erudio student loans

[mrsbug]

Hi, I have an old student loan from 1998 which I have been deferring since then as I have never earned enough to pay it back (there are some advantages to being poor )

I recently had a letter from a company called erudio student loans saying they have bought my student loan from the government. All very reassuring about how the t and cs of my loan won't change, etc.

Now I've had the regular deferral letter from them and it's much more detailed than before. They want my bank details which I'm not really happy to give, and they say my details will be checked with a credit reference agency, which I don't think they used to do - my loan has never shown on my credit file.

Has anyone else had this? Do I have to give them this info?

Yeah, don't get me wrong, it's not something I want to do, and for all I know they may well accept the rules, play by the book and allow me to defer - that would be the ideal scenario and that's what I hope they do.

It's fascinating, the psychology of this, and Erudio and other debt collectors, must have been perfecting this over years and years, how they just find that little crack in people's psyche and they slide in a little dagger of doubt, a little wedge of concern and then they step back and wait and see what you do....

i just got my welcome letter from erudio today, i knew i had seen the name somewhere and read this thread and well now shitting it
i will be deferring again this year as earning under the threshold but seems to be a lot more complicated than before
so i will be back once i have the deferral form for help i think

I can understand the Govt getting tough on non-payers, but we aren't talking about not paying and breaching the credit agreement here, we're talking about legitimate deferral. If they start hassling and treating you differently from the SLC, write to your MP about it.

@Qubit - that's a pain - if your mortgage goes through in the next couple of months I'm sure you'd be fine even if they did put a note on your file and even if it did make a difference, which it shouldn't anyway, as you're being assessed on your income now which, if you're below the threshold, means you don't have to repay and so, don't have any further outgoings affecting a mortgage.
If you're below the income threshold though, they have no right to enter any info on your credit record. I don't think they will either - that's just their dagger of doubt.

With regard to the NI number and other 'status' information, they know they don't require that in order to assess your deferral - they know they're taking the piss in asking for it and pretending they have a legal power to demand it.

Either way, if they are going to be determined cheeky buggers, then they will write to you again asking for it.

Personally, I would say the easiest approach is to ignore the boxes, just leave them blank. I think on page 1, the only thing you 'MUST' fill in (if you're going to use the form) is a tick box saying the details on the letter are correct - which is as much as saying all the information you already hold about me is correct and accurate (and that was more than enough to defer in the past) - I wouldn't ever give them a telephone number.

Qubit I would hope common sense would prevail regarding your mortgage. This is not a debt that you have defaulted on but one which you are not bound to repay due to your income being below the required amount and fulfilling deferment requirements.
I got a mortgage a couple of years ago for the very first time with my DH, even though I am a sahm. I remember seeing mortgage advisor and was really worried about it but they said it was no big deal. Didn't stop me worrying though until it went through.
Recently got a mobile phone contract even though not working, again was worried about that.
I think that they are trying to scare the crap out of us all with all this talk of CRA's. As others have said how many will be offering to pay even though they don't have to and can't afford to???
I don't know about anybody else but I have long regretted doing my degree. I think it was a waste of time and money. This feeling has been stronger the last couple of years when the amount that I owe seems to be increasing at a phenomenal rate due to interest.
I had such a great day until I came home to find the letter from Erudio on my mat!

welcome to the club!

Sorry erudioed but it is one bloody club I do not want to be a part of.
I am so hacked off I have HAD to open the wine. FGS it is only midweek!!!

you got that right!
Lets hope by being forced together we can make a difference! I feel they have chosen to rattle the wrong cages.

Lets hope so erudioed.
Also thanks for all the enquiries you have made regarding this!

No problem, i am just happy i have somewhere to share it with whom it may help. if we all do a little, i feel we can all get somewhere but we need to spend a little time acting, despite being so damn knackered and dealing with ordinary life stuff.
We are already getting indications of slight budgings in Erudios wants and we havent really started yet, it is so early.

I agree. Lets hope we get the result we all want. I do think that loans that are deferred should never have been passed over.

I am waiting to hear back from erudio - I sent my deferment letter a week ago and I included a request for a copy of my loan agreement which they have to respond to within 12 days.

If their response is anything other than confirmation of my deferral, or if they don't respond within 12 days then I will go to my union and ask for the 30 minutes free legal advice they provide.

I won't cancel my direct debit unless they refuse to let me defer or take money when they shouldn't.

Does this sound like a sensible plan?

i agree, especially to a company so clearly fraudworthy as Erudio. A director who is a director of about 40 companies, all with virtually identical names but slightly different, a partner called Martin Mcdermott who also owns many companies all over the place with finance related names, and like our beloved leader Mark Filer, seems pretty elusive on the picture front on the internet. All this rounded by The Wilmington Trust, for which Filer is also director of the UK branch. A company being investigated for some bailout they got for hundreds of million dollars in 2010. I bet if they were investigated by a real reporter/financial investigator they would dig things up that would end up landing them in jail. It would be like unravelling the relationships between companies owned by Enron. Certainly BIS have something to answer for concerning their due dilligence about which company to choose to sell the loans to. And lets not forget Honours Student Loans, one of Erudio's original incantations, who ended up purchasing the 1st batch of student loans sold, sold on to them by the original purchaser for just £200 a loan, or something like that....and still playing hardball getting people to pay the full amounts back.
As it is, we are stuck with them and the best we can expect i feel is getting them to treat us like SLC did and stop this subliminal blackmail to get us to pay. I was think earlier, the way Erudio is, and how little time Filer must be spending on setting his business up to be respectable considering how many pies he has his fingers in, i find it staggering that they have so much money behind them. They are like amateurs who play nasty. All within the confines of what they think they get away with and the confines of the law and what they know about oversight.
They must have been laughing all the way to the bank when BIS finally chose them. Now they can focus on praying on the poorer of us like the vampires they are.
The only problem is, we have managed to sour our blood before they get their teeth into us!

