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

Closed on 30 October 2020

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.