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?

in the past i just sent in a letter from my employer to state my gross income as i don't get wage slips. this was always OK with slc and i was always deferred. i am due to get my p60 at start of next week and was going to send that in along with letter from employer as well as child benefit letter.
i do not want to send in bank statements as my partner and i have our own current accounts plus joint account and we transfer money back and forward all the time for mortgage and other bills etc, and i dont want them to think there is more money coming in than there actually is - because there isn't.
what should i send in?

if enough people complain and tell them they think it breaches their original T&Cs, maybe we can force them to fully check whether they are breaching all these terms we are outraged about. We have the up to 8 weeks we get for complaining as time to hopefully see a change so we can all defer with peace of mind.

thats a good letter halfpriceddebt.
I am still wondering what info SLC sent them because if they didnt pass on everything, there must be a reason.

Have just sent an email to my local MP although doubt will get much help from him. I also want to send off for a copy of my original loan agreements. Would I be requesting these from Erudio???

@ NotMrsTumble

Although in the grand scheme of things you might not be too bothered about supplying your P60, their request is in breach of the legislation governing student loans. (technically, they're not even entitled to three wage slips - that's just the routine the SLC imposed on people).

Firstly I would request an email from them confirming that they are declining your deferment on the basis of the lack of P60.

You have lots of time until your deferment runs out so don't let them panic you.

Whether they put it in writing or not, I would respond something like this:

Dear Sir/Madam

(Further to my telephone call/email) I note your refusal to process my application for deferment on the basis that I have not supplied you with a P60.

Under the legislation governing Student Loans, I am under no obligation to provide a P60. The regulations are quite clear on this matter and are as follows:

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/211/schedule/2/paragraph/9/made#text%3Dstudent%20loans%20deferment

In summary, A borrower is entitled to defer if gross income is below the threshold in the 'relevant month' (this is the month before the month in which you apply to defer) and if the borrower can 'show' or 'warrant' that the income will be below the threshold in the 3 months following the 'relevant ' month.

All of this I have done.

On that basis, if you persist in refusing to defer my application, I will have no alternative but to hold you in breach of the terms and conditions of the original loan agreements and will be under no obligation to make any repayments on such agreements.

I would urge you to seek relevant advice and reply with clarification on your position on this matter as soon as possible.

Yours....

If you wanted, you might find it useful to put in a deadline etc for them to reply by.

It might be a bit pompous / arsey but hey, you've got to get your kicks somehow and we'll all find soon enough that Erudio will be pretty damn arsey when it suits them.

I posted this link earlier but it might be worth showing again.

This is a transcript of the response from SLC to a Freedom of Information Act request on data sharing on sold-off loans. This is official SLC policy.

It relates to loans sold to Honour/Thesis where SLC still processes the deferment applications.

The really interesting bit is where the SLC reply (blue shaded letter - section 3)

The only reason for a customer’s deferment application form being rejected
is if they are earning over the deferment threshold.

It doesn't get clearer than that!
Not supplying a P60 is not a reason to refuse deferral.

Sorry - here's the link:

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/relationship_and_data_sharing_wi#incoming-55264

I just can't get bold to work!

bugger

And in bold as well.

thanks @emptycoffers. Your email/letter is very helpful, though that legislation is 1998, my loans pre-date that though. Might need to have a Google on the older terms, though I suspect the requirement is probably the same.

I figure I'll email them as you suggested - I'd decided not to email last year's P60 as its filed in the basement, and to wait for the one I'm about to receive (actually I'll be the one printing it since I do the payroll ,). 2013-14 has the bonus of including a period on smp, so will take me even lower below the threshold, but as you pointed out, I really don't think they're entitled to see it.

@ NotMrsTumble

Re - suggested snotty letter to Erudio, the ending could be reworked something like this perhaps...

...On that basis, if you persist in refusing to defer my application, I will have no alternative but to hold you in breach of the terms and conditions of the original loan agreements and will be under no obligation to make any repayments on such agreements.

I would urge you to seek relevant advice and reply with clarification on your position on this matter as soon as possible.

If I do not hear from you within 7 days, I will initiate the formal complaints procedure and if the matter is not resolved satisfactorily, I will progress it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Sorry for all the posts brainstorming

@ NotMrsTumble

That's right - they updated the regulations every year. This link will take you to the regulations for every year (They're all fundamentally the same - but they passed new ones annually because the deferment threshold changed every year)

www.legislation.gov.uk/all?text=student%20loans%20deferment

thanks emptycoffers

@notmrstumble
Why not add at the end, i wish to lodge this as a formal complaint, otherwise you may just get a quick answer from an office chimp. If they mess up the complaint, then you can go to the ombudsman and Erudio get fined and other repercussions, which hopefully will mean a rewritten deferral form!

thats very interesting emptycoffers. Does the same system apply to Erudio? Especially as Honours Student Loans is very strongly connected to Erudio, if not the same company.

Somebody posted contact details for journalists and I know somebody mentioned they were contacting Martin Lewis. Just wondering if anybody has said they are contacting the NUS. The NUS featured a lot in the media when they were speaking out against the sale. Maybe they may be prepared to help if enough people contact their Press and Media dept detailing their experiences with Erudio.

sleepdeprivedwoman, i would be very interested to hear how that conversation goes if anyone else has spoken/been listened to at the NUS.

Do you think they won't be interested?

@ erudioed

It's very clear, isn't it.

I've taken it that Erudio are doing their own 'in-house' deferral processing.

However, when it comes down to it, I can't see how they could unilaterally impose other criteria to refuse deferral - other than simple gross income.

After all, SLC were empowered to recover the debts to the same extent as Erudio and, if there were other means of triggering repayment - I've no doubt they would have done it - perhaps less underhandedly - but they would still have done it.

Yes, it certainly was emptycoffers.
I ask because i did hear that SLC might be doing the checks still but i can remember where i heard it....it has been a long week thus far.

sleepdeprivedwoman: someone yesterday said that they contacted them and had a positive lead to follow and i would like to hear from anyone else who may have spoke to them to see how enthusiastic they were or the gist of the advice given.

The can't add extra conditions for deferral. The conditions are set down in legislation, and if you meet those you are entitled to defer.

Erudio would like to do a con job on everyone and make people think they can move the goalposts, but they can't.

Erudioed I may contact NUS too and see what they say. However, I think tonight I am going to turn the laptop off and read no more. This took over everything yesterday, so think I am going to watch some rubbish tv and try and think about it no more. For now anyway....

just found this on another site. I assume it refers to me mentioning asking for a new deferment form...what does anyone think about the message. I cut and paste it with the link they started with:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_mo...-student-loans

and someone needs to post on that thread too

Erudio CANNOT change the T&C's so CANNOT produce a new defferement form

they must use the old one
covered by the T&C they inherited from the SLC.

dx

I meant to add, is its a crazy suggestion to aim for Erudio to redesign deferment forms with what we have been complaining about being omitted if its against the original T&Cs.