ERUDIO student loans help

Voyager2002

Hi,

I am advising a friend, so details are a little sketchy. She has a loan in deferral held by ERUDIO, and has never earned enough to have to repay anything. Despite this, she found ERUDIO were taking money from her bank account: after enormous stress and anxiety she complained to the FOS and all the money taken was refunded. Now she is concerned that it might all start again after April 5...

She does not recall setting up a direct debit, but I said that since money was taken from her bank account she must have done so, presumably by signing a complicated deferral form. I have advised her to check with her bank whether a DD mandate is still in force, and if so, to cancel it.

My question: if she cancels the DD will she in any respect make things worse for herself. Remember, this is someone who is not supposed to be making any repayments and there is a history of ERUDIO taking money to which they were not entitled (causing bank charges and other problems, which she would rather not experience again).

Thanks to all you experts if you can shed light.

Brooker_Dave

Voyager2002 wrote: »

My question: if she cancels the DD will she in any respect make things worse for herself. Remember, this is someone who is not supposed to be making any repayments and there is a history of ERUDIO taking money to which they were not entitled (causing bank charges and other problems, which she would rather not experience again).

Thanks to all you experts if you can shed light.

One of Eurdios favorite lies is that a DD is essential and without it's a breach of the agreement, this is of course a lie and your friend is best off cancelling the DD with the bank.

Eurdio have a bit of form helping themselves to people's bank accounts:

"Erudio has today confirmed to MoneySavingExpert.com that just over 500 former students had direct debits incorrectly taken. At the time of writing it said only 50 people were hit by the mistake."

Generally speaking taking other peoples money is considered theft, perhaps one or two "mistakes" could be explained away, but 500?

zombi

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Hi,

I am advising a friend, so details are a little sketchy. She has a loan in deferral held by ERUDIO, and has never earned enough to have to repay anything. Despite this, she found ERUDIO were taking money from her bank account: after enormous stress and anxiety she complained to the FOS and all the money taken was refunded. Now she is concerned that it might all start again after April 5...

She does not recall setting up a direct debit, but I said that since money was taken from her bank account she must have done so, presumably by signing a complicated deferral form. I have advised her to check with her bank whether a DD mandate is still in force, and if so, to cancel it.

My question: if she cancels the DD will she in any respect make things worse for herself. Remember, this is someone who is not supposed to be making any repayments and there is a history of ERUDIO taking money to which they were not entitled (causing bank charges and other problems, which she would rather not experience again).

Thanks to all you experts if you can shed light.

Exactly the same happened to me, even though I have been in deferal since I graduated (2000).


I never set up a DD with Erudio itself, but when the loans were sold by SLC I assume they passed on all the DD details that we would have set up on making the initial loan agreement all those years ago. The bank advised me to cancel the DD so that they couldn't take any more money. And although Erudio have recently sent me a letter saying that I'm in breach of agreement because I don't have a DD setup any more, if you look on their website it clearly states that you don't need one (I've screen-grabbed this for future reference, just in case....)

Voyager2002

Thank you: I shall pass this on.

rizla_king

Cancelling the DD is the wisest thing you can do with this bunch of thieves.

Jonez

One thing I've never understood, is how taking money from accounts where they have no right to do so, lying to people in an attempt to obtain payments (e.g. - your loans must be paid off by the time you reach 50) and the like do not constitute attempted or actual fraud - i.e. a criminal act? Has anyone ever looked into this?

Brooker_Dave

"Offence: Obtaining property by deception - general Legislation: S15 Theft Act 1968

Statutory Limitations & Maximum Penalty: 10 years
Culpability & Harm

• Substantial amounts involved
• Relatively substantial loss sustained
• Planning
• Professionalism
• Entirely fraudelent enterprise
• Target vulnerable victims
• Motivated by greed or desire to live beyond his or her means"

JeLaw

BaffledByErudio wrote: »

Haven't been on here in a couple of weeks, so feel a bit out of the loop.
Didn't know about Anthony Reeves disappearing from the forum thread, but I did recall him saying he had a case regarding Erudio on March 6th.
What a marvelous state of affairs. An unexpected debt disaster making me want to spool forward to the age of 50!

Same here. Also not checked this thread out for a week or so, and it seems I've missed some developments. Developments that I'm already angry about....!

