# How do you solve a problem like student loans? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-is-money-podcast-832470/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-student-loans Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-is-money-podcast-832470/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-student-loans.md Podcast: [This is Money Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-is-money-podcast-832470) Published: 2026-02-06T17:54:44+00:00 Episode link: https://audioboom.com/posts/8858230 Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/69a5aa3811f5657dedfff2bd/e/tag%3Aaudioboom.com%2C2026-02-06%3A%2Fposts%2F8858230/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/this-is-money-podcast-832470/episodes/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-student-loans Duration seconds: 3523 ## Resource Student loans look like another mess that has reached a tipping point in Britain's shonky financial system. There are three different types of student loan plan that graduates could currently be on and one of them offers a particularly bad deal. Those who took out Plan 2 student loans, between 2012 and 2022, suffered fees being hiked to £9,000, face interest rates of RPI plus 3 per cent, and have seen the repayment threshold above which they lose 9 per cent of their income bounce around at the whim of governments. Meanwhile, lots of graduates are staring down the barrel of decades of a big extra chunk coming out of their wages, but then never actually clearing the debt before it gets written off after 30 years. As the reality bites of the student loans they signed up to at 18 - for an average post university debt of £50,000 - without properly realising the consequences, many late 20 and 30somethings are increasingly angry. Do they have a point and what can we do? On this week's podcast, Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert talk student loans, what might happen, what we could do - and who should pay for university. Plus, what does the Bank of England holding rates mean for borrowers and savers. For those who aren't losing their spare cash to a student loan and have got on the property ladder, should you overpay your mortgage? The man who got his mortgage paid off in four years - and how he did it. What on earth is happening to bitcoin and why is it crashing? And finally, what are the rules on flexible Isas and putting money back in? Follow us on Instagram @dmgnewmedia. Follow us on TikTok @dmgnewmedia Follow us on X @dmgnewmedia Email us hello@dmgmedia.co.uk Text us  020 7938 6000. Hosts: Georgie Frost, Simon Lambert, Lee Boyce, Helen Crane Producer: Georgi… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/this-is-money-podcast-832470/episodes/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-student-loans/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-is-money-podcast-832470/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-student-loans.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.