ERUDIO student loans help

ss1114

Thanks to those who have contributed to this thread. It's helped make sense of the insanity.

My repayments are due in a month. I'm going send them their foms but I have two main concerns. Any advice or opinions that you have would be great.

The evidence of income is the same as that accepted by the SLC. My completely uneducated guess is that when they challenge that, as no doubt they will, if it were to end up in court they would find it very difficult to justifying rejecting the application on that basis ?

Do they have access to my past applications so that I can refer them to that documentation when the arguments start ?

I live in Ireland, I guess it's the same in the UK that an account holder can blacklist a company from using DD requests. Do you think I would be breaking the terms of my agreement by doing that ?

How on earth are they getting away with this, it's astonishing stuff.

Lungboy

Did the SLC send out the deferral packs, even when people had started to pay off their loans? I ask because I have been paying mine off for the last year, but have just changed job and my new salary is below the threshold. However, I haven't received any deferral paperwork from Erudio, and this is the time of year I always used to receive it.

Also, how do I go about deferring now? My new annual salary is below the threshold, but my current monthly is above it as I keep my previous salary for 6 months. Any payslips i have are from my old post and will show too high a salary. Any new-job payslips will show too high a salary for 6 months. I fear Erudio won't just accept a letter from my employer, but is that the only thing I can use?

dizzybuff

you wont be entitled to defer just yet , wait until you have three months payslips for your new post ( you sound like you are salery protected) then apply for a defferal by wemailing them ,. get copies of the payslips and use the letter on here and send them.

Technobabble

The office of my MP have today emailed that they are contacting Erudio on my behalf. Don't know if it will have any influence on their 'thorough investigation' of my issues???

I still expect to rattle off a form to the FOS soon. I hope everybody with Erudio issues will formally complain to them and bring up the FOS so they know we are not going to roll over. There is an overwhelming sense that they want to get money out of us somehow.

Even if they confirm my belated deferment, I am not going to leave things at that and go through this again in 2015 (my loans should be cancelled in 2018) and I think we need to support each other and have a collective voice somehow.

anna2007

ss1114 wrote: »

The evidence of income is the same as that accepted by the SLC. My completely uneducated guess is that when they challenge that, as no doubt they will, if it were to end up in court they would find it very difficult to justifying rejecting the application on that basis ?

Erudio are taking a harder stance than the SLC on evidence, no surprise there. I'm not sure that a court would find Erudio's demands for extra evidence unlawful or unreasonable (although you could argue the SLC accepted less for the last 20 or so years, so it's custom and practice?), because the legislation and regulations don't say what is considered acceptable evidence, only that we have to show the lender that our gross income's below the threshold.

In addition to the 3 months' payslips, Erudio want to see your last 3 months' bank statements - they could easily argue that's justified as it shows you don't have any other income coming in? Erudio are big on their delaying tactics (no doubt so they can claim your deferred account's in arrears), so you have to weigh that up against you not wanting to give anything more than you gave the SLC vs getting deferment. That one was a fairly easy choice for me.

You haven't said if you're working, but if you're "financially supported" by your partner, it's even more of a PITA. Where the SLC were happy with a letter from your partner confirming this, Erudio want to know how much financial support. I split all the main outgoings over the 3 months in two, gave them that with copy bank statements (only showing these outgoings, everything else blacked out).

ss1114 wrote: »

Do they have access to my past applications so that I can refer them to that documentation when the arguments start ?

I hadn't thought about this and don't know for sure, but I'd have thought the SLC would want to keep the applications and supporting evidence for their own records? All Erudio will need to know is the status of the account, balance, payments, etc. You could maybe make a SAR (£10 charge?) to the SLC as proof of what you've submitted previously.

ss1114 wrote: »

I live in Ireland, I guess it's the same in the UK that an account holder can blacklist a company from using DD requests. Do you think I would be breaking the terms of my agreement by doing that ?

No, you wouldn't, but Erudio will say that you are!! It's on their form that you have to have a DD during deferment (not in the legislation, regs or loan agreement). I decided to set up the DD until deferment was sorted, put in a formal complaint a few days after application was sent, they backed down on the DD, I cancelled it and have blocked them from setting it up again.

But I wouldn't have done that unless I had it in writing that the DD wasn't a requirement, my main worry was Erudio saying I was in arrears. Others won't agree about the DD, you have to approach it in the way that's best for your own circumstances, or perspective on it.

ss1114 wrote: »

How on earth are they getting away with this, it's astonishing stuff.

Erudio aka Arrow Global are only doing what DCA's naturally do - the blame here lies entirely with our Government, they knew exactly the nature of the beast and sold our loans on regardless.

But the best way to stop Erudio getting away with this in the meantime is to complain to the FOS (means complaining to Erudio first then waiting 8 weeks for a final response). Each complaint to FOS will cost Erudio £500, keep in mind that we're all legally entitled to defer.

I'm not sure that Erudio considered the nature of the beast that they have to deal with... we've all been educated at Uni, so are more than capable of taking these thugs on!

dizzybuff

payment due in two days and erudio have not confirmed fos complaint , so I will be in arrears as of the 10th , they havnt calculated my earning correctly for a start and added a minus from my pay instead of subtracting it ( childcare vouchers) also they have included my salary sacrifice pension rather than going off the p60 I sent them which has my gross taxable earnings on . so im waiting , I don't want to make a payment when they cant even get the calculations right and the fact ive deferred the last 15 years and my pay is less than last year.

anna2007

Someone on Mumsnet has posted to say her loans are now registered with the CRA's as a 'payment holiday'.

She was turned down for a new current account, so it's already had an adverse impact

Time to start watching our credit files...

fermi

I would suggest she try taking Erudio to the FOS then, as they publicly claimed that there would not be a negaive impact.

Sarebear78

I have checked my credit file and nothing is showing at the moment. Just to put some people's minds at ease - who knows for how long though?

Maybe they don't want to risk it as I have a 1998 loan that I specifically DID NOT give them permission to share.

anna2007

Sarebear78 wrote: »

I have checked my credit file and nothing is showing at the moment. Just to put some people's minds at ease - who knows for how long though?

Maybe they don't want to risk it as I have a 1998 loan that I specifically DID NOT give them permission to share.

Do we need to check our credit files with all CRA's (or more specifically Experian, seeing as Erudio are in bed with them)?

I've been checking my Noddle account and there's nothing recorded yet, not even a search, but I think the info can vary between CRA's, so Erudio might not register our loans with Callcredit?