ERUDIO student loans help

Rosskie

Zingara - tell the bank to refund you under the DD guarantee, Erudio have breached the terms. I imagine if you've been charged you could pursue compensation too.

Zingara

I've just spoken to them - the guy I spoke to didn't sound surprised at all that they had done it! I've told him I will be claiming the money back through the guarantee and that any charges I would expect Erudio to refund - quite how long I would have to wait for them to do that is anyone's guess! Kind of hoping my bank won't charge me as I never go overdrawn and it wasn't my fault - would be much easier if they don't charge me.

He also confirmed that I can cancel the DD without penalty.

The irony is, when I first spoke to him he asked me straight away if I was ringing for a deferment pack - so he knew I hadn't had the deferment pack and therefore shouldn't have had money taken!

Just an unnecessary hassle at the moment that I could do without!

SlCrewed-by-Erudio

Rosskie wrote: »

Guess its up to you, but if you sign it your giving them the permission they require to share your details as they see fit. If your loans are pre 98 they have this permission anyway so your situation will not change.

Only people with loans taken in 98 and onwards will sacrifice their rights by signing the form.

Its probably no big deal to give this right away either, as countless loans from 97 and earlier can be reported anyway, and no-one worried when taking out the loans initially.

BUT - if like me your loans are all 98 onwards, then they can't enforce a change of conditions. If your stubborn and dont like being pushed about, then you can stick to your guns.

Erudio want us to sign so they can give details to CRA's so that they'll get info back in return.

Thanks for the reply. Hmm, seems like I'm kinda already partially damned then, having taken out loans starting in '96 through to 2000.

Still, they're insisting that the only time the will register anything with CRA's is if I default - NOT if I defer. I await their promised letter confirming this...

erudioed

good luck, i was told exactly the same to await a letter confirming that about CRAs. After 2 additional calls over 3 weeks after i was told exactly the same, albeit with surprise i hadnt got the letter already... i continued to press the 2nd one and they eventually said that in the comments box on my file, underneath the agreement to send out a letter, and on that very 1st day i was told i would be sent a letter, someone had added the comment, cancel, dont send out letter, refer to complaints department. So good luck waiting, but i can guarantee you will not get that letter if it is a pre-1998 loan...but i hope you prove me wrong!

JeLaw

I haven't had a chance to check out these threads for a few days - and was hoping by the time I did return, there might be some good news..... wishful thinking of course!

Not good to see Erudio are still wrongly taking money from people... doesn't bode well for me when my deferment's up for renewal...

And I also would like confirmation from them regarding CRA reporting. I have one 97 loan (and one post 97 loan).

I keep meaning to write to them about this. Haven't had a chance yet but really think I need to get on with it.

erudioed

@ SlCrewed-by-Erudio:
I forgot to mention something rather important. One thing the ombudsman promised was if there is a dispute that they will investigate, that they can call for phone records and transcripts as evidence, which Capita will get in a deep financial hole if they cant produce. I personally would strongly recommend taking the time and date of your call(s) when you were told such things because you could use that if you use the Erudio complaints procedure and finally end up at the ombudsman.
In fact, i would reiterate for anyone with call centre/lying/misleading problems they will be taking to the Ombudsman to also note times and dates for the ombudsman to more easily request such communications...some may have itemised phone bills with Capita's call centre as evidence or to locate such times.

