ERUDIO student loans help

erudioed

@FuriousFeline I agree, as many people as possible have to mail those people and let them know.

I also have it from the Ombudsman just now that if enough people complain/contact FCA (on twatter: @FCA) then they might open an investigation.

Ive tweeted those people and MSE you mention, and Paul Lewis but no bites yet. MSE are usually good at contacting Erudio and exerting some kind of media/outside pressure but it will only happen if enough people contact them. I feel this is the only way right now to get erudio to speed up or acknowledge the issue. As far as they are concerned, if it doesnt get publicity, they can get away with this kind of stuff if no outside force is pressuring them.

erudioed

FuriousFeline said:

Further to my post above, you might be interested in this article, from today's Guardian:  https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/10/increasing-student-loan-repayments-would-save-government-4bn-a-year

I saw that one earlier...one can only guess the amount of unforseen sh*t recent and current students are going to have to go through for about 30 years of their life after graduating. And then there is the issue of if there loans will be sold off...we have always been the most vocal canary in the coal mine on that front.

FuriousFeline

@erudioed @heartbroken  It looks like we were correct in our suspicions about Erudio.  I have just received a letter claiming that my deferment forms have not been received, along with threats of arrears and possible account termination.  This is despite me having emailed them a few weeks ago in response to their previous claim of forms not received, in which I said I would email them scanned deferment documents.  As you already know, they did not reply to that email or a complaint I made by email about their lack of communication.  In addition to the letter just received persisting in claiming they have not received my forms, I also received a general letter at the weekend claiming they are sorry I am not happy with their 'service', blaming covid19 for recent delays, and stating I can make a complaint if I wish.  I find this bizarre, as they seem to be acknowledging I have made a complaint of some kind, but have still not addressed that and seem to be inviting me to make another one.  I have now emailed them my deferment documents which, as already mentioned, I would have immediately done back in May if they had replied.  

erudioed

They really are pathetic. I would officially state you would like to open up a complaint again via email. In the past i have heard people have kind of made a complaint but erudio take that as being unhappy, then they ask if you would like to make an official complaint (usually a month down the road with reply/communication times taken into consideration). I know this has put people off actually making an official complaint. At least via email you have an email from them saying they have received your email, so you will have evidence of contact. This may even speed things up.

Ive had other stories come through as well this morning of the same kind of sh#t.

FuriousFeline

@erudioed  Erudio are really trying it on this year. I received a letter from them today which was finally acknowledging they had received my deferment application form.  However, the letter claimed they couldn't process the DAF due to a lack of info regarding 3rd party support or maintenance.  I already sent them a letter and a month's bank statement showing those things when I posted the original form- just in case they hadn't received it, I also sent them all those things by email a week ago.  After I had sent Erudio an email this morning, I then noticed that a member of the deferments staff had sent me the following email:

We can confirm receipt of your application and evidence, however, we kindly ask that you provide a copy of your most recent one-month bank statement visibly showing your name and all incoming credits.

 

We kindly request that you submit this at your earliest convenience, however, please be aware that your application for deferment was made incomplete on 16th June 2021 therefore, if sufficient evidence is not received within 60 days of this date, then your deferment will auto expire and therefore be rejected.

I have already sent them this both by post and by email and don't see why I should send them yet another month's bank statement. When Erudio first took over the loans back in 2014, I didn't have to provide a bank statement at all.  Last year, they were quibbling about every piddling bit of incoming money on my statement, although it is obvious I am well below the threshold. So, can Erudio really demand we account for small payments that might be from selling the occasional item online or gifts for birthdays etc?!  I really think now that Erudio staff are under instructions by Arrow Global to try to force everyone to pay regardless of their means to afford it.

