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?

Have we all forgotten that Erudio are A DEBT COLLECTION AGENCY?

If they can get people to not defer when we are LEGALLY allowed do so this is how they are going to make their money. They will use delaying tactics so you pass you deferment date so they can take payment.. its compmete bull!

I'm with Mandakl on this one. I am allowed to defer, I didnt set the income threshold, erudio didnt set the threshold an outside agency did. Now erudio are being as shifty as they possible can to squeeze money out of people legally allowed to defer. Its irrelevant whether I sign their daft form or send a letter my income is not going to change so they have no reason to refuse my deferral.

They change their story so many times on the phone they haven't got a scoobie doo.

@minimoosh

(In previous I was responding regarding the clause you linked to, which as said relates to sharing for the other purpose mentioned and not the more general clause Erudio are relying on.)

Yes, I think the point is at least debatable and perhaps not as cut and dried as Erudio and BIS would like us to think it is.

If you look at all the public statements by Erudio and BIS etc, it actually boils down to a few key statements that basically say that Erudio are of the opinion that s16 gives them the right to report deferred accounts to the CRAs.

Erudio have been of the opinion on many things and been proved wrong and forced to back down, so not sure their opinion on this is worth much either.

Think it is one of the things that may shake itself down in the next years or so, especially if many people complain and dispute their right to report when they find these loans on their credit files.

Trouble is they have no right to do any of this but until someone MAKES them back down and adhere to the law they can do whatever the they like.

It's all very well people saying it is BS and don't back down... but my deferment runs out next week and Erudio are not blinking. If I don't cave in and sign their forms they will attempt to take a payment... and as I do not have a DD set up they will claim my account is in arrears and I am a defaulter and will notify the CRAs and possibly even hold me in breach if I still refuse to give in.

So yes in theory we are all in the right and they don't have a leg to stand on... but in practice we are **ed.

@powerpooh

Yes, afraid that is spot on, as painful as it is to hear.

It's simply not in their interest to have people deferring.

@simonpimpernel

A major reason why these loans should never have been sold off to these vampires in the first place.

The checks and balances, and methods of complaint and redress when loans of this type are offloaded to the private sector are just not fit to cope with the problems and required standard and sensitivity required for these loans.

It's like asking a chimp to serve in a fish and chip shop. It's going to be a big mess and at some point you are going to end up with deep fried monkey.

@simonpimpernel

My deferment ends on 22nd May. So its close too. I posted the other day I phoned FOS. Erudio have had my deferment since 9th April and its been marked as incomplete since 17th April and they haven't contacted me to resolve it. No where in any of the literature I have had from erudio or SLC did it say I had to use their form.

Perhaps if their staff spent less time getting upset about whats said on this forum and more time doing their work we would've had it resolved by now.. just saying.

Hope you get it resolved .

Contact FOS.

Update on my deferral application - I just phoned Erudio again (surprisingly they didn't phone me back yesterday...) and spoke to another member of staff who checked my application again. He said it had been marked as incomplete because I hadn't supplied evidence of child benefit payments BUT he could see that I had.

Then he said it was to do with my overtime payments from my employer, which I had marked on the form as temporary income (they are and I explained this in covering letter). The overtime payments are also on the payslips I sent. However they have apparently written to me to tell me I need to provide payslips for this temporary employment as well. Although I haven't received this letter. Confusing.

HOWEVER, according to him now I've clarified these payments are from the same employer and they are on the payslips I already provided I have now been accepted for deferral and will receive this in writing very soon. Not getting excited until I get that letter though!

He also assured me that no payments would be taken from my account as this will all go through today. Naturally I will continue checking my account every hour on the hour!?

Just to clarify - I sent their signed form with blacked out sections and a covering letter, although my loans are pre 98 so this may have been a waste of time anyway.

I said way back when, repeatedly, that people should stop phoning Erudio and expecting to have their problems resolved by happy cheery folks - Erudio are not your sympathetic auntie and uncle or your doting parents - but hey I see turkeys are still voting for Christmas.

And bugger me, despite, there being like 10 times as much information as necessary for anyone to defer straightforwardly between these threads, other forums and even Erudio's own bleedin' website - still people go on phoning them at their own expense - I thought you were supposed to be hard-up - stop wasting your money!!!

