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?

I've read bits of this and previous thread. I received a letter form erudio last week, stating they have my loan now and so I came back here to look some more. I'll be deferring again and wondered if it worth contacting before hand to request a form early?

@Twirlymooostache When is your deferment due?

@everyone

Also remember that Erudio cannot refuse deferment for any old reason.

The loan agreements and legislation state that the borrower can defer if they can show they are below the income threshold.

If Erudio try to refuse or delay a valid deferment then you can

(a) take them to the FOS

(b) as they are in breach of the original contract and legislation you can take them to court for any losses you incur and/or to ask the court to grant an order in injunction or requiring a specific performance that Erudio defer you and restore the position to what it would have been if they had not breached the contract.

After writing to Erudio with a very clear letter of information I required from them it has taken 20 days for them to write and say my complaint is being investigated! I didn't write a complaint, I just asked for a copy of my deferral form, They have no idea what they are doing!

Hi everyone!

I have been reading this thread with interest, and concern. I live abroad and I am a house-husband. I didn't really think about what was on the form, I just completed it and posted it off on 21 March, along with a letter from my wife confirming that she doesn't pay me any sort of allowance and a printout from a government website indicating the amount of child benefit we receive - we were not sent an award letter, so that was the best I could do.

A week later, I began to panic that it would not be enough so I mailed them a bank statement confirming that my wife does not earn enough to contemplate giving me an allowance, and telling them when the quarterly child benefit payment is made.

To date, I have not heard anything from Erudio at all. I check my UK account balance daily to see if they have taken anything, (although there really isn't anything to take) even though I am deferred until May 19.

I loathe calling companies at the best of times, but I have a feeling if I call them now they will just tell me they haven't received the form. According to the post office here, I couldn't send the form recorded delivery!

@waitingforgodot.
If you dont get your reply in the time frame, who is the next person up you can go to? Do you have to actually log a complaint with erudio or can you go straight to the ombudsman (or is the process different). I say this, because unless we complain and seek compensation, or erudio to be fined by going to the ombudsman, no one will know of the problems we are having. If we all take our complaints, and including our experiences, up the chain, only then is there a chance of an outside body getting involved.
I am waiting for a slip. I have no idea what the situation of my complaint is, if i actually had it cancelled, and a few other areas of confusion after dealing with them on the phone, so they first chance i get where i see a breach, i will be going as high up as i can, seeking recompense for all the fucking hours ive thus far spent dealing with these cretins, and i do include the call staff in that as well, as the policy is clearly one of confusion. Ive never heard of such a policy as a business strategy but the evidence certainly points in that direction for anyone who goes outside of filling in the forms and following the process exactly as they say.

they say they aim to treat us fairly but thus far the majority of us seem to be being treated like a bunch of chunts!

I'm a stay at home husband. I earn money from a property I own (the amount is below threshold). Gave them a copy of tenancy agreement and informed them that my wife contributes to household expenses, but does so at her discretion and not directly to me. Just received deferment confirmation ( approx three weeks later). Seemed pretty straightforward.
Thought I would share

that is a slight light that someone hasnt had to deal with this lot directly. Dont hold your breath though, things come from around the corner with this lot!

Right this is complicated, i have interest from an MP who would like to talk to Eurudio, i am moving and he is my current MP, i have emailed him back to explain but i understand the rules are very strict about your own MP representing you, is anyone in Mid Norfolk, if so please let me know and maybe i could pass you on to him, he may still do it but just in case, it seems a shame to make progress and then fall at this stage. Ok maybe not that complicated lol.

I think the key is not to panic. Send them an appropriate amount of info....they don't need to know your blood type or indeed look at your bank statement if it is not relevant. Try to be as professional as you can in correspondence...illustrates you are about business not emotion and therefore unlikely to be manipulated...don't capitulate and phone...sharks smell blood in the water. Just reassure yourself that you are in the right and that there is nothing they can do about it. A payment taken in error will have to be returned. The most you might need is a month's payment to tied you over while you sort the errors.

Ok problem solved they will still do it! Phew!

@nickname7777777 yes you are right, i got nowhere on the phone, its just stressful and frustrating and winds you up even more, you can only deal with what they actually throw at you, at the moment my complaint is signing what they call "formalisation" of the agreement we had with SLC surely it is already formal as none of us would have got the money in our hands, and it appears to change the terms and conditions. I have taken as many precautions as i can hopefully not needed but they are there. I sent my form yesterday post office confirmed delivery today so its just wait and see what happens now.

Please can someone post link to the first thread? I've searched for it but can't locate it & cos of the change of passwords on MN, I didn't get round to watching it. Ta

Marking place, sorry not been online properly all Easter. Loads to catch up on...

