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?

@emptycoffers

Yeah interesting. Also interesting that they only were admitted as a solicitor in March this year ;)

@SassyLaw76

That's awful. I think you should contact the Ombudsman! Here

@sassylaw76 overtime has always been taken into account. There is still info on SLC website that says overtime counts towards your gross earnings. Overtime can't be relied on no, but there is no proof you won't do overtime again. I don't know if you could get something from your employer promising you won't do overtime again, but I don't know if that's possible or not.

I'm not sure about the rest.mI know rules changed for various benefits so they aren't considered to be 'income related' anymore so count e.g housing, child and council tax as I lost out for fuel payments as I didn't spend a certain % of all benefit on heating bills. I complained but it wasn't upheld as the rules state it is a % of all benefits excluding those specifically income related or for disability reasons.

Hopefully someone else can help you.

Forgot to add I didn't mean I agree regarding the overtime!

I got a lovely letter too from the legal counsel, not actually sure i raised any concerns, i just told them i didn't agree to them sharing my data with the CRA's. I now have a total of 4 emails and 2 letters from them telling me precisely nothing, other than i am in a holding position for 8 weeks and they will respond within 21 days, i have a pile of paperwork about an inch high relating to this cluttering up my table, and they picked the wrong week to mess because we have a particularly difficult house sale going through and i have about had enough of all of them lol.

I feel better now!

And, still nothing regarding my deferment which they must have because the "concerns" i apparently raised were in with my form.

Hi sassylaw76 when they calculate your gross pay for the last three calendar months, they including overtime, bonuses, allowances, London weighting time, they however take off expenses. Otherwise if you are over they will state you must pay even if your basic salary is under the deferment threshold. Most people when they are sending in their last 3 payslips will just work less overtime hours on they months so they are under the threshold.

Hello

Does anyone know if its possible to log in and see how much is left to pay on the student loans and if it is possible to add a bit of extra money on every so often to try and get the loan paid off a bit quicker?

Thanks in advance.

Help again please lovely people? The deferment threshold for the year from 1 September 2013 is £2,398 which is equivalent to £28,775 per year but on my p60 it clearly states that I earned £25,358.10 so I am going to appeal re decision to refuse my deferment as this evidences that I am under the specified amount! What do u think my chances are? Thanks

Hi Sassy. I would suspect you won't get the decision overturned on your p60 alone as the deferment guidelines have always referred to proving income over the last three months. You can reapply for deferment as soon as your circumstances change, though, which means you could simply work less overtime for the next three months and at least limit your repayments to three months.

Then sit down with a calculator and work out how much overtime you can do while keeping your annual income under the threshold and with particular attention to the three months before your deferment date. That way you can avoid working more hours but handing that money over to Erudio for the privilege.

There is also child benefit, which you mentioned in your other post, to add to the p60 figure. It isn't included on a p60 but is considered to be income, unfortunately.

Sorry the above was to sassylaw!

Just spoke to Erudio on the phone regarding my complaint I made at the beginning of April. (now getting close to my deferrment date and i havent heard anything much back)

The person I spoke to advised me that I didnt have to sign the part above the Fair Processing Notice regarding CRAs and that I could include a signed letter stating my declared earnings are accurate and that I dont agree to any changes in T&Cs.

Mind you, he also said I could sign it and include the letter and that would be OK too! (bit sceptical of that)

Despite following the Terms and Conditions of The 1998 Student Loans agreement for deferment, Erudio sent me letter rejecting it. Moreover, they totally ignored my covering letter( the template one used earlier in the thread), but also completely ignored my request for the original loans agreement. Their policy is to be selective on who they defer, since one of the members of mumsnet with similar circumstances was excepted for deferment. Futhermore, the strategy of Zach Lewey is a long term goal of imposing the Erudio deferment form as standard by a series of increments. There is nothing original in this approach, those of you who are old enough, recall how Thatcher changed society(for the worst) not by single moves, but through a series of long term incremental changes. Thereby establishing what we have now. Lewey is pursuing the same goals. When people except changes to their T&C, how ever small,he wins. Lewey will keep pushing, until he gets what he wants and more. His ultimate aim is to screw everyone. Do not except changes to your original T&C.

Rejected it on what grounds?

