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?

Whooo hooo, just had an email from them responding to my email dated 11th April, no nothing exciting just acknowledging my email and they will respond in 21 days. Looks like they are catching on emails before they get in more hot water now they are under scrutiny!

Nothing from my previous emails though :-( if you are reading this Erudio ;-)

Credit Cards, Loans and savings are not income and do not count towards your gross monthly income.

They ask for details of these in section 8 of their form and they also tell you none of them should be used in your monthly income calculation. They are just fishing for extra information. Erudio have even informed people not to bother completing this section.

Interest from savings is income. FYI I did not fill out section 8 and was informed over the phone they don't count savings,cc or loans as income and have had my deferment accepted and confirmed in writing.

@ mandakl

Thanks for your response to my request for information last night (further up the thread). Your link to the MSE thread with the scans of the 2 formats of agreements was very helpful. I understand now why we are looking at loans that go beyond 1998!

Considering the 1st agreement format ran 'til '97 I imagine that the majority of people with loans that are being dealt with by Erudio will be covered by these agreements....

....therefore what do those affected do about the Disclosure of Information clause that gives no specifics about who can be given our information, saying 'we may disclose to any person'...'if we judge appropriate'.

Is there any point in still informing Erudio that you not consent to sharing details about a deferred loan with this clause in place on our agreements?

I would expect them to NOT do it because SLC didn't and things were not meant to change after the handover, but obviously Erudio are taking this Clause 16. and running with it! Hence not even receiving a consent notice to sign and return with the Letter of Assignment pack. I guess they don't think they need to ask our consent anyway.

@ Becca19962014

When did you take your loans out?

I have my agreements from '94-'96

I was told I must do section 8 as only housing and council tax benefits, for me, are counted.

@mamamimi 96 was the first.

@ Becca19962014

The only part of section 8 you would need to fill in is the bit relating to 'Benefits not included as Income'.

Your first loan, at least, then would be covered by the first format of the loan agreements, which are the ones I have. This is what it says about deferment due to disability:

• ' The applicable regulations provide for... (b) (at our discretion) later commencement or deferment of repayments, or an increased number of payments of a lesser amount, if you receive certain types of disability-related benefits '

Gosh 3 emails AND a letter today, i feel really special ;-)

Don't worry nothing exciting just a reply telling me they will respond in 21 days, progress? hmmmmm ...

@mamamimi thank you, though I don't really understand why disabled people should be expected to earn less before repaying!

I have had a response to an email I sent on the 26th of April.

Thank you for contacting Erudio Student Loans. We acknowledge receipt of your email and you will receive a response within 21 days.

Automatic response anyone?

But by coincidence I resent this email today asking for a second time that they answer my query except this time I cc'd [email protected] in as well. Perhaps if they get a shedload of annoyed Erudio 'customers' contacting them direct, they might pull their finger out?

Well, I just received a response to my email of 9 APRIL!!! (written before I found this thread asking various questions) saying they had received it and would respond in 21 days. Piss poor.
In the meantime I have sent all my stuff off by sign-for delivery (amazingly possible from Poland without having to take out another loan :D) but in light of all your experiences, even the most positive of them, it's looking unlikely they'll process it in time (25 May is my DD). I have nil in the (dormant) acct where I still appear to have a direct debit set up (and no overdraft facility afaik) so that will be interesting. I also have no spare cash to waste on an international bank transfer so fuck knows what will happen now...

Looks like they finally put someone on emails lol, they is gonna be busy bunnies in 21 days lol

Don't feel so special now :-(

Woo hoo.. 2 days, well 1 day and and evening really... I get 2 email responses from Erudio today at 7.15am.. just standard we aim to reply within 21 days yadda yadda... they gonna be really busy answering all these queries in 3 weeks time. At least they are now acknowledging emails and they must have people in on overtime. Lol

So, they've had my form since 1st April (although they say that they've had it since 8th) but haven't yet assessed it. Given that my deferment period runs out in mid-May and they can't seem to tell me when it WILL be dealt with, I'm fully expecting them to take a DD. This is so unbelievably crap!

Forgot to say: I've been advised by them to phone (again!) 5 working days before the deferment period runs out because they'll be 'something they can do to expedite the process'. Whatever this witchery is, it can't be done before that date.

wait for them to take the payment, and if they havent sent you a 10 day warning like the DD mandate states, phone your bank and get them to put the cash back in pronto.
In fact, contact the ombudsman immediately and get them to lodge an official complaint for you, that will stop collection activity for over a month. Then if they take cash, the ombudsman wont be very happy. It seems a rather easy process, however much of a shitter it is that you have been drvien to take such a negative path.

@erudioed
as you say, I will wait as I too expect a DD to be taken in mid May. I know my forms have arrived, but I will not contact them. If the DD is taken I will reclaim under the guarantee and then cancel it. If they have set up the DD this means they have looked at my application. If they have looked at my application, they know I am eligible to defer and so should not take a payment. If this does happen, I will immediately add my complaint to the FOS's expected "deluge".

