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ERUDIO student loans help

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  • The latest ratings agency downgrade of the Honours plc Series 2 securitised notes, as a result of 'remediation':

    https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-downgrades-Classes-B-C-and-D-notes-of-Honours--PR_361902

    The Honours loans apparently have 'remediation' issues, rather like the Erudio loans. They also share the letterbox at King's Arms Yard, and directors in Mark Filer and Wilmington Trust SP Services.

    The 31 October 2016 notice to note holders referred to is here:

    http://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/honours-a1frn29-BM19/share-news/Honours-PLC-Notice-to-Noteholders/72789183
  • On Monday the current Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation Jo Johnson announced the start of the process to sell Income Contingent Repayment loans:

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2017-02-06/HCWS458/

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-first-sale-from-the-student-loan-book

    Here are Andrew McGettigan's comments:

    https://andrewmcgettigan.org

    The Financial Times and The Economist don't think much of the plan:

    https://www.ft.com/content/ab80561e-edfc-11e6-930f-061b01e23655

    http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21716635-it-unlikely-get-good-deal-british-government-plans-sell-part-student
  • Interesting. It also shows that around 15% of Honours plc securitised notes have a 'junk' (ie non-investment grade) rating.

    Given the dire state of the documentation Erudio has been sending, I'll warrant that Erudio has a lot more to do in terms of remediation of loan interest.
    The latest ratings agency downgrade of the Honours plc Series 2 securitised notes, as a result of 'remediation':

    https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-downgrades-Classes-B-C-and-D-notes-of-Honours--PR_361902

    The Honours loans apparently have 'remediation' issues, rather like the Erudio loans. They also share the letterbox at King's Arms Yard, and directors in Mark Filer and Wilmington Trust SP Services.

    The 31 October 2016 notice to note holders referred to is here:

    http://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/honours-a1frn29-BM19/share-news/Honours-PLC-Notice-to-Noteholders/72789183
  • If you had Erudio splitting your loans into two separate accounts following the transfer from SLC (thus sending your two annual statements, DAFs etc), the Financial Ombudsman Service will uphold your complaint. I had the final ruling from the Ombudsman last week.

    Throughout the complaint, Erudio claimed it was SLC who had split the loans into two, and that SLC had confirmed that in writing. The FOS investigation showed that to be completely false.

    Erudio have said their systems won't allow them to comply with the decision. But the FOS have said in that instance they'll just have to process all correspondence manually. They also awarded me £150 in compensation.

    I'm very pleased with the FOS just now.
  • anna2007
    anna2007 Posts: 1,182 Forumite
    edited 12 February 2017 at 1:54AM
    Were these loans not sold to us as a regulated product though?
    It's really not clear how our loans are 'regulated'. When we first signed up, the agreement stated it was regulated by the CCA. The 1998 student loan Regs then replaced the key terms of the agreements (including deferment and cancellation). My take on that is it seems likely FOS has no right to rule on those key terms, in which case it would be the 'independent assessor' referred to in the original Student Loans Act. We'd still have the right to complain to FOS about the other terms not covered in the 1998 Regs, or crap customer service, etc (but only against a regulated firm - so Arrow Global, not Erudio). The Government gave assurances that borrowers' rights were protected via the UK's "robust regulatory framework", but the reality is that it's impossible to know for sure what redress we actually have (or even which company we should be complaining against) under their decidedly dodgy framework.

