ERUDIO student loans help

Pluthero

Rosskie wrote: »

Spoke to FOS, t'was a bit vauge... but.

FOS says - all erudio complaints on hold. The matter has been passed to senior folks to decide, seems it could go either way. Argument for erudio - they are acting consistently within the loan industry. Argument against - only some student loans are with Erudio, who, by treating us differently from people still with the SLC for example, are treating us unfairly and inconsistently.

Says its a 50/50, decision and guideance on how to deal with complaints and which way they will go should hopefully be made soon.

Arrears etc accrued while dispute goes on are the liability of the borrower should FOS side with Erudio.

If this seems like sensitive info or anything comment and I'l remove it.

So, since they told me I can defer without consent to the FPN I'm gonna try and do that, stop any further arrears and let FOS decide if I've been wrong or erudios been wrong in regard to the arrears that cant be backdated. Let the games commence.

On the one hand its good that the hornets nest has been stirred and at least a decision is being forced at some higher level. On the other hand I never asked to be thrown into the maw of a DCA (loan industry) when my original loan was with the Govt, and be messed about by these chancers.

I am off work tomorrow and will give the FOS a bell. I got a letter from them today saying they are asking Erudio for info as a start into investigating my complaints and this could take up to 12 weeks! Not really good enough if they think I am gonna be liable for any arrears building up!

calise

I have kept quite a few documents from 1993/4 and 1994/5 I've had a quick scan through them but haven't spotted anything useful. I've got:

A Guide for students 1994/5
The Student Loans Scheme 1993/4 (also a guide)
Eligibility and Application form 1993/94
Information on repaying your student loan 1994/5 (I think - not dated)
Student Loans Customer Service Policy/Notice of Variation of Loan Agreement/Current Loan conditions. 1994
A letter from the Department of Education and Employment from 1998 about selling some loans to Natwest including terms of loans schedule.
Information booklet on repaying your loan 1997 and 1999/2000
Notice of variation of loan agreement 1997.

I dont have a scanner but happy to take a photo and upload if anyone interested. Hopefully that would work?

anna2007 wrote: »

Finally got a response from BIS re the original student loans literature - they only have paper copies so it's arriving by Special Delivery tomorrow, but these are the documents being sent, if there's anything useful I'll scan and post it up on the forum:

1. Loans for Students – a brief guide 1990-91
2. Student Grants And Loans – a brief guide 1991-92
3. Student Grants And Loans – a brief guide 1992-93
4. Student Grants And Loans – a brief guide 1993-94
5. Student Grants And Loans – a brief guide 1994-95
6. Student loans a guide for students 1995/96
7. Student Grants And Loans – a brief guide 1995-96
8. Student Grants And Loans – a brief guide 1996-97
9. Student Grants And Loans – a brief guide 1999-98
10. Student Loans – guidance on terms and conditions 1998-99
11. Financial support for students – a guide to grants, loans and fees in higher education 1998/99

BIS did say there may be additional documents held by the Department for Education, or in the National Archives. Two mentioned by Mr McGuffin were:

‘Top-up loans for students – the Government’s proposals’ February 1990, DES

‘The Student Top-Up Loans Scheme – An Outline’ May 1990, DES

Is there anyone near Kew who could check the National Archives for these two, or can they be ordered online?

MrStarship

Can someone guide me though the arrears payment process. I am currently deferred till next year, but I do have a couple of thousand pounds on arrears that I can now pay off. I can pay this fully off and be done with it - it was my fault the arrears had built up!

I have recently received a arrears notice letter informing me of this, but what's the best way to go about this as I do not want to compromise my deferment and to call the whole loan in which would be impossible for me to pay. I earn way below the threshold as I am on ESA and will always be the case.

How can arrears be paid: credit card, debit, bank transfer, cheque? Also, should I phone them or rite to them about all this with my intent to pay arrears only?

erudioed

@rosskie is that all the complaints about Erudio? I would like to hear all the info you are prepared to share. This is very important what they are going to be deciding if it is all complaints. As there are many different angles that they will have been inundated about, making one wide reaching decision would surely be not a good thing. If they ruled one way, they could just dismiss the complaints on mass as being something whipped up by the forums. But if they went the other way, what would that mean. Each decision should be judged on a case by case basis. The lies, deciet and total lack of any actual knoweldge by the call centre most of us were exposed to when we called them is indisputable, especially as most of us have the times and dates recorded so the FOS can request the telephone conversations or transcripts will be condemning and reflective of the reality.
Making a judgement about which direction to go does sound like this issue is not just a run of the mill thing and that it does indeed stand out as something more than just customer service crapness. I wonder what issues stand out to the FOS.

Brooker_Dave

JeLaw wrote: »

Just had a look at this (thanks again for posting). As far as I can see there's not mention in the 1998/99 guide about the possibility of these loans being sold on from the government. That strengthens the argument for mis-selling. Should this not have been made clear in the information leaflet/guide?

In fact the first page of the guide states that "...student loans are part of the government's financial support package".