Good idea, eruodioed. Am I right in thinking that I can just contact the ombudsman without having to complain to Erudio first, because they've (the ombusman) have received so many complaints?

i think the ombudsman can file the complaint with Erudio for you (i assume this will have extra weight for a happy solution). They told me that was so, and the phone number is free. But it doesnt solve that problem, just states it for you. The first complaint always has to go through Erudio to solve the problem. It also suspends collection activity for upto 8 weeks by filing a complaint and is suggested strongly for all those waiting for deferment but with a DD in place. In fact, it is logical if Arrow wont change the first DD collection date until 28 days after the deferment deadline.
By going through the ombudsman though, it would also alert them to dealings with capita/ventura, so could be good for us all just so the ombudsman is aware of the kinds of things they are doing. I would have gone that path if i knew about earlier.
It might be worth including a lack of faith or trust in capita/ventura when you speak to the ombudsman based on their poor dealings so far.

I spoke to the ombudsman and asked whether or not it was acceptable for a company to admit it was so snowed under that it would be their fault the account went into arrears. They nice lady wrote to them stating why I wasn't happy with them, I sent off the deferment paperwork.

In the letter I asked he to say that it was unfair, even if the account was cleared, that it was put into arrears due to their fault, that they had failed to tell me my payments, and I had to find them out myself.

Now I have had 8 we will respond in 21 day emails now, although they have responded to 3 of them so far.

Anybody know if you can only defer once a year?

In two months time my contract here will finish, and we will be heading back to Thailand for a while. I won't work there and my partner will be supporting me, our financial situation will mean that no payments can be made.

They have said that they need to write to Erudio stating they are supporiting me.

Sent my letter and evidence (payslips) off to them a week ago. My deferment runs out on the 10th May apparently. Going by other people's experiences, I have very little confidence that they will approve my deferment in time.

I also went into my bank (Barclays) and asked them about the direct debit situation. They checked and confirmed that it is a new direct debit, and the old SLC one has been cancelled (from their side, not mine). They also said that they thought it was acceptable under DD rules for them to setup a new DD in the way that they have. I asked about preventing Erudio from collecting on it, but the only way is to cancel the DD. I don't want to do that at this stage, in case Erudio try and use it against me.

The most interesting thing that the cashier told me, when I asked about getting a DD payment refunded, was that it is much easier for the bank to reverse it on the same day it is taken. It is possible to reverse it later on, but much more cumbersome and the bank basically have to get permission from Erudio. But if you go into your bank on the same day it is taken, they can do it pretty much instantly, and without consulting Erudio first. This might be different for other banks though?

Barclays told me it was wrong for a DD to be changed without a signed DD mandate. If Erudio was the same company under a different name or the reference was the same that might be okay but it is totally separate so requires a new mandate. I know Barclays are complaining about my DD.

I was thinking about the inability to process things fast enough, surely that's their fault for increasing the form so much and demanding so much more information from people? Obviously this is why SLC did a simple form with simple evidence.

I got a reply from my MP regarding the disabled situation and SLC, they did change the rules and allow them to be cancelled if very severely disabled with proof etc (obviously I am very annoyed with myself for not doing that last year!!) but under erudio that has been changed to deferrment for 3 years due to the governments whole everyone must be reassessed for fitness to work regardless of disability philosophy, which doesn't work in practice!

Under SLC you could defer more than once a year if your situation changed e.g. You were over the threshold and lost your job and then needed to defer then found another job and the same thing happened - that happened to a friend of mine who couldn't hold down a job at all after graduation, I suspect he is probably somewhere going through the same process, I've no idea where he is though so can't ask.

just had my deferal put in place for 2014-2015, having sent them the correct details. origionally sent 3 monthly payslips but it was deemed incomplete, resent p60 and all payslips again by recorded delivery recieved my defernment in place.

@Becca19962014

Your MP has it wrong.

Both deferring for 3 years and cancelling the loan when permanently being unable to work did BOTH apply and STILL DO

Erudio have to work by the same rules which are these.

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/211/made

11. If the borrower can defer making repayments under paragraph 9 and he can show the lender that he gets a disability related benefit and that his gross monthly income during the 36 months immediately following the relevant month will not or is unlikely to be more than the deferment level the deferment period will last for 36 months.

12. The lender will cancel the borrower’s liability to repay the loan if the borrower—

(a)dies,

(b)is not behind on any repayments under any agreement for a student loan and—

(i)was under the age of 40 when his last agreement for a student loan was made and he reaches the age of 50 or when the last agreement for a student loan has been outstanding for not less than 25 years, whichever is the sooner, or

(ii)was aged 40 or older when his last agreement for a student loan was made and he reaches the age of 60, or

(c)if the borrower can show the lender that he gets a disability related benefit and because of his disability is permanently unfit for work.

mandakl has it totally correct, i know that for sure. Mp is giving wrong info

11. If the borrower can defer making repayments under paragraph 9 and he can show the lender that he gets a disability related benefit and that his gross monthly income during the 36 months immediately following the relevant month will not or is unlikely to be more than the deferment level the deferment period will last for 36 months.

You can only get the loan permanently written off if you get a letter from a doctor stating that you will never be fit for work, by that the letter must state this person will be permanently never fit for work, no doctor will write this, only few will write this as it they have to be careful what they write regarding patients..

Yes, the permanent disability write off for student loans has always been ridiculously hard to get done. Was that way under SLC. Will be the same under Erudio.

MP is wrong. It was next to impossible before. It's still the same now. Nothing has actually changed.