Mrs Bug, i think that sounds like an excellent plan if you've already sent the info in and not complained. Let us know what happens!

Eurodoed. Have been following this all day as well as your posts on another website under the same name.
Am wondering if it is worth starting another thread that starts with clear guidance on who to contact, complain to etc based on your findings.
Anyone that gets a letter in next few days or weeks etc may not got trawling through 300+ posts and miss what you have said. Plus it may save you having to repeat it.

I didn't send their form, I sent a letter with three payslips, but I didn't actually make a complaint.

that could be a good idea but so much of it is taken from the other posters. The background research on the individuals i hope isnt admissible but i have tried to stick to what seems like the truth. I have done nothing but think about this since the forms arrived but ive overdosed with phone calls and posting this week because it has all started to seem rather real and possible to do something.
I think we are all still brainstorming right now though, and some of the other posters are much more level headed than me for making such a post. When we get some definite deferrals, thats when it could be more important to start a new page because readers will have something practical and definitive to follow. Right now, it is bombard erudio and outside agencies with complaints, and lets see how they reply. Dont forget, an official complaint with erudio via phone is rather painless and you buy yourself up to 8 weeks before they answer and the process continues. That should be time to orientate ourselves.
Just dont send the forms back yet unless you dont mind signing things mentioned above away. We need new deferment forms i feel to be designed and sent out to all deferers at the minimum because promises over the phone and email are not enough if the form isnt changed and we send it back signed. And for those who have signed already, they should be cancelled, all effects like CRA info passed on reversed and new forms sent out to them.

mrs bug, if you find a situation to complain about you should do it, because they have to focus on complaints in a given time or they can get punished, so clogging them up with a huge time pressure might force them to concede some issues if they are complained about often enough.

Hello All,
I too have been following this (and other forums) with great interest having received my letters of assignation and deferment pack in the last few days. As I earn under the deferment threshold and have done since leaving Uni back in the day (hey-ho) I am considering my next move. One thing that I have noticed though and doesn't seem to have been mentioned here yet is that I cannot find any reference anywhere to the amount of money Erudio intend to take from my bank account on a monthly basis. They simply state that I should have enough funds to cover the repayment. But how much is that repayment? Surely that cannot be right? Demanding money but not actually telling me how much they are going to demand? Has anyone else spotted this, or am I missing something?

Erudioed, I think you do not do yourself enough justice. From what I can see you have really put yourself out there on this matter and I think a great majority of the advice has come from you.
I have written to Erudio based on notice of assignment received today. I have not given email address in order to get a written reply that does not have a disclaimer (as with emails).

Erudioed, I agree with sleepdeprivedmadwoman. You (and others here) have restored my sanity - only two hours sleep last night thanks to worrying about this. Initially I intend to write two letters to Erudio. One to ask for clarification about such things as the contradictory statements regarding terms and conditions not changing in the letter and deferment pack and the fact that I have always submitted weekly payslips before as that is how I am paid and yet they only mention monthly payslips. And one letter of complaint in which I shall point out amongst other things that their deferment pack is so damned opaque that I am having to write a letter asking them to clarify what they mean in it. One other tip I would share is that when writing any letter like this, list who you are sending copies to at the end of the letter, highlighting the one you are sending, even if your list only contains 'Erudio', 'Copy to File' and 'Copy to File 2', it makes it quite clear that you are keeping copies of your correspondence.

@ tigerbay201 - I'm sure somewhere in the Erudio literature they state if you do not qualify for deferment they will write to you telling you what your monthly repayment will be and when the first payment is due, I'm sure I've read that somewhere but TBH I'm too knackered to go trawling through everything tonight looking for it.

IchibodT, you are right it does say if the renewal of deferment application is rejected they will then write giving details of the payments to be made and when, but SLC managed to give an amount when they sent their deferment letter so it can't be that hard. Equally, if I did nothing now they would presumably start taking money on the end of deferment date but I wouldn't know how much it was going to be! Another instance of their lack of transparency I feel. Oh, and I too have a DD mandate suddenly appear on my bank records and whilst I know that SLC always had the details and would use them should I be unable to defer, I feel this shows the expectancy on the part of Erudios that they will be taking money from me at some point.

They told me what my repayment is when they sent the deferment forms and it's a whopping £160 a month despite last year it being around the £150 mark. I divided the total amount over the 60 months and got £147 so somebody somewhere has managed to fudge the repayment amounts. When I queried this with Erudio they said that the full amount doesn't include interest but the monthly payments do - still, if the total amount hasn't accrued interest how can they work out such a figure that has never previously changed with the SLC - it's always been £150 so somebody has changed the interest to make it total £160. It could be legit but seeing as they lumped all my loans together into one total I can't actually compare to previous breakdowns what each of the three loans amount to.

halfpricedebt Where in the paperwork does it show your repayment amount?