ERUDIO student loans help

BaffledByErudio

The more I think about the situation we're all in, the more I begin to panic. I can really do without this, as we all can. We took out the loans under advice from University pastoral staff and were even told about them by our Sixth Form teachers.
They were established by the then government as a way of getting us through higher education after grants were abolished/reduced.
We were the first (as it seems now) lambs to the slaughter. The Student Loans system, as it was then, was somewhat flawed. We were young and naive I guess. But I distinctly remember being told by careers teachers: "If you don't achieve a wage or income over an annually calculated pay threshold, you can defer year on year."
I never, NOT ONCE, over the years since I graduated, simply thought, "I don't have to pay this debt back". I always had it in the back of my mind and have applied for jobs with a high enough salary to go into payment. Only last year, I was inches from getting a job on £27-30k.
I knew it would push me over the loans repayment threshold. I saw this as a positive thing, as I could get the loan off my back.
I've always been very careful with debts. I don't have a mortgage as I've never been able to afford one and only have a few bits and bobs on credit cards and a bank loan of a grand I'm paying off at £100 per month.
The whole situation with Erudio alarms me and calms me at the same time. But I swing, mentally, from "This is a farce, they're being totally unfair and this can't be legal, I'm not worried", to "Christ on a bike, I owe them nearly five grand and they want it back and there's nowt I can do about it. Panic Panic Panic".
It would all be easier to swallow if Erudio's customer service system was as proficient as that of SLC, but it's not. It's like that of a debt collection firm, which is what Erudio is.
If people had done moonlight flits, with huge salaries and the means to pay, I'd be totally behind the process of turning on the thumbscrews. I'm not daft. Fraud is fraud, but the government has seemingly thrown deferrers to the dogs and because we're the honest ones (I've never denied SLC my bank details and now Erudio have a DD in place) we're the most attractive targets.
It will be a financial nightmare to chase up debtors who've !!!!ed off abroad and severed contact regarding loans, so why not kick the living daylights out of those of us who have played by the rules, been honest, aren't rich and, quite frankly are easiest to scare the bejeezus out of?
Finally, from Erudio's website......

"If your deferment has been accepted your repayments will be deferred for a period of 12 months. During this time you will continue to be charged interest on your outstanding balance. If you pay by Direct Debit, we will suspend your Direct Debit payments for the period of your deferment automatically."

So, if that's the case, when most of us are actually in the current SLC deferment period until late May, WHY is Erudio getting away with putting DDs on our bank accounts, while refusing to let us cancel them, as this would then nullify our right to defer?

I realise Arrow Global wants a profit on this loan book. I can totally understand what's happened. It's a great pity our loans were never linked to PAYE, as the ones post-98 are, as I perceive that system to be hard to faff with. Although I imagine Danny Alexander et al are already rubbing their chins over!

opethpoppy

Slight change of topic, but I am a mortgage broker. This will Definately stop some people getting a mortgage. The new changes to mortgages, MMR, has meant some lenders look at debt to income ratio, others look at overall indebtedness, so even if you are not paying the loan back yet it will affect the amount you can borrow ie reduce it. All lenders now ask if your future outgoings/circumstances will change - if you are on the cusp of repaying a student loan - then it is highly likely that debt will then reduce your borrowing with the majority of banks/building societies.

rizla_king

Yes. Reporting these deferred loans is going to harm most peoples report. Which is what debt collectors want.

SimonSays

People loosing sleep over it? We have the dailymail reporting for here now.

datlex

pbs84 wrote: »

Have Erudio written to you at all or heard anything else official from SLC about your loans being sold? Wondering if they aren't bothinging contacting people with deferements that aren't due till later in the year yet?

I have a letter from them introducing themselves, saying what the original amounts were and what they are now with interest.


The letter is entitled "Notice of Assignment"


In next steps section it says: "Our records indicate you do not have a repayment plan in place. Please contact us using the details in the "Get in touch" box above. We have the expertise to help you to review your situation, tell you what your options are, and tailor a payment plan that you can afford"
I have not given my bank details to the SLC, I have been on a deferment through out due to income level meaning I was eligible for deferment. I'm reluctant to give them to a company such as "Eurido" especially given what they put about tailoring a payment plan and the fact they are partially owned by a debt collection agency. Their records should show I have a deferment in place. I am going to write them a letter of complaint - I should not be being asked to set up a payment plan when I am on a deferment and as such I feel this is a threatening letter.

