Martin Lewis

I should say I'm not anti smart meter. I think smart meters can be pretty useful. You can see what you're using, so you're able to monitor your electricity yourself. You don't have to do meter readings for yourself, which makes the system on monthly direct debit much easier. There is a problem that too many smart meters are broken, and I've been pushing the government to try and change the way that it incentivizes companies, instead of just stop incentivizing them just to install them, but incentivize them to actually make them work better.

I'm far less anti smart meters than the caller sounds. But if you don't want a smart meter, there are fixes where you don't need them. We will do more energy questions in the pod. I know there's about lots, lots more and many more subjects. People talking about I'm fixed longer away. If I'm on a fix, should I get off that fix and fix again? I'll do all that in the pod. But Stefan, now play that music.

I don't like it. It's going to be fine. I don't like it. It's not going to be fine. Stefan, welcome. You're a money mastermind virgin. But don't worry, it's just a simple three-option multiple choice quiz. Let's see how you do. Now, everybody, I want you to picture a man with, let's say, a regular job on Fridays. He's incredibly excited as he's sitting in for a colleague and has a sexy new temporary assignment.

Jäppädi odottaa. Hän järjestää reputatiivansa järjestelmäpohjaan, jossa hän saattaa olla mahtava. Tämän tulokset voivat olla karjallisuus. Kuuletko, Stefan? Karjallisuus. Kyllä kuulen. Toivottavasti hän saattaa tehdä sen jälkeen. Hän saattaa tehdä sen jälkeen. Hän saattaa tehdä sen jälkeen. Hän saattaa tehdä sen jälkeen.

So imagine this man is 38 years old, went to university, let's say to study law, maybe to Welsh uni, let's say Cardiff. That means he'd almost certainly be on a Plan 1 student loan. If it's not clear yet, I think we know who we're talking about. Now Plan 1, just to say, the annual repayment threshold of Plan 1 is £26,900. Write that down. Is it down? £26,000, yep. And as with all undergraduate plans, you repay 9% of everything earned above that.

Jep. Tässä on kysymys. Tämä ihminen, hän on fiikkoinen ihminen. Jotkut, joita minä olen puhunut, ovat todennäköisiä. Hän saa 18 000 euroa vuodessa, joka on 1500 euroa kuukaudessa, joka on yli Plan 1-kohdalla.

But because of the danger money, he gets a one-off £12,000 bonus in one monthly pay packet, taking his total annual earnings to £30,000. My question is how much of that bonus would be taken for his student loan?

Are you with me? Yes. I'm going to give you multiple choice, but let's just check you've got it. Yeah, so basically, thanks to the £12,000 bonus, his annual income would have been £30,000, but all that £12,000 came in one month. Correct, and the threshold is £26,900. £26,000 is the threshold. So here are your options.

As it's based on the yearly income and he earns £30,000 total, he will pay 9% of the £3,100 above the threshold, which is £279. B. It is taken on the monthly amount, not the annual amount. The monthly threshold is a twelfth of £26,900, so it's £2,240. He earned £13,500 that month. 9% of the extra is £1,013. Yeah.

C. It's taken on the monthly amount, but at the tax year end he can ask for a refund of the difference so that he only paid 9% above the annual amount, so he is due therefore a £734 refund. So in the simple terms, in A it's based on the annual amount, in B it's based on the monthly amount, in C it's taken on the monthly amount but refunded based on the annual amount.

So Stefan, you've locked your answer in. You're saying, Steve, it's taken on the monthly amount, but you can get a refund based on the annual amount. So the first thing to say is when you pay your student loan, the amount that's taken through PAYE is based on the monthly threshold. How much you earn above a twelfth of the annual threshold is what is taken. So the answer could be B or it could be C.

But I'm afraid, unfortunately for you and unfortunately for many people repaying their student loans, in this case you would not be due a refund. You would have to pay it on the monthly amount. Fred, you got it wrong. You're not for mom. But actually, this is really important. There is a nuance in here that people need to understand.

On 5 miljoonaa ihmistä, joilla olen arvioinut, että he ovat lopettaneet koulutuksensa viiden vuoden aikana. Yli 1 miljoonaa, joka on lopettanut koulutuksensa viiden vuoden ajan yksin. Ja suurin kategoria on melkein se, mitä minulle antoi.

Suurimpana kategoriaan on se, että loppu joitain kuukausia jäljellä olet lopettanut loppu joitain kuukausia joitain kuukausia joitain kuukausia joitain kuukausia joitain kuukausia joitain kuukausia joitain kuukausia joitain kuukausia joitain kuukausia joitain kuukausia joitain kuukausia joitain kuukausia

But you would have still in the month you got the bonus, because you had that freaky one month income, they would have taken £563 off you, which is 9% above the monthly threshold, once you had the £7,000 added on to your normal typical £1,500 of earning. You with me? Yeah, I've got you. You would have been able to reclaim it.

Koska sinun täysin tuotantosi on alkuperäisessä. Mutta meillä on tällainen jännitys, että vaikka sinulla oli vain yli £1 alkuperäisessä, mutta sinulla oli kaikki tuotantosi yhden kuukauden aikana, niin sinulla olisi ollut monta kuukautta, ja sinulla olisi ollut paljon liikaa.

Se on vaikeaa sinulle ja vaikeaa ihmisille kuuntelemaan, miten se toimii, mutta tämä on todella iso asia. 1 074 521 ihmisiä vuoden 2024-2025 lainsäädännössä, viimeisenä vuonna, jolloin minulla on tietoa siitä, johdettiin lainsäädäntöä joitain kuukausia, vaikka ei saanut tarpeeksi lainsäädäntöä lainsäädännössä. Jos se on sinut, voit mennä takaisin

and reclaim it. And you can reclaim it online for all the past years that this happened with, although you can only do it for a tax year that has now ended. So you can be doing this up to the most recent tax year. They might just be in for the 6th of April 2025. It might not, it just depends on your account.

A couple of other reasons you may have overpaid your student loan. They put you on the wrong student loan payment plan. So by default they put you on plan 1, which is your student loan, even though far more people are on plan 2, which is for anyone who started university between 2012 and 2023.

Plan 1 onnistuminen on 9% yli 26,900. Plan 2 on 9% yli 29,385. Jos plan 1 onnistuttiin väärin ja saatiin 29,000 euroa, ei olisi pitänyt palata opiskelijakoneesi, mutta rahaa olisi otettu.