before making a decision based on these numbers.
