To have lost it with the guy on the phone to my student loan?

[Gertrudesings]

I just lost it. Really lost it.

I have x3 student loans 1 for my under graduate, one for post graduate diploma and one for my masters.

I pay 140 a month for my masters, one for my 128 for my undergraduate and 60 for my PGDip so £328 a month.

I have 3dcs, lone parent and earn 26k a year.

The government sold my undergraduate loan to a private company, Erudio. I didn't know they had sold it as my abusive EXH wouldn't give me any post from the marital home (that he stayed in as I got removed by the police for safety reasons). So it went into arrears but I've been paying it back. They are very aggressive. They just phoned me to 'review' my account. Made me give every single outgoing and incoming item and he announces I can 'afford' to pay another £101 a month because I have 300 'disposable' income. For fucking food and childcare! I can not pay another £101 on top of the £328. They don't count childcare costs and I don't do anything or go anywhere so I do have a bit extra a month but that's for the DC's stuff. I don't get maintenance.

AIBU for losing it? I live in my overdraft. I've got credit card debt because if my washer breaks or the kids have a birthday or the car breaks I've got nothing left in my budget. I don't mind paying back my student debt but I can't pay a quarter of my income out to it. I've cut back so much already. I'm sat here crying because the guy made out I'm some kind of leech.

Jesus, I didn't even know student loans were sold on. Can you go to CAB or ring for advice, also national debt helpline.

Right, firstly, you can defer if your income is less than £29,219 a year.

www.erudiostudentloans.co.uk/services/howtodeferpayments.aspx

If that's not possible them absolutely do speak to a debt advice charity or CAB. I didn't think they could ask you to pay more than a set amount? (It used to be the total debt divided by something like 60 months?)

They can’t make you pay what you can not afford . You need help with a payment plan that allows you to purchase your essentials.

Get some help ASAP and refuse to talk to them until a plan is in place .

Oh, and you also used to be able to ask for a refund if you made a payment when you were eligible for deferment. I think it could be backdated about three months?

This sounds awful, I thought that you only had to pay off a percentage of the loan once you earnt over £21k, I never realised the loan would be sold to what is basically a loan shark

So didI. I can't see how this is legal to sell on as long as you were paying the required amount (to the government lender), or legal to demand more than the agreed re-payment rate if it is sold on.

They are effectively unilaterally changing the terms of the agreement. Surely this can't be done?

Would it be worth chasing down child maintenance from EXH? Every little helps when your in a pinch.

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

Maybe complain to Financial Ombudsman.

Is there any kind of workaround that could help for the time being - like could you stop claiming child benefit for now to put your income below the limit?

And has your DH really got away with everything? Keeps the marital home, no maintenance. Does he see the children? (Whether he does or doesn't he has an obligation to financially support them.)

I can't see how this is legal to sell on as you were paying the required amount

Op did say the account fell into arrears when she was married. I guess there is small print in the loan agreement that states defaulting on payments and ignoring correspondence from the loan company means they are within their rights to pass it to a debt recovery company.

Friend was forced to do an IVA as their mortgage style student loan repayments were too much along with existing debts

Sorry Nineties - I missed that somehow,

The government sold huge numbers of loans on, including those which weren't in arrears. There is quite a bit of info on the Martin Lewis website, including the forums, about how dreadful Erudio are.

And I meant to continue... and how to deal with them effectively.

Speak to step change. They are amazing. They can give advice and complete a expenditure with you and work out what you have left to pay to debts.
I am unsure how student/graduate loans work but they will
Also they can send letters on your behalf and most companies listen when they know you have Stepchange involved.
m.stepchange.org/contact

They are lovely and it's all free.
X

They are effectively unilaterally changing the terms of the agreement. Surely this can't be done?

Yep, the government can and does retrospectively change the terms on student loans, e.g. when they froze the repayment threshold back in 2015 (meaning repayments kicked in at a lower income than was originally expected):

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/loans/12049856/Martin-Lewis-tackles-Government-over-student-loans.html

They're a bit inconsistent in this, which might reflect who's in government and how worried they are about students'/graduates' opinions - when they started trying to sell off Plan 1 loans (a later set of loans than the OP has) they specifically said they wouldn't change the terms.

My loan was sold in September 2014 when I was in deferment. I didn't get told at the time, neither did thousands of others as erudio messed up the admin. I WASN'T in default at that point. I was deferred. Then they finally started sending letters to the marital home. I was in a refuge at that point and all communication was by post so I didn't get it for 12 months. Only when my ex passed my post through solicitors by court order. He held all my financial stuff for that long (including a parking ticket that cost me £££ too) By that point my account had gone into 'arrears' as I should have been paying 130 a month as I wasn't in deferment. I was a student by that point so I agreed to pay them 75 a month to pay off the arrears and deferred as I was under 28k. When I graduated in Dec 2016 I started paying the £128 repayment. They want the £101 for the arrears. The total I owe them is £5081 but my arrears (from not being in deferment for a year) are just under £3000. Which I don't understand tbh. And because I have these 'arrears' they won't negotiate a lower monthly repayment but actually want more. I am just over the income threshold for deferment. Which would be fine but I have the other two loan commitments so I can't give them it.

Student loan repayments are contingent on your income. Not your expenditure. Which suggests to me this company is using usual debt collection bully tactics to get money they aren't entitled to get from you. He doesn't care how much you pay out yet can assess your disposable income? Nonsense. Definitely call stepchange and see what they have to say about it.

Hummm technically your loan had been paid off by the private company that bought it. You've entered no agreement with this other company.

All student loans are automatically sold to private companies. They sell them immediately when you leave.

That's not true - the vast majority of student loans are still on the government books. I'm not even certain they've successfully sold the partial set of Plan 1 loans they were trying to sell earlier this year, because I can't find any article to say it actually happened, just that they started the process. I know mine (Plan 1) is still held by the SLC. The Sale of Student Loans Act 2008 allows for all student loans to be sold but that hasn't actually happened yet.

Definitely contact Stepchange or another debt management company. Debt collectors are all nasty bullies and the selling on of student loan debt to these thugs is just another reason to despise the government.
A debt management company will deal with them on your behalf and, if they ring again while you are getting the debt plan set up, just say '[company] are dealing with this matter now, the reference number is [whatever], please contact them about it' and put the phone down.
Debt collectors will lie to frighten you, their powers are a lot more limited than they make out.

Did you see my post upthread? The deferment limit increased in September to £29,219. Does that help?

I'll have a look Glitter but the guy on the phone was saying that my gross is taken into account and that the monthly amount takes me over?

My basic pay (before tax etc) is £2162.38 And with child benefit it goes over.

I just worked out that 29,219 divided by 12 is £2,434 so child benefit won't take me over!

What a bastard!

From their website:

"What is deferment?
Deferment is the process of postponing your loan repayments for a period of 12 months. If you have a gross monthly income of £2,427.17 or less (equivalent to £29,126 per year) you may be eligible to apply for deferment."

Depends on how many children you have as to whether or not you're over. Don't trust the guy on the phone. Speak to debt advice if you can't defer.