And with all the phoning asking the same flaming questions 2 weeks after posting the forms - no wonder Erudio can't get the bloody forms processed, which are being sent in a hundred different guises that SLC never had to deal with.

People need to be realistic - Even with the best of effing intentions - even if Erudio had John Lewis's customer service team in - they are not going to be able to do what SLC never did either.

Has nobody here ever worked in a call centre/processing centre? FFS!

On that note when in fucks name did people in call centres start making POLICY decisions on matters of a companies strategy. Try asking the HMRC to clarify the finer points or the rights and wrongs of government taxation - it doesn't happen!!!

I'm not going to apologise for ranting because it wears me out watching the same people ignore the good, sane advice they've been repeatedly offered and then keep coming back asking the same questions - again and again.

Erudio are debt collectors being forced to operate within rules they don't like and are not bound by in other areas of debt collection.

The DD guarantee is there to help people who have payments wrongly taken - use it.

Only fill in the forms and give as much info as you did with SLC - do it.

Work out what your actually arguing against and stick to those points.

AAAAAAAhHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! head hurts!!!

@emptycoffers

Do you work for Erudio or something?

@ simonpimpernel

that's right - that's why I've been clearly and painfully wasting my time telling you how to defer - for how long now???

@ simonpimpernel

From what In remember of your circumstances (I don't know what years your loans are) you have loans, you have not given DD details and you haven't signed your borrower's warranty part of the form.

Is your income actually below the threshold to defer?
Are you actually eligible to defer or are you trying to avoid being assessed?

If you are eligible to defer, it's a black and white situation for you.

Either sign the warranty and write what I and many others have told you on the form and you will be deferred.
Afterwards you can get a copy of your credit record and discover what Erudio have or haven't done.
That's a battle for everyone still to come.

OR don't sign it

And wait for Erudio to begin debt recovery and if you are game for it, let them take you to court and argue your case.

What is it you want them to back down on?
Because I'm not sure what point you're arguing other than against govt policy of selling off.

There's nothing more to argue than that - and phoning them and shooting the breeze about what is and isn't being said on here, isn't going to help your cause or your telephone bill one bit.

Nor can anyone on here tell you anymore than that because none of us actually know!!!

As I said before it still hasn't been confirmed that blacking out sections of the form covers people legally. So yes apparently this method has NOW resulted in a successful deferment for SOME people... but that doesn't necessarily mean people are safe from Erudio's bullshit.

And the "they can't touch you so just ignore them and it'll all turn out fine" approach isn't working either clearly.

People are justifiably worried... Erudio have proven repeatedly that they are a law unto themselves... so sitting back getting shirty with people for being concerned isn't really fair.

Also you might be fine with a company lying and bullying you illegally but some of us are not.

Also at the time I sent in my deferment application none of us knew whether sending a letter or blacked out forms would result in deferment... so it wasn't at all obvious what was "good sane advice" and what was bad... and now that we do know it is too late to change the way I have applied.

As I said before it still hasn't been confirmed that blacking out sections of the form covers people legally. So yes apparently this method has NOW resulted in a successful deferment for SOME people... but that doesn't necessarily mean people are safe from Erudio's bullshit.

People aren't being deferred BECAUSE they are blacking out the forms. They are being deferred DESPITE blacking out the forms.

This method, which worked for me, has been accepted by Erudio and demonstrates that you do not have to give more info than you did before and they will still defer you.

I don't understand what you mean by legally covered.
Nobody on here OR even Erudio has taken anything to court. I doubt whether anybody has even sough paid legal opinion on any of these matters.
I don't know what you mean - legally covered against what? - there are no guarantees - no past experience - this is new territory for everybody - there's no such thing as legally covered.
The UK doesn't have a codified legal system
It operates almost entirely on precedent so until people go to court about these specific matters - there IS NO Law - there is no precedent.

You think I'm not worried? My manner has become brusque and abrasive because these points are just not sinking in and people are endlessly trawling over the same ground.

There are a lot of people on the web still talking bollocks about debts being written off and peddling Freemen of the Land fantasy nonsense about how the law works.

So, are you actually eligible to defer and what are you going to do?

Nobody is going to produce NEW information which will help you - so eventually you will have to make a decision.

You might think I'm being shirty - I think you'll be a lot more shirty if you don't at least try to defer.