"The terms of the loans are fixed as soon as you sign the credit agreement. This means they cannot be changed by the SLC or the government. The terms of the loans cannot be affected by the new loan arrangements that have been introduced for new entrants either."

gardenia101

anna2007 wrote: »

Jonez You shouldn't have to apply for the loans to be cancelled, it should happen automatically when you reach the qualifying age, but a good idea to get Erudio to confirm in writing they've done it.

This might help from Honours Student Loans website FAQ's, who bought the second tranche of MS loans:

"I think that I may be eligible for my loans to be cancelled due to my age. What do I need to do?
If you were under the age of 40 when you took out the last of your student loans, and your earnings have never reached the threshold required to begin repayment of your loans, Honours Student Loans will automatically cancel your loans when you reach the age of 50. This is dependent on your loans having no arrears at the time of cancellation.
If you were over the age of 40 when you took out the last of your student loans, and your earnings have never reached the threshold required to begin repayment of your loans, Honours Student Loans will automatically cancel your loans when you reach the age of 60. This is dependent on your loans having no arrears at the time of cancellation".

Not sure why they've said "and your earnings have never reached the threshold", as the regs don't qualify cancellation in this way - your liability to repay the loans is cancelled, and that's it. But as both Erudio and HSL are part of Wilmington Trust, it might be something to watch out for when the time comes.

Jonez wrote: »

Thanks for this anna2007. 'Never reached the threshold' is an odd phrase? For a while around 04-06 my earnings did exceed and I paid via DD to the SLC in the usual way. I hope this odd wording doesn't indicate an attempt to wrangle out of the regs?

I don't like the sound of "never reaching the threshold" either - I've also had periods where I've earned over the threshold & paid off chunks of my loans. Can't help wondering if a new cancellation procedure may be introduced for those of us who've paid off some, but not all of our loans e.g. cancelled after 25 years after our last payment was made?

I know if Erudio were to try & do this it would be a change to our original T&C's & as such, shouldn't be allowed to happen, but....

JeLaw wrote: »

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong (my health's been up and down so I might miss something) but as I understand it there's still some confusion as to whether or not child benefit should be included. I think there's a freedom of information request about this at the moment and we're waiting on a response.

It seems from some people's experiences on here that SLC didn't include child benefit, which could be seen as setting a precedent.

It's all a bit of a nightmare this Erudio situation. I hope you manage to sort things out with them.

There is now a deferment application form guide on the Erudio website, which I don't remember seeing before. It clearly states child benefit (& child tax credits & maintenance) are to be included as income. Now I'm sure CM isn't factored into that average wage calculation that decides the repayment threshold (whatever fudge factor they decide to apply :mad:)

I haven't heard anything back from Erudio about my deferment yet.

VonPaz

Hello All,
Been reading this for ages now - thanks to all for the advice and consequent moral support!
Just a note on the above post. In the guide to deferment linked to by gardenia101 it states:

"You will need to continue to make repayments until you receive confirmation in writing from us that your deferment has been accepted."

My position is this. I have been deferred by email. I have received nothing in writing. I have a dd in place but no money has been taken (yet). I am waiting for the annual statement which should be sent to me in this calendar month of September. It seems that the left hand knows not what the right hand is doing. Crap value for money if you ask me....

By the way. I found 10p in the street yesterday. Should I include this as 'extra income'?

babyboos

fermi wrote: »

The Erudio deferment should be dealt with by SLC as well since you have split loans.

Most Erudio and SLC staff don't seem to realise that, so they will tell you a load of nonsense if you query it.

the slc deferment form only gives the honours number on it

babyboos

Rosskie wrote: »

OK, looked at loans to clarify, they are 98 onwards, and consent is requried to report. Forget about me starting uni earlier.

I was of the impression that they simply could report 97 loans, no drama, thats just the way it is. I thought the drama was about them wanting to report 98 on ones when they aren't allowed!

I started my course in 97 as well took out loan in 98 now with erudio 99 now with honours


are you saying all I need to do is send back the form to slc; which as come through to defer my hsl loan; with the erudio number written on it too?


I then don't have to deal with erudio slc will on my behalf and process my deferment in 3 weeks as normal?


of course I still have to contend with the fact my temporary seconded wage is more than my normal salary and though due to end soon is not until after my deferment month? I have 13 weeks parental leave to take (unpaid leave) which will reduce my wage considerably if I don't get any wages for a week each month for next three months including in the relevant month for deferment so it might be as well to do that and save starting to repay them both for two months and then having to defer and I assume that if I stop deferring through slc I then have to deal with them direct after that ? oh to have deferment end in 4 mnths time this would all have been different but still a battle


I have written a letter complaining about the attempt to change in ts and cs on these loans and the sudden drop in threshold and confusion over whether child benefit etc are now being regarded as income and a few other things, thanks for all the contact emails sent a copy there too.

babyboos

the ts and cs that apply to my loans are those that apply to all students whom started their course from 97 onwards there is the distinction on the slc website not the actual year you took the loan but the year you started your course