Erudio Student Loans Continued part 3

[erudioed]

I dont know if this is the right way to do it and i apologise if it isn't but this is the continuation of www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/a2057131-Erudio-Student-Loans-Continued

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/loans/2014/10/are-you-an-erudio-student-loan-holder-we-want-your-feedback

quote:

MoneySavingExpert.com is calling on graduates with an Erudio student loan to give us their feedback on the firm's new deferral forms.

Students who took out loans between 1990 and 1998 can currently defer repaying the money if they fall short of the £26,727 per year earnings threshold at which repayments become compulsory.

Previously, graduates applied for deferral via the Student Loans Company (SLC), but last November SLC sold off the remainder of its loan book to Erudio.

But since then, many of the 250,000 graduates whose loans were sold have faced problems, including money mistakenly being taken from the accounts of graduates whose loans were deferred (see the 500 people had money mistakenly taken from accounts MSE News story).

Another gripe repeatedly aired by those with debts is that the form provided by Erudio to apply for deferral was far more invasive than the SLC's. Former students were left confused about what questions were compulsory and what the form was even for as it had no title.

MoneySavingExpert.com met with Zach Lewy, founder and executive director of Arrow Global, which part-owns Erudio, in May to discuss these issues. During the meeting it was agreed that Erudio would come up with a revised deferral form, which we could share with our users to gather feedback before it is finalised.

Since then, Erudio has shared its revised deferral form and revised 'how to guide' on applying for deferral with MoneySavingExpert.com. We've given our feedback on the original redesigns and are providing further comments on the latest version. In the meantime, these are now ready to be shared with you.

Tell us your feedback

Here are the links below. Please note these are DRAFT copies and the deferral form cannot be used for applications.

Deferment application form <a class="break-all" href="http://images.moneysavingexpert.com/images/documents/20141029_erudio_strudent_loans_deferment_form.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">images.moneysavingexpert.com/images/documents/20141029_erudio_strudent_loans_deferment_form.pdf</a>
Deferment 'how to' guide <a class="break-all" href="http://images.moneysavingexpert.com/images/documents/20141029_erudio_strudent_loans_deferment_form_how_to.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">images.moneysavingexpert.com/images/documents/20141029_erudio_strudent_loans_deferment_form_how_to.pdf</a>

Please let us know your thoughts and suggestions in the forum thread below by 5pm on Thursday 6 November. We'll then send this to Erudio to take on board before final versions are sent to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to approve.

MSE thread for feedback here. forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=66876180#post66876180

Nice one Mandakl! there is also a post by Anthony Reeves, the lawyer, on that deferment ideas page at the bottom of mandakl's post. I for one have decided to commit to the small fee it could potentially cost, but that will be reduced if more of us also commit to challenge these sods in court about our unfair relationship and other issues. If we dont do it now, we may never get another chance. I think it is in all our interests but see the post and make your own minds up...and email Anthony Reeves if you have questions etc, all input can only help!

hi i was wondering if someone can help me i got a letter from Erudio about them not receiving my monthly payment as they state £0.00 and then it said i am in arrears, and want me to pay £1922.95 ASAP. i know for a fact that they have received payment as its taken out of my bank every month by standing order £10. im a single parent with two small children and cant afford any more the student loan was taken out in 1998, i have never had enough money to pay anything and fell behind in payments with the student loan company i come to an agreement with them that i pay £10 which i have been doing is May 2008 the balance then was £2329.01 so it doesn't look like its going down, i phoned Erudio they said they wanted me to pay the full amount i said i cant im on benefits and i have an agreement with the Student loan company to pay ten pounds a month that hasnt been broken, they turned round and said cant help you you need to fill in expenditure forms and then we will tell you how much you have to pay otherwise we will hand the debt over to the debt collectors, i told them to do that as i havent broken my agreement and im not filling in anything, the woman was a real !!!!! and i got nowhere with her, so what can i do, i never agreed to having the student loan company to sell my loan to anyone so why should i pay them the full amount when they didn't pay the full amount in the first place, plus if they brought my loan doesn't that mean that my loan is now paid off by them, i never give them permission to pay my loan off so why should they now want me to pay them money back that they chose to pay towards my loan

also i received a annual statement which is the first time i know the loan had been sold, it clearing states that from the 1st September 2014 to August 2015 unless im in deferment that i must pay £0.00 on the 10th of every month, down the bottom is a table that its a mortgage style loan and that payment are for a minimum of 60 months and total credit amount is blank, then says total with NaN what does that mean. i set up another standing order with the new bank details that they give me, as they said total amount per month is £0.00 the bank was kindly enough to set it up with 1p every month they said that way your paying more then they want from you :) that means currently there are two standing orders that they now get paid from, i know they have received the money so they cant say they havent, what are my options

loan taken out 1997

@Qaletaqa

-The agreement with the Student Loans Company to pay back £10 per month: do you have that in writing?