I apologise if i'm a little behind on this but I haven't checked this thread in a week or two.

Basically I applied for deferment about a month ago... I didn't fill in their forms but I did send proof of income and an exhaustive letter giving them all the information necessary.

After about two weeks I hadn't heard from them so I rang and asked what has happening. Initially they claimed not to have received my deferment request but I pointed out that they signed for it on such-and-such a date... I was then told they hadn't begun processing the request yet and I should ring back next week.

Next Tuesday I rang them again and explained the situation to the goon on the phone... he didn't have a clue so he transferred me to a supervisor... I don't wanna name the supervisor but in case others here have had dealings with this guy I will say his initials are M.D. M.D. assured me that Erudio have now changed their policy regarding direct debits and I was now no longer required to provide them with one... he said this would not be considered a breach of the terms and conditions and that I could categorically have this in writing. He then went on to assure me that my letter was very thorough and he could see no reason why it wouldn't be sufficient to grant my deferment... but he had to get confirmation from his superiors first and would phone me back by the end of the day.

He didn't phone me back by the end of the day.

I rang Erudio and spoke to two seprate goons before I was finally passed to M.D. again. He was super apologetic and admitted he had dropped the ball etc... he made all the same assurances as the day before and said he was on the case and would personally take care of my account from now on but claimed he was still waiting for confirmation from his superiors and he would ring me back by the end of the day. But this time y'know for really.

He didn't phone me back at the end of the day.

Or the next day.

On Friday I was pissed off and fed up waiting so I rang Erudio and asked to speak to M.D. but the goon I spoke to said it was his day off and she would leave a note on his desk for him to ring me on Saturday.

By 3:00 on Saturday I still hadn't heard from M.D. so I rang Erudio only to get an automated message telling me they are closed on weekends.

On Monday I waited until after mid-day and STILL hadn't heard from M.D. so I rang again and asked to speak to him. He was apologetic about not phoning me on Saturday but said he had good news... he said he could confirm that IF I FILLED OUT A DEFERMENT FORM AND SENT IT BACK TO ERUDIO I WOULD DEFINATELY BE GRANTED DEFERMENT!

It took me a minute to process this... and when I did I was pissed.

I mean the whole issue was that I didn't want to fill in their forms in the first place! And he had assured me days previously that I wouldn't have to fill in the forms! He just did a complete U-turn that put me back at square one and was acting like this was progress!

So I let him have it with both barrels and after a lot of dithering he said he would do some digging and ring me back within the hour.

About three hours later he called me back with good news... he was going to put me through to some woman who would process my deferment right there and then. Great. Smashing. Super.

So M.D. transferred me through to L.H. who then informs me that she will take my details over the phone AND THEN SEND ME OUT SOME DEFERMENT FORMS TO SIGN AND DATE!

WTF!

I pointed out rather angrily that this was not what M.D. led me to believe was going to happen when he transferred me and that I was right back at square one AGAIN.

I told her all about the deferment letter I sent and she looked it up on her computer and agreed that I had given them all the information that they needed to approve deferment... but that she needed me to give her the information AGAIN over the phone for some reason.

She also said that she couldn't begin processing my deferment unless I sent them a signed and dated set of deferment forms which she would send to me after I finished giving her the information over the phone.

So I asked her for the sake of clarity if I had this right: it didn't matter if I gave them my information via letter or over the phone... and it didn't matter if I sent them a blank set of deferment forms... ALL THEY WANTED TO BEGIN PROCESSING MY DEFERMENT WAS MY SIGNITURE ON THEIR FORMS.

She confirmed this.

So I pointed out that this made it seem like my information was a secondary concern and that the most important thing to Erudio was getting me to sign their forms so they had my implicit agreement to their changes to the original terms and conditions.

Again she confirmed this.

I argued with this woman for AN HOUR and it was like hitting my head against a brick wall... she confirmed time and again that they had more than enough information to process AND GRANT my deferment but would refuse to do so until I sent them my signature on their forms.

I told her that this was illegal and that there was nothing in the original terms and conditions that said I had to use their forms to apply for deferment... I pointed out that nothing in the original terms and conditions allowed them to decline my deferment or refuse to process my deferment based on not using their forms... I pointed out that signing their forms forced me to agree to changes to the original terms and conditions and was therefore a form of bullying.

