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?

just done a search of mandakl's IP address:
whois.domaintools.com/195.59.101.165
which says
person: Roger Jones
address: Ventura
address: Hepworth House
address: Claypit Lane
address: Leeds
address: West Yorkshire
address: LS2 8EA

I searched Hepworth house and got this, just for ibreakwindinerudiosdirection, as he hit the nail on the head last weekend, it is capita who is dealing with all our inquiries, definitely our emails, but more than likely our phone calls as well. Here is Hepworth house's location:

www.capitacustomermanagement.co.uk/media/53473/cube%20-%20hepworth.pdf

and here is the main email page of the company residing there:
www.capitacustomermanagement.co.uk/

which as was found also last week, Capita also deal with Honours Student Loans phone calls as well. As such, and in conclusion, i think we will find that Erudio is actually a very small company, and IF they have outsourced the deferment process as well, probably consists of not many more people than just 1 man: Mr Mark Howard Filer.

oh, i forgot to add rather importantly, on my search, the Roger Jones connected to the Erudio ISP email address is from Ventura, which, in this link, describes itself as Outsourcing experts, and now owned by Capita (www.capitacustomermanagement.co.uk/why-capita/history):

In July 2011 Capita announced the acquisition of Ventura, a customer contact specialist with around 8000 employees, mainly in Yorkshire, Cardiff, Milton Keynes and Pune, India.

Operating since 1968 Ventura was the third party customer services management arm of Next plc and managed more than 50 million customer contacts each year for a range of private and public sector clients including O2, Orange, British Gas, British Midland and Department for Work and Pensions.

The acquisition increased Capita's capacity for customer management services, providing additional front office services and flexible capacity for existing Capita clients and also gives the opportunity to provide Ventura's client base with access to Capita's wider service offering.

As such, anyone wishing to make a more personal complaint about staffing confusion may want to read the following info closely and make a more personal complaint that wont require stating their fucking date of birth...or just to ask if they really are the people pretending to be Erudio:

Ventura - Outsourcing Experts

General Contact (Work)
[email protected]

Ventura Switchboard (Main Contact)
+448453309030

Web
www.ventura-uk.com

More Information
Business Address – Ventura Sales
Hepworth House
Claypit Lane
Leeds
LS2 8AE
UK

^^
According to LinkedIn, Roger Jones works for Wolseley now. He left Capita in 2012.

uk.linkedin.com/pub/roger-jones/5/a5/29a

yep, it was the Ventura part that was important...

I just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone on this forum, the past few days this thread has helped me and my partner so much. He sent his deferment forms off in March and received his deferment approval not long after. However last week he received a letter from stinking Erudio saying they had bought his loan, with that ridiculous consent slip. He then noticed on 25.4.14 they had debited his account almost a hundred quid! He gets DLA, and has always been eligible to defer. He has Asperger's on top, so he was really freaking out. This has caused both of us so much stress, I was so grateful for the help I found on here. We constructed a letter to them (using info from this thread) advising they check their system since he had already been approved for deferral, and taking his money with no notice was a breach of terms! Thank the gods for the D D guarantee. Cant wait to get to the bank to see why Erudio were allowed to take his cash either.

Again, thank you so much folks, keep fighting and keep supporting each other. You're wonderful. Good luck

sparklewonderspaw, dont forget to ask erudio for compensation for going against the DD mandate and stealing money from you...tell you will inform the ombudsman if you are not satisfactorily compensated for all your time and stress caused by their process. Lets hope it is stress free for you both from here on in!!! £10 and hour and expenses is the indiustry standard i think when a financial company breaks the rules or messes up!

Wonder if I could pick your brains?

I've been following this saga & now appear fucked.

I have four loans ('94/'95/'96 & '97), always deferred. Completed the new Erudio form, sent copies of all means tested benefits award letters (exc. DLA for disabled child, though did mention in correct part of form this 'other income' & was confirmed as disregarded on Income Support award letter) & child benefit award letter. Posted it off 25th March, recorded. Phoned about three weeks later, lengthy & costly wait, to confirm they had received it/ enquire about status of deferment. Had been received, not processed. Letter with new direct debit details last week (amount £0.00), unable to get through on phone to query.

Letter today insufficient evidence received to defer. Can't get through on phone. Sent them everything needed.

Cancelled direct debit on my bank account.
Sent them an email, copied to [email protected]
Requested they sent me a copy of all my original loan agreements.
Stated how stressed this has made me, that it is unlikely there will be enough money in the bank for any direct debit & repercussions are therefore likely regarding payment of essential bills for myself and my son, no doubt leading to bank charges etc.

Read that emails take forever to be replied to. Seems that deadline for deferment will not be met. So depressed about this.

I have enough stress to deal with & wonder if anyone has any idea how I can try & just get them off my back?

& breathe, just breathe...

concretebox (((HUGS))) I am sure that I will be in same position as you.

I have one loan from 96. I have always deferred too, and am due to have the loan wiped in 5yrs.

I sent the form off within two days of receiving, on 1st April, signed for.

I phoned up the next week, and was told that they hadn't received my form!!! I checked Royal Mail, found it was signed for on 2nd April, phoned back, was told that it was there! It would take two weeks to process.

Phoned today, and have been told that it is still waiting to be processed, and will take 4 weeks!!!!!

I asked what will happen, as my deferment ends on 14th May, and she said that if it is approved they will roll back for 3 months, and if it hasn't enough info then the arrears will stand, as I didn't get the info to them in time.

I feel sick. How is possible that it can come back on me, if they decide they haven't enough info? Surely if they haven't, and I submitted form and evidence in time, then if they haven't got everything the onus is on them, to let me know before my deferment ends????

