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Your student finance account: passwords, IDs and giving other people access
Student finance IDs and passwords are there to protect your personal information, so it’s important to keep them secure. But you might find it useful to occasionally let another person - for example, a parent or someone from your college - manage your student finance account or make enquiries on your behalf.
Getting in touch with Student Finance England
When you apply for student finance, you’ll be issued with:
- a Customer Reference Number (formerly known as an 'ART ID')
- a password and secret answer
You’ll need these details when you log in to your online student finance account or contact Student Finance England over the phone.
Using your Customer Reference Number
Your Customer Reference Number is a unique, eleven-digit number used to identify your personal student finance account.
How do you get a Customer Reference Number?
You get a Customer Reference Number when you make your first application for student finance:
- if you apply online, you get your Customer Reference Number when you first register your details
- if you submit a paper application, you will get your Customer Reference Number by post
What happens if you lose your Customer Reference Number?
Your Customer Reference Number will be printed on all correspondence from Student Finance England.
You can also get your Customer Reference Number sent to you by email - see 'Find out your login details'.
Using Student Finance England’s automated telephone service
You can also use your Customer Reference Number to get information about your account through Student Finance England’s automated telephone service.
Using your password and secret answer
How do you get a password and secret answer?
If you register to apply for student finance online, you will be asked to choose a password and secret answer.
If you apply for student finance on paper, a password and secret answer will be automatically generated and sent to you. When you login to your online student finance account for the first time, you will be prompted to change these to something more memorable.
Changing your password and secret answer
You can change your password and secret answer at any time by logging in to your online account.
You can reset your password or secret answer online – there’s no need to call Student Finance England
Resetting your password and secret answer
If you need to reset your password or secret answer (for example because you forget them or are ‘locked out’ of your account), see ‘Find out your login details’ below and follow the instructions.
Student Finance England will send you an email with a new automatically generated password and secret answer. You can use these to login to your account. Again, you’ll then be asked to change them to something you can easily remember.
Online security: beware of bogus emails
Some people have had bogus ‘phishing’ emails that claim to come from Student Finance England, asking for security details.
Don’t follow the links in any email that claims to come from Student Finance England. Make sure you’re logging into the genuine site by typing direct.gov.uk/studentfinance into your browser.
If you receive a suspicious email, don’t disclose your details – and report it to Student Finance England.
Giving someone else access to your student finance account
Student Finance England and the Student Loans Company are bound by the Data Protection Act, meaning that they can’t discuss details of your account with anyone else unless you give your permission.
If you want someone else to have access to your account, you can give permission on one of two levels. You can either:
- allow them to get information about your account, by providing 'consent to share'
- allow them to make changes to your account, by giving them 'power of attorney'
Allowing someone else to get information about your account
By giving 'consent to share', you authorise Student Finance England and the Student Loans Company to provide information about your account (with the exception of your bank details) to a person nominated by you.
To give 'consent to share', write to Student Finance England:
- quoting your Customer Reference Number
- providing the full name, address (including postcode) and date of birth of the person you’re nominating, and stating their relationship to you
- giving a password for them to use when they contact Student Finance England on your behalf
Student Finance England or the Student Loans Company will check these details before they release any information.
Allowing someone else to make changes to your account
By granting a nominated person 'power of attorney', you give Student Finance England and the Student Loans Company the right to release to them information relating to your account, and to update your details.
To grant a person power of attorney, you need to fill in a form giving their name, the specific period for which they can act on your behalf, and the specific tasks that they can perform. Contact Student Finance England for further information.
The person holding power of attorney will need to have their details checked before any information is released.
Back to the main page on 'Applying for student finance'
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