Will I ever pay off my student loan debt and should I be worried about the potential student loan increase?

“The first thing to figure out is which student loan you have: plan one or plan two. The plan you have depends on when you went to university and they work very differently.

“If you’re on a plan one loan, it’s very rare there is a need to overpay. Plan two is different. All of the news at the moment about interest rates increasing is still up in the air. So I would say hold your horses.

“For anyone wondering whether it’s going to impact their options in the future, student loan debt isn’t treated like any other debt. It’s viewed more as a graduate tax in the sense that you don’t have to pay it until you’re earning a certain amount of money, it gets written off after a certain number of years and it doesn’t affect your credit score.

“However, it does affect your affordability. When you come to borrowing for a mortgage, lenders will look at what you’re paying each month towards your student loan.

“The reality is a lot of people won’t ever pay it off and it can be frustrating seeing it on your payslip each month. People might think: ‘If I pay it off, I could have that extra money each month.’ This is true, but for most people, there’s often a better use for your money.”

8 questions we all have about debt answered by a financial expert