-Forget all the 'I never agreed to have my loan sold, they didn't pay full price so why should I?'. Accept the situation for what it is, that Erudio now have your loans. They didn't pay your loan off, they bought the loan debt at a discount debt. Big difference.

-Note down every single piece of correspondence with them and any issue. For example, if you were never notified of the loan sale to Erudio, note that down. Any grievance is important for holding them to account.

-The annual statement by Erudio's own admission is fucked up.

-Erudio's own administrative processes are fucked up.

So in your case, you can go to your bank and gain statements for the last three months showing the £10 payment has been made to Erudio. You write them a letter including copies of those statements clearly showing that the payment has been made and then you tell them to stick their letter and arrears claim up their arse

So you have never deferred and never made the full payments under the original agreement.

That SLC were nice and agreed to £10 per month is irrelevant. You have broken the original agreement and failed to make the full payments due. That means Erudio are entitled under thye loan terms to demand the full sum of the loan back in full.

SLC weren't nice that was an agreement with them as its all i could afford after filling in the expenditure form, otherwise they would not have received anything, Erudio state that they require £0.00 every month so they are getting more then that, they took over my agreement with SLC and never changed it and continue to take money then the agreement still stands.

i have never made enough to make a payment in the first place

The agreement with SLC does not mean you were not breaking the original contract. Erudio do not have to stick by it and can demand you pay back in full.

The fact that you never earned enough to repay is also irrelevant if you never deferred. By not doing so you lost the right to pay back in smaller amounts. SLC may have let you do so, but they didn't have to and neither does Erudio.

well the fact is there isnt any money to pay them, my money tree died a long time ago and if they are taking the money from my account as they have so nicely proved to me then they are happy with it and have agreed, also i have only ever received two letter one dated September 2014 which is my annual statement and one dated October 30th 2014, both letter state that my monthly payment is 0.00

I have emailed twice once for a defer form and the other to either write off the loan as they owe it or still continue to take the money they have been doing i have already stated that i can not pay anything by direct debit, the ball is in their court if it continues i will complain to the FOS, they chose is either defer it or forget about it or accept the £10 that they have been taking. my children arent going to suffer, im already to go to court for this im not someone who wont turn up and i will bring the two letters and proff that they have taken money

@mandakl and qaletaqa

Right, so if it was an agreement with SLC, did you agree this in writing or was it all verbal?

If you've never made enough to make a payment in the first place, then why haven't you deferred? Are your annual earnings under the threshold limit?

I agree with Mandakl that if you never deferred than Erudio do have the right to demand payment but there is also the issue of Erudio saying that your monthly payment is £0.00 and then asking for payment and stating that you are in arrears.

Monthly payment on statements is the payment that you would have to make if you had never broken the loan agreement, and were then going to start paying. In other words the total owed divided by 60 or however months you have left.

As they've broken the agreement those monthly contractual payments no longer apply, which likely is why they just show as £0, while at the same time demanding the whole loan back in full in one go.

i was a written agreement with SLC i still have the letter, i cant get a defer if they wont send it to me, like i said i have only head from twice first being September 2014, no i have never been over the threshold as SLC knew that, currently i get £720 a month to live on which supports my children, by the time i pay all the bills etc there is 80 left and thats before buying fodd and things for the toddler.

Erudio on both occasions have written that payment is 0.00 there was no demand that i pay anything till the letter i got yesterday and they which clearly states that my monthly payment was received of 0.00 will try to add the letter

qaletaqa Can I check I have this right...
Scenario 1

1. at some point in the past you passed threshold level and had to pay back SLC. You didn't and ended up in arrears.
2. you agreed with SLC to pay them back at £10 a month
3. you went back under the threshold level and started deferring but still have to pay back arrears 4)you keep paying £10 a month to SLC by standing order
4. Loan gets transferred to Erudio but they haven't sent you the welcome pack/notice of assignation.
5. Despite loan transferring to Erudio you have continued to pay £10 by standing order for the last year to the SLC.
6. Erudio have now said that they haven't received the money that you have paid to the SLC.

