ERUDIO student loans help

Gingercat77

Hello this is my first post her at MSE and i am hoping someone can help me!

I took out student loans in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998. After graduation i defered every year successfully, up to and including this year. I filled all my forms in on time and provided evidence of my pay and got a letter back from Erudio saying my loans had been sucessfully defered til next November.
BUT!! The letter also said i am in arrears of £142.70 and must make this payment immediately. I am absolutely struggling to work out how i am in arrears and am really worried this will affect my credit rating as i have heard they pass this info on to credit reference agencies. They also only provide a premium rate number to call so if i want to query this it will be expensive. Can anone advise please? I am annoyed and angry at this company!

Thanks

fermi

Formal complaint in order.

- Dispute that any arrears exist or ever existed, and require them to provide you with details of how and when they claim they occurred.
- Dispute in writing and email - you need copies.
- State that if they falsely record arrears on your account with the CRAs you will be reporting them to the ICO.
- State that it's a formal complaint, and that unless resolved to your satisfaction you will be taking the complaint to the FOS.

Tommygunn

I've had a reply from an adjudicator at the FOS.
If someone would be so kind, could they quickly outline the points that we are not happy about.
Obviously, the main one is being denied deferral unless I sign up to their T&Cs and open ourselves up to credit checks on a wim. However, was this in the T&Cs of SLC but the fact they didn't utilise it acts as a precedent and, therefore, now, goes against the 'fair treatment' of myself as a loanee of Erudio?

The fact that I have to put my signature to a Direct Debit, is that also against my original agreement?

Anything else I can tell them as ammunition against Erudio?

Thanks,
Tom.

gardenia101

Gosh its quiet on here - does that mean all our Erudio problems have been sorted out? Thought not :rotfl:

I was lucky enough to finally get my annual statements for the last 2 years from Erudio today, after several times of asking. They are in large print, so a minor victory, but they are both just a list of transactions again in a table on one sheet of paper with none of the useful information that the rest of you, non visually impaired people get. So not actually statements in the accepted, financial sense then.

They are also going to resend the letter explaining about remediation that they sent on 31/08/15, but which I never got under separate cover. I guess it must be too difficult to print off all the information in one go. Can't wait to get it & see why my account is in remediation - anyone else had such a letter?

This is the first time I've seen a list of transactions from 09/14 to 08/15. They stopped charging me monthly interest in 03/14, then applied markedly different charges in 08/14 (with no explanation on the statement for 2014 that they first sent me), 09/14 & 10/14 then nothing - the last transaction shows a correct refund in 01/15 (when they finally agreed I should be deferred & refunded a payment I'd already made). Then the £10 I sent with my SAR was credited to my loan account. Nothing then from 31/01/15 onwards.

I'm baffled as to why these odd, irregular interest charges appear, especially after I've been told my account has been frozen due to this remediation process, even though they can't/wont say why my account is in remediation, but they agree I was never in arrears under the SLC.

What type of interest additions has everyone else been seeing on last year's statements?

Nemesis201077

I deferred my student loans every year, made occasional payments, but not regular monthly one.
Last year I had Erudio chasing me as I'd moved address and they hadn't heard back from me about deferment, but I'd also cancelled the DD. I completed the deferment forms and sent them back with evidence of income etc. The forms also included a completed DD mandate.
The next month I was then charged £168 DD by Erudio. I had received no communication to say my deferment was not successful, certainly nothing to indicate such a high monthly charge.
The debt's £5000, near enough. I really can't afford £168 a month, but either way shouldn't they have told me of their decision and the amount to repay monthly before setting up the DD?
I might cancel the DD from my end. I dare say they'll get in touch very quickly afterwards. But then I run the risk of defaulted payments damaging my credit rating.

gardenia101

Nemesis201077 wrote: »

I deferred my student loans every year, made occasional payments, but not regular monthly one.
Last year I had Erudio chasing me as I'd moved address and they hadn't heard back from me about deferment, but I'd also cancelled the DD. I completed the deferment forms and sent them back with evidence of income etc. The forms also included a completed DD mandate.
The next month I was then charged £168 DD by Erudio. I had received no communication to say my deferment was not successful, certainly nothing to indicate such a high monthly charge.
The debt's £5000, near enough. I really can't afford £168 a month, but either way shouldn't they have told me of their decision and the amount to repay monthly before setting up the DD?
I might cancel the DD from my end. I dare say they'll get in touch very quickly afterwards. But then I run the risk of defaulted payments damaging my credit rating.

