Career Development Loans 2006/07 article Discussion Area

Lost_Prophet

I think the adequate savings means something in range of the entire course fee's. I personally had JUST enough to cover the fee's when paid on a 6 monthly basis, however I tailored my application to meet my minimum possible income (not including mileage allowance/bonuses) which would of made the debt far more payable

Looking back, it was the best decision to apply for the loan as it has allowed me to continue with my life rather than living on the edge

FYI - If you get rejected, appeal it! I did and after much messing about with Co-Op messing the application up, I was accepted

louise1993_2

thanks for the advice here, I'm just sending off my application for my CDL loan now anyone got any top tips on after? paying it off with another loan seems the best idea here...

nat89

Hi all,
I got a CDL with co-op for my MSc that I started in September 2010.
After finding this article I'm now looking to pay off the remaining balance.
It's currently at ~£4500 but says 'The balance is not the amount needed to settle your loan account'
So I have rang them and am waiting for them to post the settlement value.
Has anyone else done this using loans/credit cards/any other method?
I don't have the money to just pay it off, but am looking for a way to pay it off while I know I'll have a job (it's fixed for another 2 years) so I won't have to worry about potentially no job and still ~£160 payments every month.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Nat

loopdaloop

I received a letter through the post form Co-op RE: The Career Development loan. It said the following:

--
Dear MR X

The Following letter is reference to your loan account.

AS you may be aware, we send you periodic statements at least every 12 months to keep you updated on activity relating to your loan account. This is in accordance with the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (which will not be referred to as the act).

Since we produced your last statement we have noted that some of the wording that is required in accordance iwth the ACt was omitted in error.

We are currently working through the detail of this omission to identify individual customer impacts and we will write to you in again in due course once the review has been completed with further information about what this means for you. As part of this process we have notified the Office of Fair Trading, the organisation responsible for regulating compliance with the Act.

No action is required by you at this time but if you have any questions in relation to the content of this letter, please do not hesitate to contact us on the following number and we will be happy to help you.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience the above may have caused you.

Yours sincerely

Joanne Mayer
Head of Banking Operations

---

My question to other people who are in the know about these loans and who may have had one is....

Do you think this means that as they were not acting in accordance with the act - that the Loan is now no longer actionable?

E.g. Due to the wording being ommited, as a customer we have been mislead and it means that we no longer have to pay it back?

Or at the very least do you think that we might have grounds for compensation?

I rang and spoke to to the customer service rep about this and it appears to be a really big thing as they offered a big apology about what happened and they have a dedicated team that he said I could call to talk about this further. (between the hours of 9-5.)

Anyone else received this letter?
And I'm really interested in anyones thoughts.

many thanks.



Thanks.

atypical

Impossible to say without knowing what the error was. It's very unlikely to make the loan unenforceable. Much more likely is that they'd give a gesture of goodwill, which for a technical error that probably had no impact on you (assuming you haven't noticed anything so far) is a nice bonus.

loopdaloop

Just a note to say that its been confirmed by coop that they have been acting not in accordence with the law and that this is being treated with 'the highest priority'.

Clearly as customers this is a very distressing situation.

jacques_chirac

loopdaloop wrote: »

Just a note to say that its been confirmed by coop that they have been acting not in accordence with the law and that this is being treated with 'the highest priority'.

Clearly as customers this is a very distressing situation.

How is it distressing? What detriment have you suffered?

societys_child

this is a very distressing situation

FGS, do you even know what the problem with the wording is?

jach1983

Hi


I took a career development loan with Barclays in 2009. It was for £10,000 and was to pay fees and living costs while I studied towards an MA. I was informed by my university that this would be May 2010. As a result, I would have to start paying back the fees in July 2010.


In March 2010 I learnt that my course would not finish until September 2010. I sent off the relevant documents to Barclays including a letter from the learning provider confirming this change of date. I called Barclays in the May of that year. They informed me that they never received the documents.


The latter part of this year proved to be difficult for me. Before I studied I was self-employed. I owed a fair amount to the HMRC and was under pressure to pay this back. I was naïve in thinking that I could push the CDL to the back of my mind and resolve it at a later date. Falling into default in November 2010 I finally began making repayments on the career development loan in February 2011.


Since then I have been in constant 3 year battle with Barclays to get the date of the loan adjusted to reflect when I did finish my course and to get the default removed. I have sent the relevant documents to them again but they refuse to budge. Their reason is that it is due to criteria laid down by the Young Peoples Learning Agency.


Saying that this was their final decision I referred the case to the Ombudsman. I also tried to contact the YPLA, only to learn that they no longer exist and that all queries were handled through the Skills Funding Agency. After explaining my case to their Policy Manager he provided me with an e-mail stating that he would have relaxed the criteria in my case and that he would ask Barclay to remove the default.


Despite this, the Ombudsman say that there is only so much sway they have and the decision lies with Barclays. They are showing no signs of changing their position.


I am recently married and due to this situation I will have this default on my account until November 2016. This makes it almost impossible to gain a mortgage. Although I appreciate I was naïve and that I should not have buried my head in the sand I feel that if there was any justice Barclays should remove this default. I have explained that I have the funds to clear the loan in its entirety if needs be. I thought the word of the Skills Funding Agency should certainly hold some sway but Barclays are refusing to play ball.


Please help!

atypical

There are a lot of questions that need answering before anyone will be able to help you.

jach1983 wrote: »

I took a career development loan with Barclays in 2009. It was for £10,000 and was to pay fees and living costs while I studied towards an MA. I was informed by my university that this would be May 2010. As a result, I would have to start paying back the fees in July 2010.

You were told by your university what 'would be' in May 2010 and why does that mean you'd start paying back fees in July 2010?

jach1983 wrote: »

Since then I have been in constant 3 year battle with Barclays to get the date of the loan adjusted to reflect when I did finish my course and to get the default removed.

Why would changing the date of the loan get your default removed? Even if your course finished in Sept 2010 and you only started repaying in Feb 2011, you'd still be in default wouldn't you?

jach1983 wrote: »

I have sent the relevant documents to them again but they refuse to budge. Their reason is that it is due to criteria laid down by the Young Peoples Learning Agency.

What criteria is this?

jach1983 wrote: »

Despite this, the Ombudsman say that there is only so much sway they have and the decision lies with Barclays. They are showing no signs of changing their position.

The Ombudsman has considerable sway over Barclays. What they more likely said is that in your case the decision lies with Barclays. I suspect this is because the point you're in dispute with them about relates to a commercial decision which Barclays is free to make as it likes.

jach1983 wrote: »

I have explained that I have the funds to clear the loan in its entirety if needs be.

So you're currently up to date with your loan repayments?

jach1983 wrote: »

I thought the word of the Skills Funding Agency should certainly hold some sway but Barclays are refusing to play ball.

As far as I understand, the Skills Funding Agency's only involvement with Career Development Loans is that they pay any interest due while a person is studying. I can't think why they'd have any influence in your situation.