Scenario 2

1. Despite not being over the threshold you decided you wanted to pay back your student loan and agreed with SLC to pay them back at £10 a month
2. Loan gets transferred to Erudio but they haven't sent you the welcome pack/notice of assignation. 3)You were deferred with SLC but haven't filled in deferment with Erudio as you are still in a period of deferment.
3. Despite loan transferring to Erudio you have continued to pay £10 by standing order for the last year to the SLC.
4. Erudio have now said that they haven't received the money that you have paid to the SLC.

Or another scenario?

Because it makes a difference to what your next step is dependent upon why you were paying the money to SLC, and whether you have a valid deferment in place.

Hi guys,

Keep fighting and whatever you do, dont give in. This is a war and i am not going to lose it. I am also self employed and have never earned over the income threshold, so my loans have been in constant deferment. I have always provided my tax return to SLC with no questions asked, and why should they be. A tax return is an official government document declaring your income. falsifying this document, as you are warned when filling it out is tax fraud and punishable by a prison sentence. To this extent it should be evidence enough of Income.

Erudio however are refusing to accept this evidence and refusing to place my loans into deferment. I have been in dispute with them since April this year, now that might sound like countless letters/emails, but Erudio takes so long to reply there hasnt been. I have just received my latest reply from Erudio in response to an email i sent nearly half a year ago. I have not spoken to Erudio over the phone nor do i intend to as i am not going to waste my time and money and I want a complete written record of what has happened.

I too was aghast at the pages of info Erudio were trying to collect. With SLC you ticked 1 box on 1 page of A4, signed your name, sent in your evidence, and your loan was in deferment. Erudio want to know everything about your life and personal circumstances. Im not applying for a new loan, i have a loan and the conditions are when i earn over a certain income threshold i have to pay it back, if i dont i can defer, simple as that. It never said you have to declare all your assets and provide details about your partner and how you support yourself and provide evidence to back this up. To this extent, my deferment form, was mostly filled with "none of your business" in all the boxes. I then wrote a long complaint to Erudio about this phishing/data collection exercise and the waste of paper and cost of having to post all this paper back to them.

As Erudio refused to place my loans in deferment they then decided to create a direct debit on my account without my permission, they then started to take money out of my bank account for 3 months until by bank informed me that i was now super overdrawn and they wanted this money back, which i dont have. Erudio never informed me they had set up a direct debit and they never informed me about when or how much money they were going to take from my bank account, so they were in direct breach of the Direct Debit Guarantee, so my bank refunded me straight away.

Erudio, however have still to respond to my complaint regarding this or the bank charges and fees that are not covered by the DDG, that i have to recover from Erudio direct. I expect i will get a response to this email around April 2015. I did however get a letter stating that my account was in arrears due to failed payments. This letter had an overtly threatening tone and spoke about how credit reference agencies would be informed and could result in my not being able to obtain credit in the future. Now as a self employed man that relies on credit this is disastrous if true. The lost irony is that if i cant get credit my business will fail, which means i will still not reach the income threshold and thus not have to repay my loans.

Overall Erudio\Arrow Debt Collectors are a disgrace of a company and the Tories should be ashamed at themselves, for selling our debt for profit to the highest bidder just like the banks did. I have no intention of paying Erudio any money until i am legally obliged to. I will not be sending in any further information until my deferment period should have ended. I will then fill out the form again exactly as before and i will send in my latest tax return. I will be keeping all of this on record as evidence that i have met with the T&C's of my loan. I am happy to continue along this line until i reach the income threshold or my loan expires. Should Erudio destroy my business and personal life by damaging my credit file, i will look into civil proceedings to recover my losses and claim compensation. In this instance i will not be using any of this money to pay back my student loan as i am perfectly entitled to stay in deferment as per my original T&C's, I suggest you all do the same should they ever offer you compensation. Demand that is is paid to you and not written of your loans.

Best of Luck, stay strong and i will update you of any developments.

Littlemissgeen I have never past the threshold and i had to pay back money at £10 per month to SLC as i previously had no money coming in and so couldn't pay which then made my loan in arrears. SLC asked me to fill out a expenditure form and i did as a result thats where the £10 month come from as when i received benefits thats how much they worked out was all i could afford, they have never given me a deferment even though they have had proof that i have never been over the threshold. i have never received anything from Erudio apart from the statement and the letter i posted onto this site, Erudio have been getting the payments as its on the back of the statement and for each £10 paid its says payment made thankyou.