The evidence I sent was three months of bank statements (printed as I only have online banking).

I receive child tax credit, child benefit, and DLA (which is not counted).

My husband gives me no money, so I didn't send a letter from him, as my bank statements make it clear that I pay for all shopping etc. Yes, DH pays bills, but he doesn't give me anything.

I have no p60 as I don't work.

I am very scared. I have bipolar and have started self-harming due to the stress.

I just know they are going to reject me, let the arrears stand, then refuse to wipe the loan in 5years.

Fired off another email, with original again :

Further to my earlier communications this morning could I ask that all replies be in accordance with the 'Plain English' directive which has to be adhered to.

For instance, clear explanation why all proof of means tested benefit income for child benefit, carers allowance, income support, housing benefit, council tax credit supplied is not sufficient.

Other income is only child's DLA, confirmed in amount & as disregarded on the Income Support Award Letter supplied.

I have no other proof of income to send, you already have it all.

Am still mightily aggravated by this, it's not worth inducing an heart attack over.
In the grand scheme of things a great credit rating isn't worth a shit when in my situation.

Surely if you have sent them a complaint then they have to look into that before they can demand payment anyway.

I think it is out of order they write 'insufficient evidence' and not state clearly what is needed/missing. Grr.

I would think if the direct debit says £0.00 then you should be deferred - if they had taken anything out of your account then they would have been at fault (for not letting you know the amounts in a letter beforehand) anyway.

I would try calling before nine in the morning if you can as I have seemed to get through best at around this time - this morning I got through straight away. Some of my emails I have never got a reply so, although I would rather not phone, I do at least get an answer.

Upsetwithfriend

Thanks for your reply. Sorry to hear you are in a similar situation. I can't believe how upset I am over this.

I am going to see if I can find out about the wiping at 50 being affected by arrears in this situation.

I'm 50 in the not too far future also, so no skin off my nose to be taken to court or whatever & have deductions made from my benefits at source. My son is not going to magically become undisabled - ever.

I shall post anything that I find that is relevant.

Hopefully you will have a better outcome than I have had, good luck!

immediately ring the ombudsman on the number above somewhere and get them to tell erudio your complaint for you. You are not the only one having trouble getting through on the phones. This is gross incompetence on Erudio's (well, i say erudio, at present i currently think they are not involved in this in anyway other than finding someone to subcontract the work to) behalf and the ombudsman will i am sure take your side in this.
Did they state what you didnt send that they wanted? Tell the ombudsman this deferral deadline is hanging over you like a gun to the head, but they are not waiting to take payments until they have sorted their shit out.
You arent in this alone but you do need to file an official complaint to pause all collection activity on your account, and i think the ombudsman can do that, especially if you cant get through to them.

my comment above was for concetebox

I actually got through on the phone.

After a couple of times on hold, it's fine, will be deferred & they do indeed have all the information they need.

Letter stating deferment will be sent.

So relieved. What a nightmare.

Congratulations concretebox :)

If only they were more organised and that would have been so much easier!

@ csb101 -

sorry to take so long responding...

I think they would be able to take the payments this year in the situation you describe. The key months they look at are the month before you apply to defer and the 3 months afterwards. It sounds as though you would be deemed to be over the threshold for that period.

Bearing that in mind, for next year (if nothing else changes), say at about New Year 2015, you could look at getting yourself below the threshold by either not claiming a benefit or agreeing to be paid less! Sounds crazy but might be worth it if you save in the long run. I think I'd rather drop a benefit though as it's alwasy 'in the bank' as unclaimed then (is this a way around? - claim it later)

Of course, if you can get the proportion of DLA for your DH discounted theat would also be an option.

Just a quick one to say that I have received a new child benefit award letter through the post from HMRC. I made a request online for it exactly a fortnight ago as Erudio either needed this or a bank statement as proof that I'm a SAHM. Unfortunately its arrived too late for me to use this time but at least I have it for future deferment applications

Just a quick note, that heard from my MP and she is writing to Erudio. Whilst I expect her to be fobbed off by them, it is at least a start.

It also means that there is more 'knowledge' within government that all are not happy with the status quo of selling off the student loans.

That's 3 Mp's then to my knowledge, and the FOS should stir things up a bit! My credit agreements should be sent by 14th May, i await with interest lol.

i sent off deferment application on 10th april (via email & recorded delivery) with cover letter (no form). i also included p60, letter from employer (dont get wage slips),
tax return (get some rental income with partner but still well under threshold), tiny amount of interest received from savings, child benefit letter etc.

rang today to check on progress and was told that it was invalidated due to the form not being completed and signed.

anyway i am going to send in the form as i want it processed asap as my deferment ends on 9th May, and as i have a mortgage and credit card already - ultimately i'm not too worried about what my credit rating will say in the next few years.

however the interesting part of the conversation was about savings, i said to him that surely only the interest received from savings was seen as income but he said No, and that the whole savings amount had to be declared on the form or else it would be a fraudulent claim as they see savings as income. i told him that was absolute nonsense but he just kept saying that it was "income". he then started blabbering on about the fact that because i mentioned i had some savings that it was now marked on my account and that i need to put it on the form. this has really wound me up but i suppose that's want they want - to unnerve people!!!

How can money people have saved be classed as income? That is ridiculous. It would have already been classed as income when you received it eg in your paypacket, they can't count it twice!

Just thought I would post and let you know I received a letter today to say my deferment was successfull. I have been deferring since 1999. I am a sahm I phoned them and asked what I needed to send as I receive no "allowance" from DH. I just receive child benefit and carers allowance. I was told to send a bank statement and that is all. Sent it back in March.

Must admit I am very very relieved!

@jkay2014

The bloke you spoke to was talking out of his ignorant backside.