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?

Thats great news emptycoffers.

I'm was a rebel and sent a letter along with payslips and p60. No news yet. I've got a wee bit of time as my deferment doenst end till May 22nd.

Well done though!!

Thank you emptycoffers, i did a very similar thing, i didn't black out the FPN i included a letter saying i did not consent, sounds like we are in a similar situation so i am hopeful they will defer me, i am very close to write off point though.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0418wyf/You_and_Yours_Free_boilers_Unwanted_paint_Delays_in_cancer_treatment/?t=37m42s

I have proof of postage that Erudio received my deferment forms on March 26th and I've had no contact from them since. Should I be chasing them? I think the deferment period ends quite soon. I half rebelled and sent the form, but crossed out the bit about passing info to credit ref agencies and wrote on the form that I didn't consent to any changes to the original terms or conditions and didn't consent to passing info to credit agencies unless I was in default. I currently have no income except child allowance, and my husband is on a small salary that is under my threshold for earnings allowance, so there's no way I should or indeed can pay anything to them at the moment...Bit nervous!

I received deferment from SLC, then a letter from Erudio asking for more information to process deferment claim. No reply back to my recorded delivery letter saying SLC accepted & deferred.

I accept them wanting to get money back on their investment, and of course the responsibility to repay student loans under the rules, but god it is a depressing indictment of the whole student loans/make more money as a graduate facade that so many of us are needing to defer.

I want my son to be able to go to university because I believe in further/life long education, I had hoped I he would benefit from it in increased earning too though

I have been reading through previous posts regarding Erudio and glad of the information/experiences people have offered. I have always qualified for deferment due to earning under the threshold. However, my husband suffered an accident last year and has not been able to work. This means we get working tax/child credit on top of my wage. The working tax and child credit is paid in both of our names. My monthly income (wage and benefits) is £12 over the monthly threshold, meaning I will have to pay my loan. The forms indicates that they only want my income details, so do I put down the full amount for working/child tax as it’s in my name and my husbands name? I have phoned Erudio but the staff member wasn't very helpful and said that I wouldn't be eligible for deferment and payments of £131.00 would start in May!! I can't afford this. Am I within my right to ask for a lower monthly payment? Thanks for reading, CB

That's great news emptycoffers - I seem to remember you sent them a letter did you not?

I sent them a letter based on yours and paid £7 to have it delivered next day special delivery. That was a week ago and I've since had a letter telling me that they are investigating my complaint - I apparently made this over the phone on a date I can't say that I did but hey-ho! I crossed out every box on their form with black marker pen saying "do not consent" to all of it and refused to supply them with a DD - which as I've been saying for weeks is NOT a requirement. Something Mandakl has confirmed following a post on Money Saving Expert.

Let's not forget that this company bought our loans for a tiny price - we don't owe them 100% of what we borrowed. We owe them whatever the fraction is for the amount they paid for them. Roughly I've worked this out at around £300 each if everyone who "owes" coughed up what Erudio paid for them. Kinda makes it an attractive idea to crowd source the money between us and pay Erudio off to the tune of what they paid the government and not a penny more.

It can be done if enough people believe it can.

congrats emptycoffers.
yes halfpricedebt, if it is possible, it is a great idea.
Here is another report in The Independent by Simon Read:
www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/the-student-debt-firm-whose-credit-is-running-out-fast-9289518.html

@ halfpricedebt - thanks - that's right, I posted the letter up here - hope you have the same result as me.

I did submit the form too but didn't answer any questions that weren't on the SLC form, such as tenant/homeowner, previous addresses telephones etc and blacked out the FPN notice and so on.

From what I've read, I'm the first non-orthodox/protestor to post on here after getting deferred - as the days go by, I hope everyyone who has had an application in for a month or so - will start getting their replies and deferrals.

Anybody had a response to a CCA request yet.

@ csb101 - is there any 'small' benefit (leass than £131) you could stop claiming? After all there's no law that says you must claim all your entitlements and if that brought you below the threshold - it would save you money

@ opera - I don't think chasing Erudio is productive (but I know other people find calling them helpful - and it has been really invaluable to learn what Erudio say to callers) and will just drive you nuts. I was on the point of sending them an email when the letter came. I'm still 3 weeks away from my deferral deadline so reallly I would just have been panicking. The anxiety about the phone bill would annoy me too.

