ERUDIO student loans help

GirlFromMars_2

I don't usually read this section of the forums, so I missed this when I was having my issues with Erudio, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to add my story.

I am disabled, and have had several three year deferments from the SLC without too much trouble in the past.

However after being switched over to Erudio I simply couldn't cope with the volume of information being asked on their forms, including needing information about a savings account that contains a whopping £6.00.

I was also mightily confused, as my deferment usually runs August to August (over three years), and this was April.

Anyway, having a proper meltdown I phoned them up to find out what information they really needed. They insisted they needed the lot. So after a recent house move still in meltdown I went through a heap of papers to try and find all the information they apparently wanted. However instead of the information they wanted I discovered my last deferment letter from SLC, which stated very clearly I was in deferment until August ... 2015 ... yet all the information I'd received from Erudio (Two separate deferment applications and a letter about a complaint I'd apparently made) was quite clear in telling me that my deferment ended in April 2014.

After calling back I was told that I could send them a copy of the letter (not the original, they were as worried about losing that as I was!) and they would honour my SLC deferment date, but that they didn't have that information themselves from SLC, and couldn't get it from SLC.

Of course, a few weeks later I received another letter from Erudio making it very clear they'd never received the letter I had written and sent them. So I called again, and this time I was asked to email a copy and a PDF of the deferment letter, which luckily I was able to do, and apparently they have a harder time losing email correspondence. So they did finally honour my SLC deferment date, and extended it, as apparently they aren't set up to deal with deferments in August, so I am now deferred until April 2016.

What they didn't appear to understand is that vulnerable clients were deferred for three years by SLC as the deferment process (even the easy SLC deferment process) is just too much for some people to handle, and asking them to complete the same information every year when they have a long term illness is unnecessary and stressful.

Erudio managed to be 50 times more stressful, and my account wasn't even out of deferment, goodness knows how I'm going to manage when I do actually have to defer through them.

Although, after having read this thread, on the plus side, I didn't fill out their forms, and don't seem to have signed away all of my rights to them just yet. And hopefully I won't receive anything else from them until 2016 at the earliest.

Anyway, they most certainly aren't set up to deal with vulnerable clients, and I am extremely disappointed that the SLC didn't at the very least keep it's portfolio of 3 year deferred loans.

I am wondering, do credit agencies pay them for this extra information. Is that how they plan on making some kind of money from us, as surely anyone in deferment this long, isn't likely to suddenly reach the salary threshold our loans were offered under?

Cook1e

Has anyone been deferred? How long does it take?


I applied for my deferment in May after checking and getting confirmation of sending payslips via email. In June I received a letter that they are unable to defer as they had no payslips. So I emailed back with a copy of the earlier email querying the letter. I was told to call them as they could not respond by email due to security and I had to go through an IDV process.
I asked them to send a confirmation email that they had received the documents which they did. Since then I have heard nothing apart from a text this week saying 'we need to contact you' and kindly give a contact number to pay at my expense.
I'm going to write a letter to enquire regarding the progress, as I presume I'll get the same reply that they cannot reply to emails due to security.
I do not earn the amount which they referred to of 23,000 on the deferment form and did not fill in the DD on the form I assume this is why they need to contact me. From experiences of other companies happily taking money out of my account without permission its something I will not agree to. With reading the responses of it happening and they 1st impression of them not being able to find my 1st email with the appropriate payslips just shows they're not that professional.

erudioed

@girlfrommars
Congrats on finally getting it sorted!
Concerning CRA info, that is one of the big questions. Arrow started up the Experian Collections Network, thus far unmentioned by anyone other than me (not something i see as a plus), which Arrow developed, pay for and control. I personally am not too clear what exactly it is, but it seems like a group of companies who buy into something to do with Experian and Arrow. I personally think the Erudio side of the deal means they trade our debt info with Experian to get free searches on us, instead of just paying for it. I dont know the truth of that, as it is a strong suspicion, even though Zach Lewy himself let slip when challenged by Martin Lewis that they have to give info to get it. Maybe that is legal, i dont know, but trading info that concerns personal details like NI number, house info etc etc i think it is utterly despicable, especially given that we gave our info to our government. If somehow that info we gave them on our original loan application forms to the gov makes it into the public domain and is sold (via CRAs), then i think needs proper investigation. Alternatively, SLC might not have given that info out, hence Erudio asking for stuff like NI number etc in Erudio's deferment form might be that info...maybe they have to acquire it in a different way (and who knows what our signatures have signed away the rights to on our deferment forms). Maybe the trade with Experian by Erudio is for the debt info and some personal info...then Erudio dont have to pay Experian for 230,000 searches of our personal/financial info.
However, that is just a guess. Clearly though, Arrow and Experian are closely tied together. If any info is given to CRAs by Erudio, Arrow or Capita, i think the sh*t will hit the fan...however, i dont know the nature of that sh*t or what that fan actually is. What i do know is that no one has challenged Lewy/Arrow on this CRA issue and their relationship with Experian, or asked him about the Experian Collections Network. I have pasted a link on these forums and on my twatter page to that document concerning the Experian Collections Network...i would very much like someone else to tell me what the info on the document means. You can also find info around on another special deal Arrow signed with Experian by searching google...although the details about that are more secretive.

