Son is being chased by solicitors

devildog

meer53- you are correct in that they will speak to you providing that 1) You setup a password with them but more importantly 2) The student has to first give them permission to speak to you (which may be the problem )

Taiko

The in-house debt collectors mentioned (not solicitors btw) are Smith Lawson & Co.

melancholly

devildog wrote: »

meer53- you are correct in that they will speak to you providing that 1) You setup a password with them but more importantly 2) The student has to first give them permission to speak to you (which may be the problem )

although the contact seems to be from some random solicitors not the SLC (directly or by their debt collection service), which is why so many of us are confused.

Oldernotwiser

meer53 wrote: »

Sounds to me like the OP's son hasn't told them the whole story. I'd stop worrying about it, it's his problem, he's a grown up. Let him sort it out.

Particularly as it seems from other posts that the son's rather older than many new graduates as he's nearly 25.

bubbleoflife_2

I've read all your thoughts (thank you ) and decided to have a chat (again ! ) with my son for him to shed more light on the reason as to why we're being harassed by solicitors.
And he admitted that he thought Student Lawn Co. would pay for 2 re-takes as written in the original contract (I don't believe it so I've asked him to find the original contract...) . Ultimately I asked him if he actually did graduate with a BSc in his chosen field ... oh dear! ....

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Are you absolutely sure that he finished his degree?

...that's what I was made to believe but he came out with the truth and said no I should put an :mad: smiley but I don't feel like that at all...what's the use? 'the one who gets angry is the one who gets hurt', as a saying goes. At the moment I must keep my head straight and find ways to increase my income....
And yes, I wrote a post before and as I said before I'm afraid of taking the very harsh step of throwing him out because when young adults are thrown out they do get into trouble. Both him and his sister help by paying for their various expenses, i.e. food, clothing, transport, etc.

It was a difficult confrontation (but managed not to get to scream & shouting.... I haven't got the energy ) and after going through the 'but you bullied me when I was little' and 'I only wanted the best for you and did all I could to get you to do your homework when you didn't want you...etc, etc, etc' , we managed to start actually talking and discuss the way forward.
He opened up saying that he hates being at home knowing that he's a burden on me and that this is the longest he's ever been out of work (which is true because he's always done some part-time work even whilst at Uni or during weeks off Uni and before that--he was a paper boy sice age 13) and he's aiming to leave before by his next birthday which is going to be at beginning of Summer.

I think that he got a little over confident thinking that he could get a job really quickly, start paying his debts HIDING THE TRUTH. But the truth of the matter is that he doesn't know how to find work during deep recession and simply sending off CVs over the internet is not enough.

We've now agreed that on Monday he's going to to start going to agencies as I've explained to him that job hunters are paid to find work and between him sending off CVs and job hunters, something should come up.

It was a strange confrotation.... a few things came out that we both needed to talk about...
Yes it would be easy for me to throw him out and let his room, but that's my very 'last resort'. I'd rather try to get through him and persuade him to get out of his 'very stubborn shell' and remain a family even when he'll leave home. Throwing him out will mean cutting him out completely and his sister might follow suite (she's still finishing A levels ... sigh!!) and young adults do get into trouble when stere's no home to go to (their father died a few years ago).
If I don't try, I'll regret that I've not tried hard enough...I'll give it another couple of months...

Thank you all for your feedback.

2sides2everystory

And how many thousands with untold stories are in an equal mess I wonder?

Good luck with helping him sort out his life.

What a great story for budding undergraduates. If you go to university and it goes wrong / you fail, you will be in an impossible financial mess courtesy of HM Government in the guise of their Student Liquidation Company.

But of course you deserve all that is coming to you by then because you will be an adult and should suffer like a failed one.

I mean, some people are almost retired at age 25, eh ONW?


What an ugly picture this paints of the real world of taking the UK government's shilling. What next for the unfortunate who don't seem to be fully atune the system, deportation to forced labour camps?

I think that instead of congratulating themselves on their detective ability, the usual gang should be ashamed of themselves for implying that the victim is somehow the culprit and attempting to divorce this sorry story from 'Student Finance'.

I think it is a story all parents and prospective undergraduates should read well and understand that they could equally find themselves in exactly the same position as the OP and her son, only more so from 2012 onwards.

The_One_Who

bubbleoflife wrote: »

...

I'm glad you got to the bottom of it, even it if wasn't the best news. Hopefully now things can start to be sorted.

2sides2everystory wrote: »

What a great story for budding undergraduates. If you go to university and it goes wrong / you fail, you will be in an impossible financial mess courtesy of HM Government in the guise of their Student Liquidation Company.

If you follow the correct procedures (which are widely available) then withdrawing from university does not have to end up in this situation. Unfortunately in this case, it seems like the son was trying to run away from the issue rather than deal with it head on.

2sides2everystory

The_One_Who wrote: »

If you follow the correct procedures (which are widely available) ...

Yes of course - so where is the widely available leaflet "What happens if I get into a mess and don't finish the course" which is no doubt issued with all the other health warnings in the process of arranging 'Student Finance' ... buried in Term or condition number 102(g) is it ?

... then withdrawing from university does not have to end up in this situation.

No of course not. Happens all the time and those who find it all too much will have had constant surveillance from experts lined up and ready to jump in to help them at every juncture (NOT!).

Unfortunately in this case, it seems like the son was trying to run away from the issue rather than deal with it head on.

He's not running. There's just this stuff landing on his Mum's carpet every morning after the postman has been and it is threatening him and those around him.

And the Debt Free Wannabe board is where you go when you that happens at your house right ? Is that the MSE equivalent of the poor house whereas this is the forum for those who successfully go full term and walk straight into great jobs and start paying their loans like all the very best UK students do?

Bye bye OP. Next ?

I feel nauseous - not for the first time this week.

amiehall

OP also bear in mind that your son may owe money to the university separately to the SLC in the situation you described. Having your son phone both the SLC and the university to discuss repayment can resolve these issues. Don't promise to send them a lot. A token payment of £1 a month may satisfy the university while he is looking for work. I know the SLC will accept £5 from personal experience and they may be willing to accept less while he is out of work as well.

The main thing to getting this resolved is to open all the letters and don't ignore them. Happily for you both, aside from what the poster above seems to think, you're not dealing with loan sharks and they will be reasonable if you get in touch with them.

stephyt23

I'm glad you finally got to the truth and that it didn't cause a major argument which is likely to have just made things worse.

I hope you manage to get things sorted and good luck to him on finding a job