Erudio Student Loans Continued

[halfpricedebt]

Started a new thread following mrsbug's request.

I got an email from Erudio today telling me that an issue I raised with them on 27 March that was then completely ignored even though they asked for confirmation of my details to process the initial email. I gave them the details they requested and seven days later I still hadn't heard anything. So I wrote them a rather threatening complaint telling them if they didn't respond within 7 days I would report them to the relevant financial services. That was on 3 April and today they've told me that my complaint has been forwarded to their Customer Resolutions Team.

I wonder what they do?

Do you have a reference number? I called them today to check on mine and they gave me an update. Don't email your details again. I would give them a copy of proof of your recorded letter and threaten the financial ombudsman if they don't respond. Apparently they are claiming it's 28 days to process deferment, even though others have said 10 working days.

As long as you have the evidence and can prove you are eligible to defer I would just chase them up about the recorded letter and nothing more. It's their administrative mess. You've done the right thing and can prove it. Phone them first and then send an email to back it up.

They signed for my letter on 21 April according to my tracking information yet only "received" it on 29th oddly!

Yes, say 7 days but lodge the complaint now.

@halfpricedebt

Yes I've got all the reference numbers etc. I refuse point blank to phone the lying bar stewards as they tell you either what you want to hear or what they decide is the course of action for that day. I am putting everything in writing to them. Whether this will delay my deferment I dont know, but I am getting bloody sick of this whole thing.

thanks for your input.
:)

Email has been sent. Along the lines of what I posted above but I added they had 7 days to respond and I would like formal written notification of my deferment.

We'll see what happens.

Private investigator Erudioed I have a question that you might like to investigate regarding the transparency of the selling of loans to Erudio.

Who were the other bidders?

Small part of me wonders if they might have been other companies set up by same person.

With the whole royal mail scandal now developing this has to be the time to look at the sale of the loan book.

@halfpricedebt I am with you all the way on paying back only what was paid in crowd funding scenario. The government should have offered all borrowers their loans at the rate they were prepared to sell them to Erudio for. The government will make no further money from this sale so it should make no difference to them if they were paid off by the borrower or by Erudio. However, as a tax payer, we will now have to pay off the government anyway to cover their perceived loss.

@Becca can you send in some evidence of your income to Erudio even if you don't use their forms, send it recorded delivery. Then if Erudio try and take your money then you should be able to claim it back (including fees) from the bank via the direct debit guarantee as you have provided evidence of income by the required date. Is it possible for you to get to your MPs surgery - or email them what you have written on here, and get them to contact Erudio on your behalf.

@LittleMissGreen: Indeed, that is why i am continually going on about the due diligence process conducted by BIS because seeing that info will reveal the answer to that question and many others. BIS said on its website more information will be following but it is yet to materialise. As even Erudio states on its website, it has experience with student loans (via Honours Student Loans that has to be), so i suspect BIS, or someone involved in the decision making, is corrupt in relation to some relationship that ties those 2 together. This lot seem to be the governments student debt collector of choice.
Also, and more interestingly with current findings about Capita/Ventura, did BIS know that Erudio would actually subcontract the deferment process, because according to press releases by BIS, Erudio is controlling that and dealing with deferers. As it is, none of us has had any contact with Erudio at all, and i suspect even the Erudio headed correspondences are from Capita/Ventura pretending to be Erudio. Isnt that fraud of some nature? Or gross deceit against us because Capita/Ventura hasnt declared who they are when sending us stuff or talking to us. Its almost like they are acting in the same way as a dream scenario for us where they find out that we are deceiving them in some way so they can force us into default because a CRA check with reveal some fraud or some act of deceit by us against them. So, they want us to declare everything openly and honestly but they even lie about who they are when we speak to us, such as the end of a call to Capita/Ventura when they say thankyou for contacting erudio or some dumb shit like that, or a letter headed by Erudio that goes to or comes from Capita/Ventura.
Anyway, the due diligence report being published is paramount to the opening up of the scandal we have going on here.

It is incredibly fishy that BIS sold previous loans to the same company under different names. That in itself sounds like mates rates transactions.

@MamaMimi They changed the agreement template for loans from 1998 onwards. For people who still had some years of study on their course started before then, who continued getting the old style loans until they finished their course.

