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?

@Erudioed - lol at the 'bunch of clowns'/midwife that birthed you comments.
So glad people can pick out the humour in this sorry mess. This thread has me laughing lots :)

Well today I got my deferral confirmation. Sent a letter and one from husband to confirm SAHM which was rejected. Filled in form crossing out FPN and 'do not consent to any changes'. Sent letter from husband again and our (joint) bank statements but with all details of my husband and children's expenditure blacked out.

Have two 'holding' letters - guess these are for my complaint (received by them on 20 Apr) and my CCA request (sent at same time) - so interested in what minimoosh had to say :)

@ persephone49 It will be interesting to see Erudio's approach to loan cancellations, I imagine they'll try to say we need their permission for the loans to be cancelled, whereas it's clear from the regulations that the onus is on Erudio to cancel the loans once the borrower qualifies. They have no discretion over this, unless there are any repayments due under the loan agreement.

Once your 50th birthday celebrations are over, you should ask them to confirm they've met THEIR obligation under the agreement to cancel off your loans - what a great birthday present, never having to deal with Erudio again!

Fair point erudioed, I don't have it in writing, I have noted on my letter the time I called and the name of the manager I spoke to.
I think I will write to them asking for written confirmation, but not until I have received my deferment confirmation!
They don't seem to realise that student loans holders are not their usual demographic, the majority will be confident enough to challenge their tactics, although I have to confess the fear and intimidation is not nice. But I know my rights and responsibilities :)

For those looking for a non 0845 number I called on 0113 318 9010 as found on say no to 0870 (www.saynoto0870.com/numbersearch.php)

@minimoosh

Yes it will be interesting, i can't be alone in that event taking place in between, its a while off yet so i aim to win this battle then tackle the next one, slowly slowly catchy monkey! i am to kick up as much fuss as possible, i have emailed them back today and sent all copies to my MP who wrote to them, we will see what that does, probably nothing lol.

It would be a wonderful birthday present, i always intended to pay it back, not any more! i will fight or go down fighting them. They can trash my credit rating if they like i don't intend applying for any more. Although i check it weekly.

Incidentally they have set up a DD on my account for £0.00 checked today, was tempted to cancel but i won't.

@ Sarebear78 Congrats on getting your loans deferred

Have to say, having read some of the comments about the whole financial support thing for SAHM's, I'm worried now I've not given enough evidence - I gave them screen prints for our joint bank account, showing the balance and hubby's salary as the only income into the account, but with the salary amount blacked out.

Do they need to see debit entries for anything that might be seen as 'joint' expenditure (mortgage, Council Tax, groceries, etc)?

Thanks for that link, @minimoosh. I'll need to sit down and read it with a very strong coffee when I have a quiet moment. No, scratch that, a very strong gin...

Now. I started University in 1997, so most of my mortgage-style loans were of the post-1998 agreement. I asked Erudio/Capita about the consequences of their maladministration of my deferment request on my credit file. They said not to worry, as only arrears of 3 months or more are reported to CRAs. However, if you go to the FAQs on Erudio's website it says:

Where your account was opened in or after 1998 then we may pass details of your loan to credit reference agencies where (i) your account is in arrears or (ii) your account is in default or (iii) you have agreed that we may do this.

Firstly, there is no mention of 3 months on the website. Secondly, they seemed to have tightened up reporting of information. Whereas the SLC only reported defaults, Erudio are taking a single missed payment as a break of the agreement and reporting that. Are Erudio going to blackmark the credit files of those who have had their deferment processed late through no fault of their own?

Minimoosh - I'm also a bit worried as I think the 3rd party support thing is all a bit of a grey area. I mean, if your dh/dw is earning the same amount as now, but you were on £18 000, you wouldn't declare they were supporting you, would you?

I earn a tiny amount myself and send a letter from dh stating how much he pays for mortgage, bills and insurance, but I've never been sure whether the slc took it into account or not. The mortgage, for example, is entirely in his name - no bank would give me a mortgage based on my income - so why should his monthly repayment ability be in any way relevant to my income as determined by the slc/capita? We could be living in a house owned outright by either one of us and therefore be able to declare a lower level of support. The only thing that is crystal clear is that deferment has never been dependent on disclosing your partner's income.

I suspect that the whole point was originally to identify people living off trust funds, but since there seens to be no clarification anywhere, it does seem that the new administrators of our loans can, initially at least, try their luck at interpreting the matter to suit themselves.

As I am currently on a short term contract that puts me over deferment levels I am now drawing near to the end of my deferment. I phoned Erudio to tell them I wanted to pay - unlike you deferers I had no problems getting through on the phone payment line - picked up after the first ring!

Anyhow, the reason I am posting is regarding the direct debit. I don't have a DD with Erudio - I cancelled the one they set up for me as the bank weren't happy that a company had set one up without my say so. I told Erudio I would pay them by direct bank transfer. They wanted to reinstate the cancelled DD (They still have all the details on file) as they like to 'have control of the money', but they have accepted the fact that I will pay them on time. So hold strong on not giving them DD details if you are deferring!