Erudio replied to my first email 4 weeks after it was sent, apologising for the delay, 4 weeks!!!

They also called me back last night and told me that there was not a chance they would get to my paperwork in time, my account would go into arrears but not to worry about it as the paperwork would be processed within three months and the arrears cleared when it was deferred.

What utter bollocks. They are so snowed under they are letting people go into arrears with the friendly ' don't worry about it'.

I am overseas so they have said that I just have to write - working in Mongolia, no P60 available.

I asked what to do at the end of this contract when I won't be renewing and will be back in Thailand being supported by my other half, they said they had to write a letter stating this and it would do for next year.

Does not fill me with confidence.

Student loans company have no agreed, that the option I had for years to defer my mortgage style and pay icr has now ceased, even though they still offer it.

I can reverse it and pay my mortgage style first and icr later, but that is the 3 times the monthly cost.

Somewhat fucked off today with them.

If they fail to process your deferment on time then.

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

More people who do that the better. Each complaint that goes all the way costs Erudio > £500 ;)

Mandakl are they also the best people to complain to that Erudio haven't sent me a copy of my loan agreement yet? I've just checked and i sent the letter to them requesting this on 26th March so well over the twelve days.

I haven't heard back about deferment but my deferment period doesn't end till 27th May.

Who else is good to complain to? I'm thinking my MP, the NUS. I've finally got a couple of free hours to try to sort this

should I also make a formal complaint direct to Erudio?

FOS usually refuses to get involved with issues of copies of loan agreements. It's fairly simple anyway. Until Erudio supply a copy they then the things here apply.

www.oft.gov.uk/about-the-oft/legal-powers/legal/cca/unenforceable-credit-agreements

You always complain to the company first. The FOS can't take on the complaint in a formal way until the company has had a chance to reply.

BUT the FOS can often help you make that first complaint by writing to the company. Just can't set the process of making a decision on the complaint under way.

Phone the FOS to see what they think. Sometimes they will write for you. Sometimes they will tell you to write to the company. Sometimes if you have already companied and enough time has passed they will start the formal process.

Hi everyone

I've also been stung by ESL. Despite receiving a letter confirming deferment I've had over £100 taken from my account. I've phoned them up (not the best customer service experience I've ever had) and I've been informed that I'll be repaid and my loan will be deferred.

Having read the above, though, I have also written a letter of complaint to their head office and am drafting a letter to my MP. They sound like a very shoddy outfit and I'm really angry that the government has sold my loans to a company with fewer scrulpes than a Barclay's chief executive!

Thanks for all the advice in this and the other thread. Hopefully collective action will help get this sorted.

Reading on MSE that people are getting these thieving payments refunded immediately by their banks under the direct debit guarantee.

No need to wait for Erudio to sort out their mess. Claim the payments back via the bank NOW.

Right, I have just come off the phone to the financial ombudsman (thanks for the tip mandakl). They were very helpful. They said that normally they don't write to companies on behalf of individuals, however they are receiving a lot of calls about Erudio, so they are willing to write to them on our behalf.

the man I spoke to took all of my details and has written to Erudio asking them to respond to me. If Erudio don't respond in a couple of weeks, they will chase it up for me. Ditto is their response is unsatisfactory.

I recommend others in the same situation give them a call - 0300 123 9 123 or 0800 023 4567

Worth noting that they were going to put my phone number in their letter to Erudio until I asked them not to.