I've tried to quickly skim through the posts since I last checked this thread. And it seems Erudio are still threatening to ruin our credit files/rating. With inaccurate/false information! A deferred student loan is NOT a payment holiday. Sorry for the capitalisation but I'm so furious!

Surely this is mis-selling? We were never warned that taking out a student loan would put our credit rating at risk. In fact quite the opposite - we were assured that this would not be the case.

Also, I guess I'm being thick and/or have missed something in this thread - but I don't understand the 1998/97 regulations set-up. I keep seeing reference to the fact that the 1998 regulations revoked the 1997 ones. So how can Erudio rely on the extremely ambivalent (unclear and confusing - hence mis-selling) 1997 clause re. CRA reporting?

I'm another one here who never thought I'd look forward (sort of) to reaching 50!

Jonez

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

"Offence: Obtaining property by deception - general Legislation: S15 Theft Act 1968

Statutory Limitations & Maximum Penalty: 10 years
Culpability & Harm

• Substantial amounts involved
• Relatively substantial loss sustained
• Planning
• Professionalism
• Entirely fraudelent enterprise
• Target vulnerable victims
• Motivated by greed or desire to live beyond his or her means"

Not sure if this mob qualify or not under these criteria. But surely some of their antics could result in their obtaining money by deception. For example, someone here reported that they had been informed by ESL that they must make arrangements to repay in full before the loans 'mature' (assume that means under the 25 year or age rule). Had that person simply coughed up the money, despite not being required to under the legislation, would that be merely a civil matter? Just interested really.

Rumple

Hi everyone,

First time poster here and just joined after reading many of the comments - though haven't had the time to go through all 180 pages yet!). Would love some advice on the following:

Last year my loans were still with the SLC, but this year I have (unfortunately) been dealing with Erudio. I have deferred my loans since I left uni as I have never made enough to be required to pay them back.

My deferment period started on 14th Dec 2014, but Erudio didn't send me a DAF or any notice of this. By the way I live abroad and the letters are sent to my parents home. I contacted them on 18th March and they informed me they would send out a DAF.

I received the form and was all due to sign and send back as I had previosly done with the SLC, but (obviously) didn't agree with the extra information they requested. That's when I did a little reseach and stumbled on this forum.

During the telephone conversation with Erudio they informed me that I was over £500 in arrears. After a conversation about this (and the guy on the phone speaking to his manager) I was then told that these arrears would be cleared immediately as long as I was able to prove I could defer.

When I received the forms I noticed they were the old form and not the new ones that state the option of setting up a DD.

I decided to play them at their own game and called them back today to tell them I still hadn't received the forms, but that I knew they had a new version of the DAF and could they send that. They told me that they only send the new forms out after 24th January 2015 and therefore wouldn't send the old forms! Complete lies of course, as I was then told my forms had been sent out on the 28th February. I was also informed that my account was in arrears by over £500 still and nothing was on the system about the last conversation I had with them regarding this - though this could be the case until I prove I have the right to defer.

Anyway, I'm still very confused about all of this and have a few questions that hopefully someone can answer:

Should I sign and send the new forms when they arrive? Has anyone not sent their forms or used a different way to defer - one that Erudio have actually accepted as a legitimate way to defer?

I'm a little confused by the 'split loans' thing. My first loan was in 1997, but the others were from 1999 onwards. What is the deal with the split loan situation?

What happens if I send the forms but without giving all the information - ie just giving what was required by the SLC in my original agreement with them? Does anyone have any real world experience of this?

I am a contract worker and at the moment I am between contracts. I don't get paid until I have completed each contract. Even then, I get paid the whole amount in one go. I don't get paid monthly. That said, I still come way, way under the threshold of having to pay back my loans. I really don't want to give Erudio my bank details where I get paid. I don't have a P60 form. What's the best way to give them proof of earnings? How many months proof do I need to provide?

At the moment I am back with my parents as I am studying a masters part-time (paid for by myself and without any more loans!!!) I am being supported by my parents at the moment until my next contract starts in June. Should I just have my parents provide a letter stating this? I don't want Erudio in touch with the company I do contract work for, or to have my new bank account details.

I realise this is a lot but I'm very confused about this and would love some advice if possible. If I can find a way to not have to fill out and sign that ridiculous form, yet still have my loan deferred, the that would be the best situation. I see a lot of conflicting reports on on the net regarding this though!

Thank you all for the wonderful advice and sharing your stories of dealing with these vultures!