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?

well I don't receive paper statements anymore, like lots of other people, so I don't think they could argue that!

Hello Free123. I was sent a letter from The Student loans Company on 22nd Feb 2014. There was a covering letter stating the government announced in Nov 2013 that it has sold the remaining publicly owned Mortgage Style Student loans and the accounts I had with them would be transferred to Erudio on 10th March.

There was also included an:
Erudio Loans Notice of Assignment
FAQ's
DD Mandate
Fair Processing Notice
Reply Envelope for response form.

I must confess, I didn't really read through the info thoroughly as I naively assumed the deferment form would be the same as the SLC one and didn't realise at the time they were trying to bend to rules regarding the terms and conditions until I received the deferment forms (dated 10th March) and sat down to complete them.

Do you suggest that I send a letter of complaint before sending my deferment form or letter (not decided!) back? My deferment ends on May 19th and I'm worrying if I leave matters too late they will beginning to take money.

I hope some of my info helps you or at least highlights how there is absolutely no consistency in how we are all being informed of these changes.

If you have an outline of a complaint letter that you could post for me to refer too that would be very beneficial and helpful to myself and others.

Best wishes.

This is true bobsyouruncle, although there is the facility to order a recent numbered paper one online (there is on my account at least)

I hope you don't think I'm being pedantic, I'm just trying to ensure we are all taking the right measures to ensure Erudio don't have anything to go on to decline our deferal, although I think I am verging on the paranoia now!

See also www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?421800-Erudio-quot-Notice-of-Assignment-quot-Received.&p=4509721 and links on that thread.

If terms and conditions are being changed without people being aware of it someone should tell the CMA (was OFT) and trading standards. Which? (Consumers Association) might well want to look into all this on behalf of the 300,000 affected.

I would say make a formal complaint either before or with your deferment application, saying that you wish to go to the FOS if they do not satisfy your complaint and that you will be reporting them to the FCA etc. Point being that they will know you are not a push over then, so hopefully will not try to deny you a valid deferment.

They are clearly going to "try it on" with as many people as they believe they can get away with, and I would imagine they will focus that on those who they think are least likely to fight.

I would also warn against the nonsense being posted on some of the consumeractiongroup threads.

For example, they claim the Erudio cannot place a default on you credit file if you default as they are not the original creditor. As discussed on this thread, that is just completely untrue. SLC had the right, and Erudio legally inherited their rights to do that under the terms of the agreements. And despite their protestations, it is clear from evidence that non disability related benefits can be take into account in your gross income. Plus other foolish notions.....

@ mandakl

well said and intersting link:

Section 4 of www.scoronline.co.uk/files/scor/high_level_prinicples_document_final.pdf

i am getting fed thinking about the reply ive heard 3 or 4 times so far about having a loan not in default on a credit file is not bad. I dont see why these organisations dont seem to understand that some people just dont want their final information listed anywhere, especially somewhere easily accessible like a CRA, a type of business that makes a profit out of selling what should be our private information.

I'm not sure why non disability related benefits would ever be considered to be disregarded. If you don't qualify for benefits then the money you spend to pay rent/mortgage, or to bring up your kids is still counted as income so benefits payments intended to do the same should also be considered.

I can't deduct my rent money from my average gross monthly income declaration so HB should go on there too.

Bit of a tangent and I'm sure others will disagree.

Anyhoo on another point I'm sure there are a lot of knowledgable people on CAG but some of the posters seem quite militant and seem to spend their lives accumulating debt then scouring the law to try and find loopholes outta payment.

People who state info of a deferred loan on your credit file wouldn't harm your credit rating are talking bollocks.

All lenders take into account how much you currently owe against how much you earn. The larger percentage of borrowings you have offset against earnings means the lower you will score, this is well known.

That is precisely why a deferred loan should not be on your file because until you are over the threshold you have no commitment to repay so therefor it should not be considered in any credit evaluation. When you do have to repay it not only will your borrowings increase but your income will also (going over threshold) so therefor your percentage of debt against income will not have varied so much.

