You are on a Postgraduate Loan plan if you took a Master’s or Doctoral loan. It is deducted at the same time as any undergraduate plan you hold. Use the calculator below, already set to Postgraduate, to see what you repay each month and whether you will ever clear the balance before it is written off.
Loan Summary
Career Scenario
| Year | Loan Balance | Total Repaid |
|---|
What you repay on Postgraduate
You repay 6% of everything you earn above £21,000 a year. Not 6% of your whole salary, only the slice above the threshold. Earn below it and you repay nothing at all, automatically. Repayments are taken straight from your payslip through PAYE, so there is nothing to set up.
| Annual salary | Income above threshold | Monthly repayment |
|---|---|---|
| £28,000 | £7,000 | £35.00 |
| £35,000 | £14,000 | £70.00 |
| £45,000 | £24,000 | £120.00 |
A worked example
On a salary of £35,000, you are £14,000 above the Postgraduate threshold of £21,000. 6% of £14,000 is £840.00 a year, which is £70.00 a month taken from your payslip. If you get a pay rise to £45,000, the monthly deduction rises to £120.00.
Interest on Postgraduate
Postgraduate loan interest is RPI plus 3%, whatever you earn. From 1 September 2026 the rate is capped at 6%.
Interest matters less than most people assume. Because repayments are fixed at 6% of income above the threshold, a higher interest rate does not change your monthly payment by a single penny. It only changes the balance, and for most borrowers that balance is written off before it is ever cleared. Model it with the full repayment calculator to see whether interest will actually cost you anything.
When Postgraduate is written off
Postgraduate loans are written off 30 years after the April you were first due to repay. At that point the remaining balance is wiped, with no tax charge and nothing to pay. Your loan is also written off if you die, or if you receive a disability-related benefit and are permanently unfit for work.
Other repayment plans
Not on Postgraduate? The threshold and write-off period differ on every plan:
- Plan 2 student loan calculator — repayments start at £29,385
- Plan 5 student loan calculator — repayments start at £25,000
Frequently asked questions
What happens if I earn less than £21,000?
You repay nothing. Repayments stop automatically the moment your income drops below the threshold, and they restart when it rises again. You do not need to tell anyone, because it is handled through payroll.
Does my Postgraduate loan affect my credit score?
No. UK student loans do not appear on your credit file. They can affect a mortgage affordability assessment, because the lender sees the deduction on your payslip, but the balance itself is invisible to credit reference agencies.
Should I overpay my Postgraduate loan?
Usually not, and it is the most common expensive mistake. Overpaying only helps if you would otherwise clear the balance in full before the 30-year write-off. If the loan is going to be written off anyway, every extra pound you pay is a pound you never get back. Check your own position before you overpay anything.
What if I have more than one loan plan?
If you hold two undergraduate plans, 9% is deducted once, on income above the lowest of your thresholds. A Postgraduate Loan is different: its 6% is deducted on top of any undergraduate repayment, so you can pay both at once. Tick more than one plan in the calculator to see the combined figure.
Figures are the current published Postgraduate threshold and rules for the 2026/27 tax year. Thresholds are reviewed each April. This is an estimate, not financial advice.