Are you saying that you should have been deferred as your income was below the threshold, & Erudio have refused deferment even though you have provided them with income details?

Yes, you should have received communication from them about the outcome of your deferment application, whatever the outcome. Amazing how much correspondence from Erudio goes missing.

If not eligible, & you should be repaying then yes, I would expect to receive a direct debit schedule before the first payment was due. This document does exist as Erudio sent such a schedule to me (when I should have been deferred) containing all the d/d details; including the amount to be debited & the date of the first payment & the d/d guarantee. There was at least 7 days notice given to me of these details, so I had time to ask them what they were playing at. It was a mistake on their part.

If you aren't eligible for deferment then (IIRC - hoping someone else will confirm) I believe if you cancel your d/d you may in breach of the T&Cs of your loan & Erudio could call in the entire loan at any time.

gardenia101

FOS have finally got back to me - it has taken almost 9 weeks to confirm that my complaint is now closed, & I need to open a new complaint, asking why my last complaint still hasn't resulted in my receiving a proper statement. Its all getting a bit Monty Python :wall:

But of course before I can complain to FOS I need to put in yet another complaint to Erudio & wait for the 8 weeks.... Good job I'm deferred until 2017

Does anyone have a copy of their 2015 statement they'd be happy to post or PM to me please? I'll need to send a copy to FOS showing them all the additional information I haven't received yet again, & I'm very interested to read the change to disabled borrowers that was included on this statement, even if Erudio claim to have clarified the situation on their website.

erudioed

Just noted this FOI response to Anna's request for BIS to release the due diligence report. They have refused it again, suggesting that it was so robust it could even "be damaging to their (all purchasers/bidders) current and future commercial interests if released".
Here it is in full: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/293966/response/729171/attach/html/2/FOI2015%2020513%20Internal%20Review%20response.pdf.html

I wonder if they fully considered how many shell companies are involved in this whole process and how all the collected money will be flying outside of the UK, from Erudio itself, to the main sponsor of the purchase CVI GVF (Lux) Master Sàrl. After all, if they collect more money from ex-students than they gave the government to purchase the loans, surely that will actually result in a net loss for UK taxpayers. Most of the collected cash will be off out to CarVal investors, via CVI GVF (Lux) Master Sàrl's Luxembourg account i assume and off on its journey to end up individual investors dividend/interest payments outside the UK. Cash today for the government (and according to Andrew Mcgettigan it wasnt really cash, the payment was just used to lower an accounting figure) is more money flying out the country tomorrow!

erudioed

Also, another FOI reply by SLC concerning comments by SLC about the Erudio original DAF. Here are the rather disappointing changes suggested by SLC:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/294403/response/724904/attach/html/2/SLC%20comments%20on%20Erudio%20proposed%20DAF.pdf.html
and here is the FOI request as you may need to open other links:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/erudio_student_loans_and_dafs_2#incoming-724904

One point that stands out is: Page 2 - Section 1
Box 2 National Insurance Number - Do you have have permission from BIS to collect this information?
What is the purpose of collecting this information, as you have no link to HMRC for any verification
purpose.

Nemesis201077

The documentation I sent them showed I would qualify for deferment, I'd only been working part time and had been on low income for years running my own business.
I received no further communication from them, they just started taking money.
As it happens, shortly after sending in my deferment papers I landed a new full-time role where I am well thought of and subsequently would now not qualify for deferment.
However, I still have no information from them on how they've calculated a repayment schedule of £168pcm. That's a huge amount to suddenly have to find. I do have other outgoings that need to be paid each month too, like somewhere to live, power and food. I have no idea over what period they are looking to have the loan repaid, at that rate it's £5000 over 2 1/2 years.
I've recently moved to a property in South Wales which needs lots of work as I didn't have the money to buy somewhere plush. I'm trying to save money monthly and then pay for work to be done. These payments have stopped that, but then hey, who really needs working electric and hot water anyway?
I've been paying it as I'm worried what will happen if I cancel, but feel pretty aggrieved that nothing was agreed in terms of payment amounts.