Sorry, I posted the link to consumeraction threads because they came up on a search on assignment of the debts but it sounds like it may be best avoiding them if some of the information may not be accurate.

Paul Lewis from BBC moneybox

twitter.com/paullewismoney/status/453482919353675776

Sounds like he would be interested to hear all the stories we have.

wow, at last, someone gets the story. That sounds like it could go rather large and be the one that matters if it makes the main BBC site.

If anyone has a twaater account, maybe they could twaat him. Many twaats would show strong interest and the like...

That's my letter posted off for deferment. Didn't think to include a letter of complaint with it too. I was quite stern in my letter to them though, explained why I wasn't using their form as it needed information not relevant to deferment and thst I did qualify for deferment. I'll wait and see what happens next then take it further.

Good thats the BBC have got hold of it. . I'm unfortunately not on twitter, my partner is so I'll get him on the case.

I've said before but I will say it again the people posting advice and information on this thread have been invaluable in helping me see the wood from the trees in this whole mess!!

thanks folks

me too powerpooh, i was a gibbering bag of stress when i arrived. we have thus far all done good...lets hope the coming days will be revelatory!

Lol, Eruido can't find my application despite it being sent recorded (and them signing for it ) and I also emailed it to their deferment address. 2 phone calls and they can't find it, 2 emails to their deferment team with no response to either yet,

oh christ, i hope thats not how its going to play out IchobodT...
I imagine they are in an absolute mess right now and need their beloved leader Mr Mark (Howard) Filer to stop paying attention to his 210 other current directorships and get his mind on solving this one!

@ichibodT that does not surprise me in the slightest. Though I can imagine they are gonna be inundated with applications for deferment. They probably thought we would just roll over and do nothing. Hell mend them!!

IchibodT when did u send your letter?

It was signed for at their offices more than a week ago.

Typical Arrow/Erudio incompetence.

@ IchibodT

I wouldn't worry unduly yet - I'd give them 2-3 weeks minimum and they do say between 28 and 40 days. I always found SLC very quick but they had all the infrastructure in place with experienced staff.

I had a summer job in a direct marketing fulfillment place once basically, when you see those ads saying 'free parker pen if you send in your details for a quote' kind of thing.

They could run an advert in the national press on a weekend and by the end of the week we would have had tens of thousands of letters in response.

There were about 8 of us working there. And each letter had to go round a 'circuit' of our workstations checking whether each question had been answered correctly (each person responsible for a different section of the form) - it is slow manual work and that was nowhere near as complex as processing applications with pieces of evidence for scanning and copying. Letters that don't include the standard forms and so on...

They've made it hard for themselves.

I don't expect a decision on my deferral but I'd expect them to be able to confirm receipt by now.

On another note the advisor was gonna phone me back by 16:00 at the latest, 25 minutes to go.

Thanks for that info Mandakl.

I have decided to send my own letter, confirming my income with supporting evidence.

However, I have an ISA in my name - it is not much and the monthly interest ranges form 43p to £7.43! Not going to push me over the threshold - but it's not something SLC ever asked for. Do you think I should send them this information? Are they allowed to consider this as income, or are they just seeing who has money stashed?

I'm worried that if I declare this interest, they will see I have an ISA and somehow they will use this information to my detriment.

But if I don't declare it, can they say I have defaulted on the loan agreement because I knowingly withheld information about income? I mean - are they legally allowed to consider interest on savings as part of your gross income? Or are they just trying it on?

I am sending everything tomorrow morning, recorded delivery, so I would be very grateful for any response before then.

Thank you so much.

I declared my savings interest, I think that defo counts as income. Savings themselves don't count as far as I'm aware. Erudio's own form (section 8) asks you to declare any savings but also tells you these aren't to be included in your gross average monthly income calculation . So it looks to me as though they are just fishing for info. I don't think they have any right to this info.

Ultimately you have to make the decision, neither I or anyone else on here is a legal expert.