She wouldn't budge.

After an eternity of this she volunteered a workaround: she would send me letters confirming that I didn't have to give them direct debit details and that my information would not be given out to CRAs unless I defaulted on repayment. But I still had to sign their deferment forms. I pointed out that the forms directly contradicted the letters she was offering to send me and that if I signed the forms they would have more legal weight than the letters... she agreed with this assessment.

At which point I hung up in despair.

I now don't know what to do.

According to Erudio I will NOT be granted deferment unless I sign their forms... this is not right and it is not legal and they have no grounds to do this... but they are sticking to their guns.

I don't know what to do... I feel sick and helpless and trapped.

Take the morons to the FOS.

Thank you everyone who has posted to this thread (and the previous) you've saved me many a sleepless night.
I attempted to defer with a letter based on the template Mandakl kindly shared. I've received a letter today which states:
"We have recently received an application for deferment from you. However the form was not signed and dated (my letter was though). Please complete the attached form again and return it to us as soon as possible
If you fail to return the form your monthly repayments will become due and if these repayments are not met your account will fall into arrears."
What opinion do you all have on taking up the battle that they don't need the form versus filling in only the sections I see as necessary?

So they KNOW that your deferment request was completely legal but are refusing it as you didn't sign their form, which is not in any way required for your deferment to be legal?

Hope Zach Lewy and Erudio are reading this so they can see what complete ars*les they are making themselves look.

Talk about putting themselves in an untenable and undefendable position.

Also confirms everything we suspected about the underhand intent of those forms.

Oh, I think @simonpimpernel was possibly writing at the same time as I was, just seen your message. Appalling! It appears we've both been met with the same ultimatum. They're wrong though, aren't they?

Exactly that @mandakl and I agree, it certainly suggests there is another agenda behind signing the forms! I might have to ponder this one but I'm erring on the side of 'not signing your stoopid form and you can't make me'

Yes they are completely and utterly wrong.

It's up to you how much you want to fight it.

At the beginning of these threads Erudio were insisting that every single thing on the form had to be filled in and agreed to else they would blackmail you by refusing deferment.

Since then they have had to capitulate on nearly all of that, so in many ways it's not such an issue as it originally was if you are careful not to agree to any change of terms.

They are supposed to be redesigning the forms, but that doesn't help anyone deferring at the moment as we are stuck with the old ones with the alleged dodgy changes in T&C

Thanks @mandakl, solid and helpful advice as you've provided all the way through both threads.

See, I quite like a bit of a fight. Particularly one that I can win.

I feel a bit like Erudio just tried to blackmail me and I don't think that's very nice. Or legal.

I wouldn't under any circumstances have ever borrowed money or signed a credit agreement form from a company with Erudio's set up / history / reputation / apparent lack of principles. I took out loans based on the terms and legislation governing the loan at that time from an organisation I felt could be trusted to adhere to an honourable set of standards which have been upheld to this point. I'm not aware of any other DCA who insist that debtors sign new forms when other debts are bought. I don't believe it was in the terms of the sale. They may well have their reasons for wanting me to sign their forms but those are their reasons alone and the threat to take money from me if I don't is vexatious.

Could I trouble you for a reminder of the best method to complain?

:D

@mandaki - yes they confirmed several times that they have more than enough info to actually grant the deferment successfully but they refuse to until I agree to allow them to change the terms and conditions with my signature.

I know some people are fine with just blacking out sections of the forms or not filling them in completely but I don't trust Erudio... they are liars and cheats plain and simple... and I would be extremely wary of assuming that this sort of action actually covers you legally.

What will you do next @simonpimpernel ?

I hate bullies and I refuse to be bullied. Erudio are bullying and blackmailing and what they are doing is illegal.

I have had enough.

Can someone please help me with a few details as this is a long thread and the information I need is buried.

Who can I complain to? Can anyone give me email addresses of who I should contact? Martin Lewis, the SLC, the financial ombudsman, the Independent etc.

Also I can never remember which loans they are already allowed to share with CRAs... is it the pre or post 1998 ones?

And where was it stated that Erudio has to treat us fairly? How exactly was that worded?

And finally what are Erudio's parent and sister companies?

I'm sorry for being a nuisance but it would take me ages to comb through this thread all the way back to the beginning.