Debt for sale

THE last sections of the Education (Student Loans) Act come into force on Sunday, but there is still no word of which company is to buy the existing loan debt.

The act legislates for the sale of the loan debt portfolio, worth an estimated at Pounds 3.1 billion over two years. The purchaser will receive a subsidy to compensate for students defaulting on and deferring their loan repayments. No limits have been set on the subsidy, which the government and the purchaser will negotiate The Teaching and Higher Education Bill, which is expected to be made law later this year, will supplant the Student Loans Act.