AN OXFORD MP stepped in to help a struggling student when her loan payment was more than a month late.

Andrew Smith helped get the Student Loans Company (SLC) to pay Isobel Thompson the £1,600 she was owed and desperately needed.

Miss Thompson, 20, used up her overdraft and needed her family to bail her out so she could pay the £430 monthly rent at her East Oxford room while she waited nearly five weeks for the payment.

The Oxford Brookes University student, studying music and history, said: “I should have had the money on September 22 and I didn’t get it until October 23.

“I went so far into my overdraft to pay my first month’s rent, the bank cut me off.

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“Luckily my family was able to scrabble together some money for me to live off.

“If SLC had taken any longer I would have been in real trouble because I wouldn’t have been able to pay my second lot of rent.”

Despite phoning three times a week, Miss Thompson said SLC staff told her the money was on its way.

It was not until a month later, after turning to Oxford East MP Mr Smith, that Miss Thompson got an explanation.

The details of her SLC account had not been “linked” to her bank account, so her money had nowhere to go.

Miss Thompson has since been offered £30 in compensation, but still feels upset over the ordeal.

She said: “I went through four weeks of unnecessary stress because of it.

“Every time I called they didn’t listen to me and didn’t take me seriously.”

In an October 24 email to Miss Thompson, customer relations officer Phill Jones said: “Until we are made aware of these errors by the customer we are unable to resolve these issues on accounts.

“We do rely on customers to contact us if there is an error on their account which is affecting their application.”

Mr Smith agreed to help Miss Thompson when he heard her plight.

He said: “It is dreadful when students are let down by late payments from the SLC.

“I was pleased to be able to help in chasing up Miss Thompson’s case, but this is a delay that should never have happened in the first place.

“I also think she should be given more than the £30 compensation she has been offered.”

SLC spokesman Mark-Lee Kelly refused to comment on Mr Jones’s email to Miss Thompson, but said: “An issue with SLC’s systems meant that Miss Thompson’s bank details did not link to our payment system which caused the delay in her receiving her maintenance loan.

“We apologise to Miss Thompson for the inconvenience this has caused and £30 compensation has been offered.”

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