Anyway - I'll not try and change your mind anymore or Get Shirty - good luck whatever path you follow

@emptycoffers

Well said, and yes i have worked in a call centre and a busy office processing membership and it is a pain in the backside when people constantly phone checking, its slows you down, and pisses people off!

Erudio have to show their hand at some point, if your aim is deferral deal with that first, if they step out of line then you need to give them enough rope, you need evidence of wrong doing until that happens you can't fight.

Cross posted -

and now that we do know it is too late to change the way I have applied.

Is that what's annoyed you with Erudio?

Is there something you told them or didn't tell them - that you now want to change?

People, arguing amongst ourselves is going to put a smile on any "Erudio" worker who is reading these posts...let's not humour them. If you really want to play verbal tennis with one person, send a private message.

Latest in my case, got letter in unmarked envelope, thanking me for my complaint and saying all collection is to be suspended. Dated yesterday. So much for 5 days to confirm complaints.

Nothing about my deferment. None of my information has been returned, which before anyone jumps on me was photocopied but they must return it to me due to previous circumstances I won't disclose here.

I filled in the form, well i had to pay for a scribe, sent all that was required and am still being told they can in error take my money, they cannot do he this.

For those who do not open every bit of post, do, the erudio letters I have had have not been marked from them, they were almost shredded as I thought they were marketing.

Am seeing my mp tommorow.

Seeing this in the active list prompted me to ring Erudio to check on the status of my deferment. I'd sent all my paperwork off end of March. I then received a letter from them stating that my covering letter from my partner wasn't sufficient (even though it was a copy and paste job of what I sent to SLC which they always accepted. I sent the new paperwork off on 29th April and have heard nothing.
When I spoke to the deferment section the woman said that they'd received it yesterday! I told her that was strange as it shouldn't take 14 days to get there! She put me on hold and spoke to someone then came back and told me that it had been approved.
My deferment ends today so I will see if anything goes out of my account. She said that nothing will. I'm tempted to cancel the DD but I'm worried what will happen if they try to take anything, whether I'll be classed as defaulting. I know that halfprice and others have said that it won't be classed as defaulting though.
She said that the letter will take 10-14 working days to be sent.
I'm not sure whether I can trust that my deferment is in place so I'll ring tomorrow to check I think.

I've just been on the phone to them too. My deferment ends 19th may, I sent everything off nearly a month ago and it hasn't been looked at yet. I was told that nothing would be taken before 20th June so it gives me some breathing space (SLC used to send a letter confirming the DD beforehand, hopefully this will still happen).

Rather stressy this year, I've had problems getting it deferred in the past (SAHM, now very low earnings with handwritten payslips - no P60) and had it down pat, even had my boss well trained with the letter confirming my income . Fingers crossed when they get round to it it'll all go through OK.

Today I contacted FOB about those shower of cretins refusal to defer, despite using exactly the evidence produced to SLC, who accepted this as proof for 12 years. They informed me to follow the standard procedure, sent a letter of complaint, keep a copy etc. However, when I asked them if they would intervene, they replied only after giving those Cretins 2 months to reply. It then followed the pattern of non committal until deadlock was reached against those shower. I know there is nothing new in this since I have read many times on this site a similar tale of woe. What has been confirmed to me today, however, is there is a wide discrepancy between the personnel you are talking to at the FOB, because I finally obtained an admission that they had very little knowledge of our plight and it would have to be delegated to a specialist team within the FOB.

@mandaki @emptycoffers

I took my first loan out in the 1997 academic year, but it was signed in the spring of 1998 hence my confusion. All other loans were taken in the subsequent 2 academic years.
Still very concerned and rather stressed

@Insanityme

In that case it should have still used the 1997 academic year form of loan agreement. i.e. the older one.

Your loans after that in the next academic year would have used the new agreement form.

@mandakl

Right ok, thanks for the clarification.
I've basically messed up completely then by signing the form.
I did it as i was of the understanding that all my loans were grouped together under my course start date, and so it was going to be on there anyway. And yes, i was under pressure to get the deferment in, as I can ill afford to start repaying.
Am mightily peeved now... But the documentation they sent out is so confusing. And am peeved others are getting defered without signing the forms! (Tho glad for them obv!)
Surely a company can't have different policies for different customers...
They either have to enforce it or scrap the entire policy for all!
Am wondering if there is anything i can do to remove my consent retrospectively... Prob not, but has anyone tried??