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?

@slam3000

Like you, I didn't fill out the form but instead sent a letter to request deferment, along with a letter from my employer confirming my income. It was received by recorded delivery on 28th March. I had no response, so sent it again, along with a cover letter lodging a complaint about Erudio's unsatisfactory service and giving them 7 days to respond. This was received on 8th May. My deferment period ended on 19th May. The direct debit is in place, but Erudio have not taken any money from my account. Today I finally received a generic-looking letter from Erudio saying:

"We have recently received an application for deferment from you. However the form was not signed and dated. Please complete the attached form again and return it to us as soon as possible. If you fail to return the form your monthly payments will become due and if these repayments are not met your account will fall into arrears."

Please can someone point me in the direction of the MSE article that says which bits of the form I can ignore? Should I simply blank out the bits that I feel are unnecessary. What should I write next to the blanked out bits? Could I just blank out everything and write "see attached letter"? Finally, should I date it with today's date? My original application letter was dated 27th March, and my evidence from my employer is dated then, so will it be a problem if I give today's date? Will they say I applied to defer late?

I'm entitled to defer and resent having to sign Erudio's form at all. If I don't sign it, what options do I have? I refuse to contact Erudio by phone, but foresee things dragging on if I send another letter back refusing to sign. Should I get the FOS involved?

@katep78

I've had a look for that MSE article and can't find it unfortunately. Would be really grateful if someone could link to it here. I was wondering what would be the implications of leaving the form blank or blanking it all out, but still signing and dating it?

I really don't want to get stung in the future by signing these forms but, by the same token, I'm getting stressed that this deferral (which I'm entitled to as I don't work) is taking so long.

blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2014/05/06/the-government-has-sold-people-out-over-erudio-student-loans/

and

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/loans/2014/05/erudio-student-loans-500-people-had-mistakenly-taken-from-accounts

Thanks Mandakl.

My first concern is that section (a) of the borrower's warranty states "there are no mis-statements or omissions". What are the implications of leaving the form intentionally blank, or missing out bits we don't agree with?

My second concern is what date to put by the signature. The evidence I sent with my application letter relates to my income for March and the following 2 months. By putting today's date on the form, will that mean Erudio can delay it further by asking for another letter from my employer?

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I want to make sure I get confirmation of my deferment as soon as possible and not waste any more time on this. Thanks for everyone's advice on this forum. It is very annoying that we are being pressured to sign Erudio's form when legally we don't have to, but this has already taken so long for many of us that I think signing the form is going to be the quickest way to get deferment.

i would suggest filling out the whole form then and then lodging an official complaint with erudio, then the ombudsman.
implications are clear...you wont be deferred until you do!

Something strange is going on... I've had 3 email responses from Erudio today, all within minutes of me receiving the 'read' receipt, all very polite, the third very apologetic for the delay in responding (took them 2 hours from when I emailed, and 5 minutes from them having read it).

I only emailed them for the first time yesterday evening... has anyone else been in contact with them today and experienced the same? Not sure if it's to do with the read receipt, but kind of hoping the ombudsman or FCA has told Erudio to get their shit together...

I had three yesterday, all asking to confirm my identity, then had responses of we will reply within 21 days!

Sent a final strongly worded email yesterday pm, copied to my MP, had a response this am saying they will respond in 7 days.

Too late Erudio, MP on the case then its the FOS.

FCA unlikely to intervene due to the nature of the loans, my friend on the inside didn't think it was their responsibility, i could be wrong but that's what i was told. Advice was deal direct then FOS.

i am now compiling complaint no2 regarding the shambles of a "service"

Still not had the credit agreement request responded to, 5 days over time, that will get added to the complaint.

I am now on the warpath!!

They are regulated consumer credit agreements which makes it the FCAs regulatory responsibility along with the FOS as ombudsman on the same.

i.e. The legal regulation of them is now via the FCA.

Search for Erudio here

fca-consumer-credit-interim.force.com/CS_RegisterSearchPageNew

You'll see they had to obtain authorisation from the FCA to operate.