    Erudio's no longer regulated, thanks to its SPV status. The SLC was also made exempt from FCA regulation in 2015, in relation to MS loans. There's a shed-load of "potentially statute-barred debt" (according to the sale & purchase agreement), which can only have statute-barred status if it's a debt under a consumer credit agreement. It seems obvious to me that these exemptions from FCA regulation are by design, to try and collect on the 'potentially statute-barred' debt?
  • anna2007
    anna2007 Posts: 1,182 Forumite
    On Monday the current Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation Jo Johnson announced the start of the process to sell Income Contingent Repayment loans:

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2017-02-06/HCWS458/

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-first-sale-from-the-student-loan-book

    Here are Andrew McGettigan's comments:

    https://andrewmcgettigan.org

    The Financial Times and The Economist don't think much of the plan:

    https://www.ft.com/content/ab80561e-edfc-11e6-930f-061b01e23655

    http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21716635-it-unlikely-get-good-deal-british-government-plans-sell-part-student
    I thought this article was better than most at highlighting the risks of where we're headed with further student loan sales. Erudio gets special mention - that sale's really the benchmark, which should be enough to deter any Government from making the same mistake, but clearly they're motivated by something other than common sense.

    http://mancunion.com/2017/02/10/student-loans-sale-move-towards-privatisation/

    The bits that jumped out:

    "New conditions, however, do not entitle education to the proceeds, despite cutting university funding by £4 billion in 2015/16 to £3.7 billion in 2016/17"... one of the original justifications for selling was to fund lifting the cap on student numbers.

    "Many fear the marketisation of the industry could enable private companies to use education as a profitable business in order to meet the original face value of the loans"... in a nutshell.

    "These concerns follow the sale of the pre-1998 student to Erudio in 2013 which left many bewildered by administrative errors"... "bewildered" doesn't even touch it.

    "Chief Secretary to the Treasurer David Gauke said: “This sale makes sense for taxpayers and will play an important contribution in our work to repair the public finances.”" Which planet does David live on?

    "The Education Officer of The University of Manchester’s Students’ Union, Emma Atkins, stated it was a “moral issue” that “money that could have contributed to public services is now going to line the pockets of the private sector”". In another nutshell.
  • The Conservative Governments don't like public ownership, they never have. From the council houses, to the rail networks, to the gas, Royal Mail etc, they don't like owning it and they've sold each of these off for pennies to private companies who've made millions from charging people more than they need to for essential things. Like the rest of the list, the Student Loans weren't economically viable for them due to the low wage jobs that many graduates end up in, so they've sold them off so they don't have to bother sending out forms or keeping track of people. £0.055p per £1, that's what the loans were sold for. A lot of the pre 1998 loans will be statute barred, so if Erudio get small percentage of people to clear their loan (even if they don't need to), they will be making a profit. This wasn't about putting the money back into the coffers, this was about the Conservatives giving a big company some revenue, which is what they've done with other services time and time again.
  • erudioed
    erudioed Posts: 682 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    I agree, but dont forget, the uncomfortable truth is that it was Labour that started the student loan sales. Lets hope Labour today can rid itself of all its neo-liberals, cause if not, it will remain indistinguishable from the conservatives or the Liberal Democretins. At least its leader is not one anymore, but look what its cost him, i.e. most negative news coverage and little chance of actually winning an election as of today.
  • Labour did a massive injustice to students by charging fees. These are politicians who've benefited from a free university education, no fees and a bursary that they didn't have to repay. They pushed for a larger amount of students going to University, meaning Universities created stupid degrees to cater for them. They should have limited the places for those who were academic, and encouraged those who are more vocational into other trades which didn't require a degree. Golf course studies, anyone??
  • anna2007 wrote: »
    It's really not clear how our loans are 'regulated'. When we first signed up, the agreement stated it was regulated by the CCA. The 1998 student loan Regs then replaced the key terms of the agreements (including deferment and cancellation). My take on that is it seems likely FOS has no right to rule on those key terms, in which case it would be the 'independent assessor' referred to in the original Student Loans Act.

    It seems obvious to me that these exemptions from FCA regulation are by design, to try and collect on the 'potentially statute-barred' debt?

    But if we signed contracts saying that our loans are regulated by the CCA, then how can said contracts be unregulated later?

    Surely we were mis-sold if that's the case?
    "Love you Dave Brooker! x"

    "i sent a letter headded sales of god act 1979"
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