@persephone49 Perhaps SLC have lost the copies of your original agreements and Erduio have been told this, so they are trying to tie you into something new with this "formalisation", as they could be in a bad position if you challenged them? Certain catalogue companies used to try that trick on when they realised they never got people to sign proper credit agreements or had lost the ones people DID sign.

Old thread is here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/2028211-erudio-student-loans

I've had a very amusing letter from Erudio today.

Apparently I phoned them on 3 April 2014 raising concerns about my account. I've checked my phone call log history and I did no such thing though I have told them many times that I've thought they are useless after I kept getting emails asking me to confirm my details before they could deal with the account - which I did but they still kept asking me for details. One of my final emails to them included the phrase "if you do not respond within 7 days I will report you to the appropriate financial authority".

Regardless, they seem to have initiated their complaints procedure so my account is on hold for 8 weeks while they try to resolve it. I wonder what their admin department looks like!?

the admin dept, thats an easy one, like a turd in driving rain...

if anyone went and observed how Erudio are actually operating, they'd have their trading licence taken away. Its just lucky for them that its business model doesnt rely on customer satisfaction, else it would've been out of business by now or had to under go a massive restructuring to get their shit together.

@ mandakl

I will write tomorrow and request the original agreements and see what happens lol. I am soooo waiting for them to take money on the 25th May so i have more ammunition!

I have a friend in the FCA but i have been holding off contacting him as i don't like using friends however he may be able to help with the right contacts. Maybe my MP will get a straight reply although i very much doubt it.

I will write a proper complaint now, I was just amused at how utterly unprofessional their processes are.

I actually found out more about my loan and its status from Martin Lewis and Money Saving Expert than anything they had condescend to tell me.

Anyway - I would love to complain to my MP but he is a Tory so I don't think I will waste my time.

Interesting comment on MSE about the possibility of deferment being refused if you won't supply a direct debit mandate.

If you analyse the agreement terms, having a direct debit mandate is NOT a requirement for deferment and they should not be able to refuse you deferment if you dont. Apart from being over the income threshold, the only reason they can refuse deferment under the agreements is if the loans have previously been demanded back in full. Under the agreement they can ONLY demand the loans back in full if you fail to make a required payment under the agreement. In other words not having a DD in place is not a breach of the agreement that allows them to demand the loan back in full, so it is not a breach that gives them legal grounds to refuse a deferment. Again Erudio do their best to make you think otherwise with deceptive wording on the forms.

We know they had to cave and tell some people they don't have to give a DD. That explains why!

the told me they wouldnt register mine with CRAs as well but changed their mind again without informing me and without my knowledge automatically passed me on to the complaints dept.
It would be interesting to here of a confirmed deferral without giving the DD authorisation because the deadlines are getting closer. If they do end up enforcing the DD agreement, you have 8 weeks to wait for a complaint to be answered, which theoretically is time for them to take 2 monthly installments (if they set up one with the SLC info). That puts things close to the 3rd installment if they answer in the negative. Then you go to the ombudsman, another few weeks, then there is real danger you pass the 3 payments being refunded.
That is theoretical but it would be good to know of a confirmed deferral without DD being set up!

Just chipping in on the new thread.. I haven't forgotten about you all I just haven't been worrying myself sick over these a$$holes.

I'm just waiting to see what their next move is. I sent them a letter with evidence asking for deferment and it was signed for on 9th April. I figure I'll give them another week to do something about it then take it further. My deferment ends on 22nd May so I have a bit of time to play with.

Great thread.
Add me to the waiting list! I have two loans from 98 & 99 and have always been below the earnings levels, currently a SAHM so only income is from child benefit and child tax credits. Husband pays bills.

My deferment ends May 15th and I have no DD set up. (I know this to be true as I was late for deferment one year and SLC told me they couldn't have taken any money anyway as I had no DD in place - although I must have set one up originally and have kept the same account :-/)

Anyway, I sent them my evidence yesterday with a letter (not their form) and a cheque for £1. My letter includes a request for my original loan agreement and logs an official complaint.

As part of my evidence I included a bank statement printout of my CB and I purposefully did not black out my bank details. Idle curiosity really to see whether they would have the audacity to poach my details from it! So then I could nail them for that as well. Barstools.
I've not phoned or emailed them, so they do not have any contact details apart from my address so we shall see what happens!

This whole business is shameful. I would have quite happily bought my debt from the government for more than Erudio paid for it. Maybe if Erudio get fed up of us all not playing ball they may offer to sell cheap just to be shot of the hassle!