With greatest respect to your friend, they need to learn a bit more about what the organisation they work for covers.

Thank you, i shouldn't really have posted i thought i was helping by posting what i was told.

Sorry if i misled anyone.

www.fca.org.uk/consumers/complaints-and-compensation/how-to-complain

Yes, but there is a difference between who a consumer complains to for redress and who regulates the firms involved.

Consumer credit used to be regulated by the OFT, but consumers were told to complain to the FOS.

Same now with the FCA.

You can complain to both.

The FCA like the old OFT can impose fines and take away their license. They can't order a firm to put things right for an individual consumer though.

The FOS can do that for a consumer and award redress.

It's a confusing double edged mess.

You can complain to both, as both have very different purposes.

Recall the whole thing on payday loans?

It was the FOS that you complained to if you wanted something put right.

But it was the OFT who had the power to strip them of their operating licenses, and who investigated wider and persistent malpractice. Now the FCA doing that role, and if anyone is going to give Erudio the hard slap they truly deserve it is the FCA that has the power and remit.

and here is the contact address from the fca seacrh:
Mignon Clarke
[email protected]

maybe anyone could copy and paste one to them as well to give them something to reply to for their shambles of a company. I bet they have got very few mails thus far.

heres how to eliminate student debt...an example to follow:
www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/19/chilean-artist-steals-and-destroys-500-million-worth-of-student-debt-papers/

@ persephone49 Thanks for the info on their email responses, I thought 3 emails in a day was unusual for Erudio, I didn't really expect to get any! Is it Erudio Customer Services you're dealing with? It's just that I sent my first email to the deferments@ address and copied it to their customerservice@ address (from website) - although I got a quick reply from deferments, it was the standard acknowledgement saying they'll respond within 7 days. The other 2 emails from CS actually responded to my emails, so you might have more luck there if you haven't tried them already?

@ erudioed - I think we should all chip in for a plane ticket to bring Papas Fritas over from Chile, and the taxi fare to Erudio headquarters!

And don't forget to copy

[email protected]

in to any complaint or query.

Right, recently, i was both deferred and had my official complaint answered, the latter about just one of a few issues i actually complained about (a specific CRA issue). No surprise, they stuck to their guns on that one. However, on committing the cardinal sin (telephoning them) and asking why all 3 issues were not answered, i decided to stand my ground and restate the other 2 issues. Initially i was hung up on and the 2nd person made it quite difficult to complain by trying to answer/deflect my questions, albeit with total contradictions as we have come to expect from this call centre. As such, if anyone really does want to complain, now is a very good time because it is clearly getting under their skin. The 1st guy who hung up, hung up after asking for my address to mail the complaint form to, to which i said i would prefer to do it over the phone.
Concerning the CRA issue, with Arrow's admittance that it is giving info to get info, that means it is providing our loan info to get free checks or whatever. As such, trading our info without asking us. As such, i believe that to be totally legitimate to complain about, and as they responded in the negative in my original complaint and said this was their final answer, this is one i can now go to the ombudsman with. Concerning the other issues i complained about that were not answered in the original complaint, i doubt they will get logged but i will wait and see.
Im not sure about who to complain about concerning a complaint about the sheer incompetence of the call centre but i think i will just include it in my ombudsman complaint.

@ erudioed The ombudsman will consider complaints regarding customer service issues, as well as disputes over contract terms. Legally, Erudio owe their customers a duty of care in their dealings with us, so any delays, conflicting info/advice, etc, put it all in your complaint to the FOS. You can claim compensation for the CS issues too.

Better to have something in writing from Erudio as supporting evidence for your complaint, but you can give call details too. If there was any dispute over what was said during a phone call, the ombudsman would expect call transcripts from Erudio when they give their defence, otherwise it doesn't help Erudio's case.

thats good news then, i have been keeping call dates and times since april! This must be the next stage then, for me anyway. Erudio's complaints procedure has concluded and now it is time for the ombudsman to see what has been going on. I have a few cracking hour long calls they may or may not be pleased to hear/read if they deem my complaint worthy.