BaffledByErudio

OK. Not commented for a while. Been observing and listening. Sitting quietly (that's not to say I wasn't suffering the usual Erudio-prompted upset stomach).
I won't beat around the bush. Today I received written confirmation from Erudio that my '96 and '97 student loans have been deferred for a further 12-month period.
The letter I received was pretty much standard fare. Written in a similar style to previous correspondence from Student Loans Company.
It explained the loans would continue to accrue interest during the deferral period, as was always the case. It also suggested ways to start paying back the loan should I become able/eligible to pay in the next year (can't remember if SLC used to suggest this. Probably did. It would make sense).
But, as always, there's a grain of sand stuck between my toes! It's never bleedin' well over with this carry on is it? And, as it's pretty much new territory for all of us, I think the next 12 months can only be a vacuum to suck out the fluff that's blocking Erudio's filters!
Here's what I did. Last November, a colleague of mine happened to read a Daily Mail article which mentioned loans from my university years had been sold to a private firm.
Being quite a rational individual, I thought 'hmmm, yes, I knew HMGov had intended to do this at some point', so didn't give it a second thought because I earn less than £18,000 per year. There have been jobs I've had when I've gone into the £22k+ arena, and I've always acknowledged my commitment to that loan and realised that one day I'd have a legal obligation to repay. But, even with overtime, I've always been below the threshold. (Now well below the threshold, because the job I have now is one I have held since 2011, which I took following a rocky redundancy process).
To continue, when I got the SLC/Erudio handover letter, I was a little naive and merely read the letter. 'Conditions won't change...deferral is the same...etc etc.
Fine. I'm doing beggar all wrong. Always update info and send off the payslips. You see, like the majority on this form, I'm honest. I do actually know of alumni from my course, who, back in the day, basically said they never had any intention of paying back a student loan! Idiots.
Anyway, I have to be honest, when I received the statements of loan and application to defer pack, I did switch to defense mode!
Suddenly, a process that was as simple as sending your three most recent payslips, along with a signature, became different.
Back in March, I received the form. I was quite willingly filling in every section, then gradually thinking 'why do you need that? after each question. Then when I read the FPN section, I immediately detected a change of tone. It's not the 'we'll inform CRAs' caveat that grates with me. [Seemingly Erudio is allowed to report deferred loans pre-98], but the general 'threatening' tone of the whole form.
I actually don't know why it wound me up so much. I earn way below the threshold. But I do know people on zero-hours contracts finding it difficult to prove their wage. And a friend of mine who is genuinely slack on these things (she earns !!!!!! all really) was asking her family if they could lend her three grand.
Purely because she didn't want to be at the hands of a debt collector.
Anyway, back to my own farting about....
I sent my deferment form way back in mid April (could have been drop-posted by a pterodactyl in the Jurassic period - the way my mind is working now, and replies would have been faster!)
Over the past few weeks, my more-than understanding boss has allowed me longer lunch breaks, time to write letters, time to take calls.
I had to take a trip to Spain at one point and (I'm not exaggerating) I constantly looked for a wi-fi signal to check my bank balance while I was there. I was in SLC-imposed deferment during that time and having the ESL Ltd DD hovering over my account was a worry. Like all of us, having that seemingly extinct/dormant volcano of non-cash ready to spunk straight into Arrow's pocket at any moment is a jack-in-a-box with a wandering hand.
All the time, I was in a period of deferment agreed by SLC.
But all the time, worrying about my very limited cash being further depleted by a seemingly compulsory Direct Debit mandate. Whether the date of first payment was May 22, 2014, or April, 1994, it surely wouldn't seem to matter to Erudio? After all they'd mistakenly taken cash from 50, and then 500 accounts.
During all this I was waiting on the process of my deferment.
I posted the original deferment form, but blacked out the parts I didn't agree to, as they didn't appear in any agreement I'd read in any stage of the loan. I also asked for a copy of my original loan agreement.
I DID sign the fair processing notice but blacked out all the CRA stuff and included a covering letter asking why I had to answer certain questions and why I hadn't answered others.
I was sort of generous to Erudio, in that I gave them multiple addresses to contact me and all my numbers.
Anyway, think 'Erudio'...... and straight away, we're off on another tangent...............
...........here's another tangent............
.......the 15 or so phonecalls I had with them...........
I've recorded most of them.

Martin, Michael, Mohammed, do they all start with 'M'?
There is another laugh-a-minute convo I had with a guy (it's taped on my Kindle).
Now I'm not knocking ANY of these people. ANY of them. They are staff of Capita. But they are obviously fed confused info.
So, back (I go off tangent) to the bloody subject in hand...

Now we're at the call centre stage.
I'd been worried about stray cash sliding out of my meager little account. I was told multiple times by Erudio to cancel my DD. I never did that. Because their correspondence always said that to do so would breach my agreement.
This went on and on. Eventually, an agent said she'd cancel the agreement (Emma I think was her name). She didn't cancel it, so I did.
Then I receive an official written Erudio letter that says I can legally defer and have no obligation to have a direct debit in place.

When I finally receive written confirmation that my loan is deferred until May 2015, it says that I am breaching the loan agreement by not having a Direct Debit in place.

Has Jeremy Beadle risen from the grave?

BaffledByErudio

I'm deferred. But it would be interesting to know what's gone on my credit report. And I'm even semi-tempted to set up a £00.00 DD again in payment to ESL. That's what they had in place until they said I didn't need it to be in place, until they sent me a letter which said I have no obligation to pay anything for a year, but still have a legal obligation to have a DD for £00.00 in place. All for a 'financial; company that seemingly has a place in a lot of bank accounts!

erudioed

Hey, congrats!!! Did you lodge an official complaint with Capita, and will you consider going to the Ombudsman and illuminate them on the stronger of your problems/concerns/treatment? If you have recorded evidence about misinformation or conflicting info that meant many phone calls, you could factor that in to time spent dealing with them. It iused to be £10 an hour for time spent caused by a problem that was not your creation.With phone evidence, you must have strong evidence of their about turns and difficulty reading basic info from your Erudio file. As you say, when they get it all down next year, if they dont get punished right now, we can expect the same, with new changes as they up the auntie!

anna2007

BaffledByErudio wrote: »

I'm deferred. But it would be interesting to know what's gone on my credit report. And I'm even semi-tempted to set up a £00.00 DD again in payment to ESL. That's what they had in place until they said I didn't need it to be in place, until they sent me a letter which said I have no obligation to pay anything for a year, but still have a legal obligation to have a DD for £00.00 in place. All for a 'financial; company that seemingly has a place in a lot of bank accounts!

If you sign up to Noddle, you can check your credit report free for life, more info here (halfway down page, under Check your credit files):


http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/credit-rating-credit-score


I've told Erudio I don't consent to the FPN, so will be keeping a close eye on my credit report (IMO they still require DPA consent to disclose deferred loans, and why else would they sneak the consent into the deferment application?).


Re the DD, I wouldn't be surprised if Erudio tried to withdraw their deferment approval if the DD's no longer in place (if not that, then use it against you if and when the time comes to cancel the loans). Might be better to keep the DD for now and challenge the requirement for one through the FOS and FCA? That way, they can't touch your deferment status or claim you've broken the agreement... think that's how I'm going to play it when the time comes