Jonez

There are constant references on this, and other forums to Erudio claiming that paperwork was never received or that applications were returned unsigned. I suspect that very few of us believe this - which brings us to the question - what is happening to this paperwork? Are they keeping it on file, or destroying it? If it's the latter, someone within the organisation must sanction the destruction and be aware of the possible legal ramifications of doing so? An Erudio 'whistle-blower' would make for interesting reading......

Forever

Jonez wrote: »

There are constant references on this, and other forums to Erudio claiming that paperwork was never received or that applications were returned unsigned. I suspect that very few of us believe this - which brings us to the question - what is happening to this paperwork? Are they keeping it on file, or destroying it? If it's the latter, someone within the organisation must sanction the destruction and be aware of the possible legal ramifications of doing so? An Erudio 'whistle-blower' would make for interesting reading......

Absolutely. Maybe the odd or two people saying this, you could say it's just something that happens.

But there have been so many people saying that they have lost their paperwork now, it is really suspicious.

I just hope that people complain to the relevant bodies so that the relevant bodies can see a general pattern.

rizla_king

erudioed wrote: »

BIS wont release the other bidders names for commercial reasons...but, they do provide an answer of sorts and part of the agreement Arrow signed.

Can't see any justifiable reason for withholding that.

Complain

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/unhappy

fermi

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Today I received a "Remedy of Account", together with 3 "Annual Statements" from 2011, 2012 and 2013 and 2 "Notice of sums in arrears" from 2012 and 2011 and an A4 information sheet from the office of fair trading titled Arrears, and finally an information sheet from the FCA headed arrears.

Any ideas what this is about?

See here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/loans/2014/07/hit-by-1990s-student-loans-blunder-check-for-erudio-packs-in-post

Nothing to worry about it seems.

GirlFromMars_2

erudioed wrote: »

@girlfrommars
Congrats on finally getting it sorted!

Concerning CRA info, that is one of the big questions. Arrow started up the Experian Collections Network, thus far unmentioned by anyone other than me (not something i see as a plus), which Arrow developed, pay for and control.

I personally am not too clear what exactly it is, but it seems like a group of companies who buy into something to do with Experian and Arrow. I personally think the Erudio side of the deal means they trade our debt info with Experian to get free searches on us, instead of just paying for it. I dont know the truth of that, as it is a strong suspicion, even though Zach Lewy himself let slip when challenged by Martin Lewis that they have to give info to get it. Maybe that is legal, i dont know, but trading info that concerns personal details like NI number, house info etc etc i think it is utterly despicable, especially given that we gave our info to our government.

If somehow that info we gave them on our original loan application forms to the gov makes it into the public domain and is sold (via CRAs), then i think needs proper investigation. Alternatively, SLC might not have given that info out, hence Erudio asking for stuff like NI number etc in Erudio's deferment form might be that info...maybe they have to acquire it in a different way (and who knows what our signatures have signed away the rights to on our deferment forms). Maybe the trade with Experian by Erudio is for the debt info and some personal info...then Erudio dont have to pay Experian for 230,000 searches of our personal/financial info.
However, that is just a guess.

Clearly though, Arrow and Experian are closely tied together. If any info is given to CRAs by Erudio, Arrow or Capita, i think the sh*t will hit the fan...however, i dont know the nature of that sh*t or what that fan actually is. What i do know is that no one has challenged Lewy/Arrow on this CRA issue and their relationship with Experian, or asked him about the Experian Collections Network.

I have pasted a link on these forums and on my twatter page to that document concerning the Experian Collections Network...i would very much like someone else to tell me what the info on the document means. You can also find info around on another special deal Arrow signed with Experian by searching google...although the details about that are more secretive.

Oddly the reason I came to this forum was a problem with Experian. I strongly believe Experian are trying to make as much money as possible by making it paramount that we have access to our credit records, and are trying to monetise this process.

I am wondering now though if it would be cheaper to actually access my personal data from Experian via a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act. I assume that applies to Credit Reference Agencies as well as the rest of the EU?

I strongly suspect (now) that part of the appeal to Erudio of buying these Student Loans from the government was related to data sharing with CRAs.

Thanks for being an advocate for all this. I'm hoping by the time I actually have to fill out one of their deferment forms we will all be clearer on what information I have to give them, and what information they are just trying to gather for their own monetary purposes.

I hope the Information Commissioner and the Financial Regulators are keeping a really close eye on what's happening with Erudio.

Thanks!

GirlFromMars_2

Jonez wrote: »

There are constant references on this, and other forums to Erudio claiming that paperwork was never received or that applications were returned unsigned. I suspect that very few of us believe this - which brings us to the question - what is happening to this paperwork? Are they keeping it on file, or destroying it? If it's the latter, someone within the organisation must sanction the destruction and be aware of the possible legal ramifications of doing so? An Erudio 'whistle-blower' would make for interesting reading......

There's no way that such a large number of people who are in deferment's paperwork could possibly go missing by accident. So it must be there somewhere. The Data Controller is the person responsible for data handling processes within organisation, they don't appear to be a named person though. http://www.erudiostudentloans.co.uk/tools/privacy-policy.htm

And that Privacy Policy makes it very clear that they are sharing information within their group of companies.

anna2007

fermi wrote: »

See here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/loans/2014/07/hit-by-1990s-student-loans-blunder-check-for-erudio-packs-in-post

Nothing to worry about it seems.

I think the concern is people receiving these "packs" when they've never been in arrears? If that's going on, then it's yet another example of Erudio scaremongering and trying to manipulate a situation to their own advantage.