Just received a successful deferral letter! I sent payslips and CB info with a partially completed, signed form. I did not phone or email even though my deferment date came and went.

Should have added, you can email Erudio requesting all call transcripts for evidence to the ombudsman, they probably won't give you them, but you can then submit your email request to show the ombudsman you asked for it and Erudio didn't provide it - another thing that reflects badly on them Where there's a lack of evidence, the adjudicator will reach his/her conclusions on a "balance of probabilities" (mentioned a number of times in the ombudsman's decision I got last year, different ombudsman but I'm sure the principle will still apply). So if Erudio could have countered your claims of what was said by providing the transcripts, but didn't, that will help your case.

So today is the end of my current deferment period and payment is due tomorrow. I have had no correspondence from our friends at Erudio and no information other than what I got from a phonecall I made and they stated my application was marked as incomplete since the 17th April as they couldn't read my payslips. This was found to be untrue as the call handler was able to read them perfectly well. They gave me no indication as to when my deferment would be granted etc.

I phoned FOS and they have submitted my complaint that Erudio are deliberately using delaying tactics to push people over their deferment renewal date. They also requested that all collection activity be suspended until Erudio have dealt with my complaint. I also backed up the FOS complaint with a formal complaint from myself to Erudio to which I got a standard we'll be in touch in 21 days milarky.

Waiting with slight intrepidation to find out if they will take any money out of my account tomorrow. If they do then the FOS will be getting a phonecall bearing in mind they have had 2 requests to stop collection activity. It will add fuel to my official complaint fire.

I will keep you posted.

An unhappy update on my situation.

Initially I sent in a letter with proof of income etc and Erudio refused to even process the deferment.

So then I had no alternative but to fill in the forms and black out the bits a didn't agree or consent to... I did this with much reluctance after assurances from one of Erudio's agents that she would send me letters confirming that my information would not be shared with CRAs and that I didn't need to provide Erudio with Direct Debit details... so I caved in and filled out the form and sent it off and found out yesterday I had been deferred successfully.

And then this morning I received a letter saying that...

"I can confirm that if you default on your student loan this will affect your credit file."

"Altho we will share information with credit reference agencies in relation to your deferment this is not logged as a default or in a negative way. Simply to help lenders understand how much credit a potential borrower already has."

...which is the exact bleeping opposite of what I was guaranteed!

I then telephoned and asked to speak to the agent in question... she apologised and said that she had believed at the time she was giving me accurate information but she could confirm now that I wasn't going to get the aforementioned letters of assurance and that my information WOULD be passed to CRAs regardless of me having blacked out bits of the form and written "do not consent" all over the damn thing. She also said that it was done now and couldn't be undone.

In essence she lied right to my face about everything just to get me to sign.

And to all those saying that filling out the forms but blacking out various bits is the way to get a successful deferment without agreeing to Erudio's changes to the original terms and conditions... this confirms what I have suspected all along which is that this is bullshit. Erudio will disregard your scribbling and share your information anyway.

I have logged an official complaint which the agent claims will be dealt with within five days... but seeing as my last complaint was rejected by Erudio without them even bothering to contact me i'm not optimistic.

@Simonpimpernel personally in your shoes I would be sending a copy of that letter to martin lewis at moneysavingexpert as they have continually been told by Erudio that if a student says they don't consent to data sharing that the data won't be shared - this appears to be written proof that they were making that up. I would also send a copy to my MP - as she is currently investigating the transfer of data to CRAs by Erudio. I'd also contact FCA/FOS and state the above. I'm sure if a company illegally shares your data there must be some way of ensuring that they clear up their mess. Along with tweeting all over the show!

If your loan was before 1998 they don't need your consent to share. Doesn't matter what their call centre staff say or what you now sign. They have the right full stop.

The loans given to students from 1998 to 2002 for those already on a course and so staying on the mortgage style are different. Outside of default they end consent to share those.

All depends what years you took out your loans simon.

^^ need consent