Clearly i should have a deferment in place but dont Erudio is getting money every month and i have emailed them twice for a form etc and no response. I dont have a problem paying the money ack but they have to understand that i am on benefits and looking after two children and cant afford £1900, they have asked for 0.00 per month so my bank has set up a standing order to 1p which they say is more then Erudio is asking for, also thet ar still getting the £10 from the previous standing order.

@qaletaqa

If you never applied to defer your loans, then I'm afraid you would become due to pay the loans. While SLC may have accepted £10 per month that did not stop in a legal sense the full monthly repayment being due.

For every month you were not deferred and did not pay the full amount you should you would have built up arrears and legally been in breach of the original loan agreements.

When that reached the point of 60 full payments being missed or if SLC called in the loans in full, then you would have finally reached the point where legally you have no right to defer the loans ever again, no matter what your income may have been. Reason being arrears cannot be deferred and must be repaid, so once the full balance is made up of arrears you lose that right for ever more.

That sounds as if that is what has happened in this case, as sadly once bought by Erudio they would have the right to demand repayment in full at once. They would not have to, nor actually legally be able to, offer you or agree to deferment. They may be prepared to agree a payment arrangement as SLC did as an alternative to court action etc, as if you have no means to pay the full loan that would be pointless.

You should probably talk to them and point out that they either accept a small amount as SLC did, or basically they will get nothing, as even court action by them would never ever get any more.

Every time I have a wobble and think I should pay even though I earn way below the threshold (part time) I come on this thread. It strengthens my resolve that Erudio are charlatans and I am in the right.

My complaint has been with the FOS for three months now. I heard from someone about a month ago who was dealing with my complaint but nothing further. I have sent Erudio all the required evidence but I won't sign their form as I don't agree with having a deferment listed as a payment holiday with CRA.

Meanwhile Erudio take money from my account, which I can't afford, I claim it back under the DD indemnity and Erudio rack up the arrears on my account.

I just don't know what to do and am at the end of my tether. I am entitled to defer, they won't let me and instead say my account is in arrears which I say it's not as I am entitled to defer but there is still the threat they will only remove 3 months of arrears and I'm worried the others will go to a CRA even though I should have been defered.

I just feel like I'm going round in circles and no one will help.

Quite honestly I just wish Erudio would take me to court and I could have my say.

Anyone got an wise words?

any not an wise words!

So sorry I haven't RTFT - I'm in work and only have 10 minutes to skive in.

I received my annual statement from Erudio recently and I was suprised that the outstanding amount seemed higer then I thought.

I took my loans out 95-98. Deferred 98-01. Repaid for a year in 2002. Repaid 3 months in 2003. Deferred since until last year as I worked part time so was under the threshold.

Is it possible that they haven't linked my 15 or so repayments as they were made so long ago? Has this happened to any/many people? Or is it probable that the elapse of time wouldve added a shed load of interest on? I'm going to have to go trawling in the loft for other statements aren't I?

Here's a new and interesting one!!! I deferred in May like most other people with lots of too-ing a fro-ing, lies and stolen DD's which I ended up cancelling. Thought I'd hear no more until next year.

I still have the same bank account that I had when I was a student but since I'm now a SAHM, it is only used for my child benefit and student loan now erudio DD (in deferment). Since I gave up work, I am now a named 2nd person on my husbands account and thats what we use for day to day stuff.

Last week he decided to change bank accounts. Today I got a new DD instruction from Erudio detailing zero payments but my husbands new bank account details!!!!!! Now I haven't closed my bank account down or given them my husbands details so where have they got them from and HOW DARE THEY!!!!!!!

From previous post.......So what should I do? Is this legal? Do I call them and give them a piece of my mind? I am LIVID!!!!! or do I report them....and who too? Thanks in anticipation :-)

Calise. A stern email to erudio! Not that they will care!!! Then a complaint to the FOS And the FCA.

makes you wonder how they get this information, not at all questionable are they, no better then loan sharks

Nomorehappymrschicken

Just keep a good paper trail of all your actions and erudioS. So that if legal action becomes necessary a good judge will see whom has been acting in good faith.

Erudio are just a debt collection agency and treating us all like criminals, like us having these loans in deferment is an illegal act!

Some folks at the MSE erudio thread are banding together for a legal action against them!