its the ticking time bomb, during my last chat with erudio, the operator admitted that they have no control over changing the deferment dates on their computers. I asked who did, and they said no one. In fact, they hadnt even heard that if even if a complaint is logged that collection activity will be stopped pending an answer. She didnt believe me until i read from by complaint acknowledgement letter that that was a policy. Like suggested above by Ibreakwindinerudiosdirection it all makes sense that most of us arenet even dealing with erudio when we think we are. As such, the ticking time bomb is fast approaching for us all if we have or havent been deferred.
I strongly suggest seeking compensation as well if they take a payment, we have to make them pay for disregarding the rules. I think it is £10 oer hour spent sorting things out, let alone of they have breached the DD mandate, petrol to visit bank, hours taken off work visiting bank etc etc. To not complain and seek recompense will have a strong knock on effect for the coming years if we dont use the only check we have...hit them in the financial balls. Not forgetting logging every such act of theft with the ombudsman like mandakl suggest, £500 each time they breach/lie is very powerful. And i was told by the ombudsman yesterday, they can demand telephone transcripts and telephone call recodings if someone feels they have been mislead or promised something they didnt get.

@Erudioed.

That's very interesting, sir. I think that we have two admin bases here operating for Erudio.

1. The telephone operators. Very limited powers. Can't change deferment dates.

1. A team elsewhere who can change deferment dates and are likely to be far more financially aware and capable. Going by the Erudio overseas telephone line being in Leeds, I suggest the people who really do the nuts and bolts with the accounts. A person calling from overseas with financial details will need someone more specialized who can access accounts after all.

Now a question: has anyone had an email reply from Erudio? If so, has anyone checked the message source (ie.the whole email codes)? I'm curious if those source details might reveal a bit more about server information, IP, etc as to where the emails actually come from.

Oh, and I am slightly amused at having just got home to find a deferment form on the doorstep for me. That means I now have:

1- a letter asking me for more information for my deferment application dated the 10th of April that got here a week ago.

2- a deferment form now that I asked to be sent to me on the phone on April 17th.

In both instances, that means it's taken 9 days from the date of them printing each piece of mail to the time it has reached me. That is lousy service.

@Ibreakwindinerudiosdirection

sender IP is 195.59.101.165)

My own suspicion is all telephone numbers lead to Leeds, with the postal address leading to Rotherham, close to where Honours Student Loans is at. I would guess all things happen from that PO Box in Rotherham, with the deferment crew located in or around there.

Interestingly, i did find this advert online, which i am sure you will like ibreakwindinerudiosdirection:

Customer Service Advisor

Location:
Dearne Valley, Rotherham (S63)
Salary:
From £14,363.51 to £14,363.51 per annum
Date posted:
26/04/2014
Job type:
Permanent
Company:
Capita

At Capita Customer Management you’ll be part of a great team where our people are passionate about delivering an excellent customer experience, feel motivated to contribute to our success and have a great opportunities to progress. In our fast-paced and dynamic contact centre environment, you’ll play a ...

As our dear elusive leader Mr Mark Howard Filer is so mysterious and rather rude-eo for not dignifying us with some of his business pearls of wisdom, i thought i would post this from www.duedil.com about why you cant be expecting your snivelling little complaints from the land of littleworldom to be taken that seriously:
Mr Mark Howard Filer was born in 1967 and the first directorship we have on file was in 2004 at Wilmington Trust Sp Services (London) Limited. His most recent directorship is with Tombac No.1 Mortgage Holdings Limited where he holds the position of "None". This company has been around since 11 Feb 2014 . In total, Mark has held 435 directorships, 227 of which are current, and 208 are previous.

me again: when your rocking and rolling with an average of 40 firms a year, just remember when your moaning about a couple of hundred squidoodles being nabbed from your bank account, or your losing sleep over some CRA issue, its guys like Mr Filer that underpin our economy and keep you in work in a round about way, so maybe you all should cut him a little slack. And remember, with about 250 week work days a year, the day he decides to give Erudio his yearly day of attention will be the day when all your problems will be immediately solved.Its just a shame he cant give Erudio his undivided attention all year, but what do you think he is, the director or something!

emptycoffers - Thanks for the info. An element of working/child tax is higher as my husband is registered disabled. I read something that I'm within my rights for this not to be included as loan companies cannot include any disability payments into the gross? I will look into it.

However, I suspect that they will take payment until I can prove my earnings are under the threshold:(. However if they do, and a few months later I can prove that my earnings are under the threshold can i order them to stop taking payments or am I tied in for the year??

Thanks in advance