With January maintenance loan instalments due for autumn starters-and first payments for January entrants-the Student Loans Company (SLC) has issued a seasonal scam alert. In a GOV.UK notice published on 29 December 2025, SLC says criminals typically exploit payment windows with convincing texts, emails and calls that impersonate trusted bodies to obtain personal and banking data. The Company transfers billions of pounds each year, making these dates particularly attractive to fraudsters.
SLC’s Risk Director, Alan Balanowski, cautions that the organisation will not ask students to confirm personal or bank details by text or email. Students who receive unexpected messages are advised to pause and check their secure online account rather than clicking links or replying to unsolicited communications.
The Minister for Fraud, Lord Hanson, frames the alert within the government’s expanded Fraud Strategy and directs students to official advice. The Home Office-backed Stop! Think Fraud campaign provides practical guidance on spotting, preventing and reporting scams in one place.
SLC sets out how it will make contact. It will never initiate discussions about applications or entitlement via social media and does not provide services over WhatsApp. For customers in England, SLC may send an SMS if bank details are changed on an account and ask for confirmation; anyone receiving such a message without making a change should log in to their online account and review details immediately.
Indicators of a phishing attempt include poor spelling, punctuation or grammar, generic greetings such as “Dear Student”, and manufactured urgency suggesting accounts will be closed or payments blocked unless immediate action is taken. Students are advised to check link destinations before clicking, use only official phone numbers and channels, and limit what they publish about payment dates or personal data to reduce identity theft risk.
Clear reporting routes are set out across government channels. The SLC notice directs students to email report@phishing.gov.uk and to call the dedicated SLC hotline on 0300 100 0059 for immediate concerns. Separately, GOV.UK confirms that report@phishing.gov.uk is the National Cyber Security Centre’s Suspicious Email Reporting Service, and that scam texts can be forwarded free to 7726. Victims can also seek advice or make a crime report to Action Fraud online or by calling 0300 123 2040.
SLC oversees student finance on behalf of the UK government and devolved administrations, acting as the parent organisation for Student Finance England, Student Finance Wales and Student Finance Northern Ireland. This underpins the emphasis on using the secure SLC account to verify communications and review payments rather than trusting inbound messages.
Policy Wire analysis: the risk period runs through early to mid‑January as instalments arrive. Practical next steps include signing in to the SLC account to confirm bank details are correct, ensuring contact information is current, saving official contact numbers, and using two‑step verification on email and key services. Public awareness resources from Stop! Think Fraud remain the authoritative starting point for students and university support teams.