MSE posted copies of the different types here forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4945901

Does anyone on this board live in the Twickenham area? If so, they can contact Vince Cable as an MP in the hope that he will explain his department's actions with regard to stitching us all up. If you try to contact him through BIS, he hides behind a generic response that looks as if it has been copy and pasted by a monkey.

He likes to portray himself as a caring social democrat so I think he owes us all some sort of explanation.

Just a quick idea. Yesterday, i had to set up a twatter account in my name in this forum, to contact Martin Lewis before and during his interview of that Amercian Turd yesterday. I am so unskilled at such things, and in fact broke a promise to myself of having such an account, but if someone more technical than me has the inclination, why doesnt someone set up a mumsneterudio account or something like that, or just one focusing on all things erudio...maybe just called "Erudio Student Loans". If getting the word out is important, and although i personally dont like how such things are used in general, it could serve a purpose of allowing twattersphere residents to come across the issues. As most of them will be future students, it could serve a purpose, however small it is. And if public criticism is the only thing that attracts the attention of these moneywhores, maybe it would be beneficial to some extent. Maybe if it was just for people to note problems they have had, i am sure it would be a very long list over time, then anyone seeing it could not help but be alerted to the fact that it just isnt a few people having problems. Just a thought.

@littlemissgreen

Thank you for responding to my post, I was told if I did that then the deferment would not be accepted at all. They said I must repay whatever happens as there is no time to process my loan now even if I did send just the evidence, which it has taken weeks to get anyway, as they are automatically requesting bank statements for people on benefit. Also they refuse to return my evidence, I don't have a photocopier or the means to get to one. SLC always returned my evidence to me and due to the identity I theft I am not meant under any circumstances to allow anyone to keep the documents they are requesting from me.

The letter states I have until 19th may to get it back to them but obviously that's a trick.

My MP is an idiot. When I lost £20 a week from my housing benefit he said it was worse for him because he no longer had his child tax credits which was more than £20 a week and I should go live in somewhere cheaper if I want my housing coved by housing benefit or tell my landlord to reduce my rent - neither was possible being severely disabled I need to live somewhere adapted and my landlord just laughed when I asked for it to be reduced; when I saw him about my disability benefit being stopped he told me only the genuinely disabled qualified and that could only be determined by government dr, I definitely qualify, I have a genetic illness that will eventually deteriorate to the point it will kill me, plus other illnesses, but he refused to help me appeal. I will email him just in case he has an off day and is actually helpful

Thank you for replying, I'm really scared about this, I've not slept at all.

On the contracting out point I think that's okay. Most providers use external contractors. It's not unlawful (unless a contract says the service to will be provided only by employees paid under PAYE of course). It is certainly a huge topic of the day that your dustmen might not work for the Council but a contractor etc etc repeated all over public and private companies.

I think we need a fight on one front (just one of a few) to get Arrow to stop capita/ventura from taking payments if they have received our deferment info before the stated deferment deadline.

If it takes them 28 days to process a form, they should change the first date for a DD to be taken to after that 28 days. Is that logical?

I think that is a fight we could win and its a tangible change. It would solve a key problem we will be facing every year!

@JessicaMary.

Not, it is not unlawful to use contractors. When it is a personal financial matter and you are forced to talk to a contractor who clearly knows bugger all about the clients they are serving (ie. us), and that same contractor has a considerable list of historical fuckups, then it is entirely relevant to know who that contractor is and where they are based.

Equally, given that there are two Capita teams, one in Leeds and one in Rotherham, then it is relevant to discuss the contractor as people have been getting conflicting information depending on who they talk to.

When the contractor is giving out shitty service, then the identity of that contractor is entirely relevant, especially when Erudio themselves have not said openly who that contractor is.

Absolutely. I get it even with BT - until I get to speak to the broadband UK expert it's like talking to the wall. They are pleasant Indians in India but they have no idea about the issues. It is an awful problem. The more contracting out the less control a company has.

In fact, that it has been you ibreakwind to uncover that information, and not something openly stated in all correspondences, says much about openness and transparency.
The fact that it is deemed ok is cause for concern in our case, especially when it involves a company having all your personal information and one hand in your bank account. It is fundamentally different from the issue of who picks the rubbish up or provides a husbandry service for the local parks trees.

