Plan 2 loans charge RPI + up to 3% and are written off 30 years after repayment starts. Depending on what you earn, the interest handed over along the way can exceed the entire original balance. This page sweeps every mean salary and finds the break-even point for your loan — and whether voluntarily overpaying would save you money or feed a balance the write-off was going to eat anyway.
Inputs
Your loan
Max was ≈£9,700 outside London, ≈£12,700 in London for later Plan 2 cohorts.
Your earnings
Your average real salary across the whole 30 years. Drag on the chart to scrub it.
Salary starts lower and ends higher, keeping the same mean. 0% = flat.
Voluntary repayments
Paid the day repayment starts, on top of the mandatory 9%.
Held constant in today's money for as long as the loan lasts.
Assumptions
Currently 4.1% (Sept 2026–Aug 2027); ~3% is a typical long-run assumption.
Interest tapers from RPI up to RPI + this, between the two thresholds.
2026/27 rates are capped at 6%. Blank = no cap long-term.
Verdict
Break-even mean salary—
Lifetime cost by mean salary
Interest paidTotal repaidBenchmarkRepaid, mandatory only
Plan 2 covers English & Welsh students who started courses between September 2012 and July 2023. Repayments are 9% of income above the threshold; the loan is written off 30 years after the April you were first due to repay.
Interest is RPI + 3% while studying, then tapers from RPI (at the repayment threshold) to RPI + 3% (at the upper threshold). The model compounds annually and treats each year’s borrowing as arriving mid-year, with ~9 months of accrual between the final year and the first April of repayment.
April 2026 figures: repayment threshold £29,385 (frozen for three years), upper interest threshold £52,885, RPI 4.1%, with 2026/27 rates capped at 6%. After any freeze, thresholds are assumed to rise with RPI.
“Mean salary” is your average salary in today’s money across the repayment window; the career-growth slider tilts the path around that mean. Career breaks and pension-salary-sacrifice effects are ignored.
Voluntary repayments: the lump sum is paid the day repayment starts; monthly extras are held constant in today’s money for as long as the loan lasts. The comparison is pure outlay — the return you could earn by investing that money instead is not modelled, so a genuine “saves money” verdict is necessary but not sufficient for overpaying to beat investing.
“Cash terms” adds up the pounds you’ll actually see leave your payslip (what your SLC statement will show). “Today’s £” deflates every payment by RPI, which is the fairer economic comparison.
Interest is counted payment-first: money you repay clears accrued interest before it touches principal, so if your balance never falls below what you borrowed, everything you paid was interest.