Mr Lewis, who is the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com has accused the student finance firm of pushing its customers into making unneccesary repayments. He said a new version of SLC’s repayments website exaggerated the status of outstanding loans of former students, and prioritised quick repayment options while failing to make clear that fast repayment make little difference to what most graduates need to repay.

Martin Lewis said that he will be writing to the Student Loans Company and the universities minister, Michelle Donelan, calling for the quick repayment facility to be removed immediately. He labelled the tool as “far too flippant” for such a substantial and risky transaction and called for a thorough “overhaul of this misleading new government website.”

Former students logging on to SLC’s new online student loan repayment system are shown an overall balance from the loans they had undertaking during their studies, ignoring recommendations from Lewis and others that the figures should be presented with more context.

The SCL’s new website was launched earlier this month after it was moved to the gov.uk domain, The Guardian reports. 

According to Martin Lewis, the site downplays the fact that student loan repayments in England are fixed at 9% of a graduate’s income above £26,575, with the remainder written off after 30 years, for university students from 2012 onwards.

Mr Lewis added: “The first thing university leavers see when they log in, in a large font, is the amount of ‘debt’ they owe. This is demoralising, damaging and dangerous. Owing £30,000, £300,000 or £3m makes no difference to your annual repayments.

“The only impact the amount of debt has is whether you clear it or not within the 30 years before it is wiped. And it’s predicted the vast majority – 83% – of university leavers won’t earn enough that their repayments clear it in full. They’ll keep repaying for the whole 30 years, like an additional tax – so the amount of debt for them is pretty irrelevant.”

David Wallace, SLC’s deputy chief executive, said the new online service was launched after extensive consultations with its users. He said graduates had called for more up-to-date information about their outstanding loan balance.

Mr Wallace said: “We think we’ve done a really good job here for customers, the feedback we’ve had was good. So we were really disappointed at the reaction from MoneySavingExpert. We’re providing the balances that the customers have asked for, and it certainly hasn’t put off any prospective students from taking out student funding for higher education.”

The SLC said the service provided context “on the unique nature of student loans and the conditions of repayment” and makes it clear graduates should consider their circumstances before making voluntary repayments.

The lender said that the quick payment option makes it easier for the small proportion of customers who have someone – such as a parent – making repayments on their behalf and for overseas customers who are required to make monthly repayments.

The SLC added that in the next few months, it will contact borrowers to remind them they only have to pay 9% of their earnings above the repayment threshold, regardless of the outstanding balance.

However, analysis from MoneySavingExpert.com’s revealed that while the new site has added more explanation about how its loans work, the SLC has placed too much emphasis on extra repayments.