@JessicaMary

Equally when a company does subcontract out, they have someone else to blame when things go wrong. The interview with Lewy yesterday was a case example in trying to wriggle out of taking any responsibility for the errors Erudio have and are making.

This may amuse, have had a letter from Erudio, rather samrtish as it happens in response to my MP writing to them with my concerns, apparently it is now a complaint? I have complained but not through my MP. So they are now telling me they will investigate my complaint and may need to "contact the originating creditor and/or our external agents for further information" Eh? should they not have my credit agreements?

Then go on to say the usual within 8 weeks response, and close with "We confirm that all collection activity will be suspended until we have issued our final response" Enclosed is a complaints procedure, no enc: on letter

So my question is why can they not reply to my email complaint, and no mention of my deferment i am currently still deferred so they can't collect anything anyway.

I am confused.com

I would argue that erudio is the company that takes the stick when something goes wrong in this case, almost like a reversal of common logic. After all, only those reading this forum and the MSE website know it is Capita/Ventura...although Martin Lewis did get a quick mention in yesterday...and even we have (and still are) blaming erudio.

To anyone who doubts the importance of this, let me pose these follow on questions. Why do you think we are having all these procedural/communication problems? Is it because we have one accountable, dedicated company handling us? Or is it because we have a collection of shadow companies operating on behalf of a company that for all intents and purposes doesnt really exist but on paper (Erudio) to take the blame for any problems and funnel the big money through?

@persephone49

-What date is your letter from Erudio?

-Yes they should have your credit agreement. Presumably the originating creditor is the SLC so Erudio will have to contact them.

-I wonder who the external agents are.

-'Usual within 8 weeks response'... woah. So they give themselves eight weeks to respond to your complaint and defer all collections until that response? Interesting.

As ever, it sounds like a company winging it. Eight weeks for a complaint to be answered is bullshit. Absolute bullshit.

@erudioed.

I've seen Erudio taking none of the stick. They haven't talked to the press or been on the radio. Lewy might be a devious evasive chap when it comes to talking but he's still fronting up. It isn't Erudio who gets disgruntled customers calling and writing to them. I actually feel some sympathy for the Capita call centre staff who I would imagine have had this operation dumped on them and have to do the real hard work.

Ultimately I blame the government for presiding over another privatisation sale that offers a shitty return to the taxpayer, has been conducted with a great deal of secrecy, and has created a loan processing system that has all the transparency of cat shit.

I remember what the SLC was like when I was at university. They were an absolute shower. In my final year, it took six months of contact to get my loan paid. Forms would get lost in the post, payment not granted. It got so ridiculous that my university financial officer faxed my details to them and was on the phone to them as the fax arrived. A week later, I get the letter saying they still haven't got my details. The SLC in 2000 were not a good organisation.

They improved. My dealings over the last decade have been excellent. The call centre staff have been knowledgeable and efficient. The move to Erudio brings it right back to the 2000 days, coupling pisspoor customer service with a lack of accountability.

I sent an email to my MP. Got a response within 5 minutes. Apparently other people have contacted them. So they will look into it. If it was just me they likely wouldn't so Yey for the others contacting them

It is true SLA used to be a nightmare, but they improved a lot since I first took out my student loan.

The woman I spoke to yesterday said erudio is in a state of chaos never me expecting so much work.

In other words they were hoping a change of form would mean people wouldn't defer. In my case if it wasn't for my carer (lost since my funding was taken) opening that post I never would have known it was a student loans deferral form, it was on the pile to be shredded!

@ibreakwind

Dated 30th april

I suppose they could reply before then, the 8 weeks is set out in thier complaints procedure, which would have to satisfy any governing bodies so they are seen to comply.

The actual wording "We will confirm the result of our investigation, in writing as soon as possible and in any event within 8 weeks" In the complaints procedure, it goes on to say "If we are unable to provide you with a final response within this time we will send you an update and explain why we have been unable to respond fully."

Bit concerned they may not have my original agreements, i have requested them with my £1, no idea who external agents are, could be a cover (a**e) all statement.

It also says in the procedure they should send written acknowledgement of your complaint if it cannot be resolved by the next working day, within 5 working days, i have complained by email not even a read response, is that not in "writing"?

Maybe i am examining the meaning too much lol.

Hang on i also complained over the phone, got them to confirm verbally but not in writing, my phone bill will have the date and time.