The Student Loans Company (SLC) has continued to take payments from graduates who have already paid off their loans, it has been revealed. More than £15 million was taken from the wage packets of former students last year and some 57,000 were waiting for a refund for the year to March 2010, according to the consumer group Which?.

The SLC claimed that the overpayments where a result of the fact that they could not work out the amounts that had been repaid until employers filed their annual tax returns at the end of the financial year.

Which? obtained the figures using freedom of information requests after receiving a number of complaints from people who had noticed that funds continued to be deducted from their wages when their debt should have been cleared.

Instalments are taken directly out of graduate’s pay packets by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and passed onto the SLC until the SLC informs HMRC that the total debt has been repaid.

Which? ch

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If you find you’re more interested in the field of medicine, but do not want to spend much of your time and money in medical school, an attractive career option to consider is radiology technician. There are a wide variety of careers to choose from, and all these employment opportunities offer excellent benefits as well. Of course, if you want to get involved in radiology as a career, you’ll need to know as much as possible radiology technician info about the profession, what kind of education you need and what jobs are available for you.

There are many different and attractive career opportunities available for those interested in pursuing a career in radiology. Read more…

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The acquisition of Dutch chemical company DSM’s elastomers division by German group Lanxess is expected to increase supply of ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber in Brazil and thus reduce the need for imports, Lanxess CEO for Brazil, Marcelo Lacerda, told BNamericas.

“This is very good for the country, as the chemical sector runs a high trade deficit,” the executive said.

Lanxess has agreed to buy DSM Elastomers for 310mn euros (US$411mn), on a cash and debt-free basis.

The acquisition includes a production facility in Triunfo, in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state, with an output of 40,000t/y of EPDM, and a plant in Sittard-Geleen, in the Netherlands, with capacity of 160,000t/y.

Lanxess currently supplies the local market with imports of EPDM, Lacerda said, adding, “From now we will supply a great part of domestic consumption with local production.

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The move comes after much debate in parliament which had criticized the scheme at a time when Iran’s economy is reeling under inflation, high unemployment and sanctions.

Security forces were deployed across main squares and fuel stations in Tehran to prevent any violence as the new price regime came into force on Sunday.

Motorists were hardest hit by the policy change, which sent petrol prices soaring to 4,000 rials (US$0.40 cents) from 1,000 rials per liter for the 60 lirers they receive as a monthly quota, state television reported on its website.

They now have to pay 7,000 rials per liter for any extra petrol they require.

ILNA news agency, citing the economic ministry, said the monthly hike in household cooking gas charges was more than five-fold, electricity nearly three-fold, and water more than three times.

Tehran municipality said the rises would not lead to fare hikes of metro rail network and city-run buses in the capital, but taxis would review their tariffs.

The government plans to phase out over a five-year period the subsidies on energy and food including water and bread as part of the reforms which had been in the pipeline for several years.

Subsidies on these products cost the state’s coffers about 100 billion dollars a year, according to official estimates.

A 2007 attempt by government to ration petrol triggered riots in Tehran, and, on Sunday, police guarded several fuel stations in the capital to prevent any repeat of the violence.

“So far no untoward incident has been reported since the implementation of the plan,” Tehran police chief Hossein Sajedinia told Mehr news agency.

On Sunday, Ahmadinejad thanked citizens for “cooperating” in the initiative.

“I believe the Iranian nation… will move

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AIA Australia has won a massive group insurance contract, worth about $160 million in premiums a year, from Suncorp Life. 

The Sunsuper life insurance account has been up for review after Suncorp held the contract for 23 years.

The contract, starting on July 1 next year, will provide death, disablement and income protection for the superannuation fund’s 1 million members.

AIA CEO Damien Green says Sunsuper conducted a very comprehensive tender process.

“The fund has been working on a new insurance service model and a raft of product changes that we’ll be able to easily accommodate with our strong customer service focus and technological capability,” he said.

A Suncorp Life spokesman told insuranceNEWS.com.au the loss of the Sunsuper account would only affect the business by less than 2%.

“While our bid was very strong, we have always been clear that we would only want the business on a sustainable basis,” he said.

“Suncorp Life will continue to serve our other group life customers and we will review our strategy in the group life area focusing on opportunities and profitable, sustainable business.”

Sunsuper CEO Tony Lally says the fund has significantly redesigned its default insurance products to better align with members’ needs. 

“Our research highlighted that our members wanted the flexibility to tailor insurance cover over the course of their lives,” he said.

“We’ll now be able to meet these needs with a range of new life stage and aged-based insurance options.

“As part of the new arrangements, we’ll also introduce new premium rates that will offer better value for members, with each dollar of premium buying an average 38% extra death and disability cover.”

AIA will base some staff in Sunsuper’s head office to manage the fund and it has told insuranceNEWS.com.au it will be recruiting about 5% more staff to handle the new business.

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