They have acquired a lot of details about me that I don't remember ever giving to the SLC - including my works phone number which I rarely give to anyone, and an email address - SLC never had that as they refused to ever email anybody.

I also informed them over the phone that I would also be sending a letter detailing that I don't want my information to be handed over to CRAs - Erudio did confirm that they would if I defaulted, but wouldn't otherwise (I shall wait with baited breath on that one).

That is rather worrying, i wonder if that info is on your CRA file. If not, you may want to inquire as to how they have gotten in and threaten them with the ombudsman.

Capita administrate some of the council payment services, just a thought as to how they can get info, they may have fingers in other payment services/financial services also, just speculating.

is it legal to collect such data, does anyone know? Or does it have to be data we have supplied to them under a signature?

hmmmm i don't know if its legal, the systems might be different, how likely is that i don't know, but how would we prove that isn't what they do/have done, they must be harvesting info from somewhere.

On equifax none of my phone numbers show up, not sure about other cra's

Just double checked no phone no's just full addresses, interestingly no search from them either.

@minimoosh and FrauEnglischLehrerin

I was lucky as the mortgage isn't in my name so can't be classed as joint. I put my credit card through as my expenditure - which includes the food shopping and lots of other joint expenses - as well as the cash withdrawals I made (some of which were for the children) so really I actually over estimated my income, if anything.

Good luck :)

The adviser i spoke to this morning, ha ha yes i know, said only payments to me need be left on the bank statement, as o/h makes no payments to me i was told to send my dormant bank account statement showing zero balance hence my confusion and still am confused but hey ho that's what they want... He did say they didn't want mortgage payments etc.

Hi, I'm new to this. Just found this thread. I sent my deferment form back when i received it (wish i'd read about it here first but never mind)

Absent all the same info as i sent to SLC - payslips +P60 -and stated Child Benefit on the form. They've just written to me telling me that i haven't provided enough evidence to support my eligibility for deferment and have asked for bank statements proving my DSS benefits.

Well, as it's only CB that I receive I've sent a statement showing that payment with everything else blacked out. I emailed it to them and sent it Special Delivery. I'm hoping that's enough for them.

What I don't understand is that, even with the CB I'm nowhere near the threshold. And as far as i'm aware CB isn't included as income so why are they unable to establish my eligibility without confirmation of that?

I sent, not absent.

I've just created a Facebook Page if anyone wants to like and share. Facebook doesn't leave much room for the description, but it is good for awareness.

www.facebook.com/ErudioStudentLoans

Nice one, i have done the same kind of thing on twatter a while ago if anyone wants to pass it around:
twitter.com/erudioed

Yes, it's a good feed, @erudioed. I found it a while a go when I did a twitter search for Erudio Student Loans! If anyone one of you fine people would like posting rights etc to the facebook page, just let me know.

Has anyone heard anything about the Guardian article recently?

@ LittleMissGreen

That's very concerning.

If you really are sure you didn't give SLC the info previously - (and Erudio won't tell you whether they got it) - you could do a Data Protection Act - sbject access request - think it costs about a tenner.

I had a reply to my email from the 8th May, yesterday requesting confirmation that they had received my application for deferment, i included my account number etc, all the reply was that they couldn't help me until i provided DOB address etc, so i replied dutifully and today a response, ha ha. We aim to respond within 21 days, very funny Erudio, now i am convinced you are delaying deliberately and i am now on the warpath.

Funny how they could respond immediately when my MP complained but not me!!!!!

So they appear to be responding but actually haven't actually said anything.

@Emptycoffers - do I do that by contacting Erudio?
They phoned me a while ago (when I first cancelled my direct debit) which took me completely by surprise but they just kept sidestepping the issue of where they got the number from.
e.g. Where did you get this number? This isn't a marketing call...
Where did you get this number? Did you know that we have bought your student loan...
It's possible that SLC had the home number as I called them once, but mobile, work number and an email all very unlikely.

The Guardian article has been published:

www.theguardian.com/money/2014/may/20/student-loan-erudio-under-fire

Nothing really new in the article that hasn't been said before. At least its another newspaper involved though. I particularly like some of the comments from readers! One saying everyone on here was talking rubbish and another saying they didn't really see what the problem was with the sell off of the loans!!!

Personally I feel the more people know about this the better. I've read the advice given on here and other forums but at the end of the day I am the one responsible for what I do next. Nobody is making me do anything.

Currently I am 2 days away from my deferment ending but I have already involved FOS and have lodged a formal complaint. I have given Erudio until my current deferment ends for them to acknowledge my complaint and if I haven't heared anything FoS will be getting contacted again. I feel Erudio are deliberately delaying the deferring process to their own advantage.