Regarding credit agencies it says your account will be reported to credit agencies in accordance with the appropriate terms and conditions specified in your original credit agreement. Then in their fair processing notice they state: "We will give details of your personal account to CRAs..... if you defer payments in future" (another threat). The SLC did not report deferred accounts to CRAs so I would assume this was not part of the original credit agreement- give that this was taken out for myself in 1993 and 1994, I don't have a copy of this any more- I do know it used to be the case that these loans would expire after a certain time - I do wonder if that will no longer be the case too. Unfortunately I suspect there is little we can do other than put a notice of correction on the credit file stating the loan is deferred as legally when earn less than 80% of average earnings are entitled to defer it is not being deferred due to ability to pay.
I am in the fortunate position in some ways that whilst I have a loan to pay off, I do not need to apply for further credit at this time. I have the credit I need to use. I can imagine however this "false" reporting to the CRAs could cause some people a lot of problems.

ericctheking

I head some people have had money taken from their account even when deferred as erudio don't know who is and isn't deferred.
If you have no DD set up then nothing to worry about.

datlex

ericctheking wrote: »

I head some people have had money taken from their account even when deferred as erudio don't know who is and isn't deferred.
If you have no DD set up then nothing to worry about.

That is interesting and precisely the reason not to set up a DD for these. It is worrying that Eurido do not know who is deferred!

erudioed

i think everyone will be interested to know that there has been a shift in the force and that all the questions we have been asking on this very site virtually all appear now on Erudio's webpage in the FAQs.
Here are 2 bits about CRAs...notice how the 'may' once again does not provide a definitive answer as they well now:

Q. Are you going to pass details of my loan to credit reference agencies?

A. We may pass details of your loan to credit reference agencies where your account was opened before 1998 in accordance with the terms and conditions of the loan. Where your account was opened in or after 1998 then we may pass details of your loan to credit reference agencies where (i) your account is in arrears or (ii) your account is in default or (iii) you have agreed that we may do this.
Where your account is shared and is in deferral it will be treated in the same way as any other form of loan which is in a payment holiday and will not be treated as a default.

Q. Is this a change in my agreement, I didn’t think the Student Loans Company did this previously?

A. No, your agreement is not changing. The owner of the loans has always been permitted to use credit reference agencies (CRAs) for the purposes of data validation. The Student Loans Company has registered defaults with CRAs and the terms and conditions have always permitted the Student Loans Company to share data in the way detailed above. Erudio Student Loans will be processing and managing student loans on a system which will use and register the data in a manner which facilitates data validation and supports responsible lending and borrowing.



They even note who carval investors and arrow global are in all this but again decide not to mention their close relationship to The Wilmington Trust or Honours Student Loans...thats interesting to me.

Another thing that is interesting is that the only thing they seem to have given a slight inch on is the 'may' in reference to CRAs, and that is so non-committal it could be irrelevant. All who were told handwriting a form was ok by Erudio, the way their FAQs read, will be getting a mail asking for the deferment form.
So basically, they were right all along and they have been combing this site to best come up with additional FAQs to quell any kind of uprising and continual questioning of their call center staff. Basically, they have become uniform now and have all the answers we have been asking for. However, i am not happy with many of those answers, especially the additional info. The even say it is info handed out by SLC and that it is for identification/efficiency purposes. I thought loan numbers, DoB, and name should cover that. And it cant be for fraud purposes, who is going to commit a fraud on stealing my info...will they ring Erudio up and threaten to pay for me?

Bea77

My address for both SLC and Erudio has reverted to the student address I lived in at the time of my 98 (Sold) loan - anyone else had this?

I will be sending them copies of the SLC data today as my deferment expires on 14/5/14 and changed my address by phone last monday but no mail from them still!

Mephistopheles666

Paul Lewis is supposed to be discussing Erudio on the You and Yours programme, which is on Radio 4 at 12pm today.

He has just tweeted that he especially wants to hear from people who have already had payments wrongly taken by Erudio: https://twitter.com/paullewismoney