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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.
Alternatively, you can use your password and secret answer to log in to your student finance account and view your Customer Reference Number from there.
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.
If you forget your password and secret answer
If you know your Customer Reference Number, you can have new security details sent to your e-mail address by clicking on 'Forgotten your details?' from the login page of your student finance account.
If you don’t know your Customer Reference Number, contact Student Finance England.
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.
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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