QUOTE(WifeOHunkyJohn @ Aug 9 2007, 06:44 PM)

Perhaps it is a different student loan that the OP has compared to mine, but I doubt the terms and conditions would be that different...
Perhaps your terms are different if you're from Scotland? I'm not trying to be a joker, its just that higher education arrangements for Scots can be different than from us Englishy types.
Alright - loans from the Student Loans Company:
Okay, for one thing it is
you're responsibility in all cases to notify the Student Loans Company of your earnings if you're outside the British tax system, which obviously you are - if you don't you can make yourself liable for a kind of "emergency" repayment amount, which is somewhere in the region of £250
per month. So, if you're planning to get in touch with them you probably need to pretend that you've been living off your husband for the last two years (I presume from your post that you have been employed during this time)!
I think you should normally receive an annual self-assessment form from them. Perhaps it got lost somewhere. Or perhaps the SLC never sent it - they are, after all, renowned for being pretty incompetent. Now, if your earnings fall below the equivalent of £15,000 per year, you're under no obligation to pay back your loan. Of course it still accrues interest (so, effectively, the Labour government introduced a system whereby
the lowest earners end up paying back the most - yes, thats right, I'm on to you tossers). You can, however, still make so-called "voluntary payments" if you're earnings fall below the £15,000 threshold.
Keep in mind that if you "disappear" off their radar they can still track down members of your family and demand repayment and other such nasties (although, as far as I know, they have no direct claims on any assets located in the US). So, unfortunately, there's no running away from them. Interest will have certainly been mounting up the last two years. If you're in the position to pay off the loan, then count yourself lucky and do it - then you
will never hear anything from them again!