Btw two years ago Erudio tried to pull the trick of claiming that my DAF had been sent to them unsigned, which I knew it hadn't, as I had kept a scanned copy.  I told them this, then that year's DAF was processed, but there was no apology about their outright attempt at lying.

erudioed

That sounds about right. They do seem to be employing these pointless delaying tactics more this year. As long as you have the paper/contact trail to hand, you will eventually win whatever complaint you have filed. Someone on twatter said as soon as they filed a complaint recently, miraculously, they seemed to get attention and were deferred quickly.

I am not sure about all the rules and regs but you only need a bank statement if your third party supporting evidence involves a bank account. As well as the usual suspicions of them getting more ruthless as our loans start to expire, which you fully outline, this year it does seem they are very short staffed...not that that is our problem. It could also be cleared up very quickly by an announcement on their website and them stating deferment deadlines will be rolled back a month or two like they were last year i think.
I was told by an experienced and knowledgeable member of this site, fermi, when we started dealing with Arrow Global that Arrow Global only concede defeat or apologise when they are fully backed into a corner, which is why i keep hammering on about making official complaints...its the only part of the process where they have to engage with your actual issue with them if they are trying to manipulate you in their favour. It just comes across to me over the years that they are trying to grind us down, which they can do rather easily, considering how stressful it has become trying to defer when you know those with all the lawyers are playing you in a a game of cat and mouse you didnt agree to take part in. In my experience, when they start playing these games (which is employing their strategy to them i assume), they only hear you when you cause them a financial hit, which is primarily through filing an official complaint, but can also be through frequent contacts and mails with the few staff Capquest have assigned to this portfolio (which can never be judged to be bullying/stalking if they are not replying to you in a time sensitive arena). If you have already filed an official complaint, and if it is on another issue, i would file another one for this concerning that they are paying no attention to your emails and when they do contact you, their answers avoid the problems you are addressing, etc. To them its just a game, and although its sh!tty and serious to us, i can see no approach other than complaining officially if its obvious they are not treating you fairly or asking for things you know they dont need to see cause you know the official student loan deferment regulations as well as they do. The flip side is, after you do start using this drawn out process in your favour, if you have all the evidence and understand the deferment regs, you will not lose out bankwise. However, if they answer your complaint by apologising and saying you are deferred, if they dont offer you compensation for all the time and stress caused by their processing of your account, you should go to the ombudsman requesting compensation for not being treated fairly. This is the only time Arrow Global will take a financial hit for their horrible tactics. If they are not made to pay compensation because we begrudgingly accept their apology and deferment, Arrow Global win and their is no paper trail of their bullying and mean tactics, let alone, their total and compulsive abuse of process.

heartbroken

Yes I had to send in bank statements but made sure that every outgoing amount was obscured - they only need to see incoming amounts. This was accepted.

As an aside - this was the most surprising thing about my recent deferral - they basically admitted they don't check every application for deferment.

"We would like make you aware that our system has the ability to randomly select deferment applications, dependent on level of income, without the need to check the evidence supplied. This would be an auto acceptance. We confirm that your applications for 2018, 2019, and 2020 were auto accepted, and therefore any evidence you provided at that time was accepted without being checked.

 On this occasion your application is being processed manually and the evidence is not sufficient for our purposes."

!!

FuriousFeline

That's very surprising. I have never been auto accepted, although I am well below the threshold for repayments and there is no way that I can pay them if they do not defer my loan.  Did they not give you an explanation as to why you are being scrutinised this year when you weren't for the previous three? I have still not received confirmation from them regarding whether or not they have a bank statement from me, so I am not sure what they mean by 'most recent.'  They certainly should have it in electronic form, even if they are going to pretend they did not receive it by post.  As far as I understand it, 'most recent' should only be the most recent bank statement that was sent to them at the time of me signing and dating my deferment form. As the delay in processing (which should have occurred in May) is their fault, surely it would be nonsense for them to expect any statements that have been issued post me completing my DAF.

Tommygunn

Hello all,

Long time since I posted here but something has come to my attention.

Has there been a delay over the past year in sending out deferment form letters? The reason I ask is that I just checked my sent documents from last year and I signed, dated and emailed them on the 14th July, 2020. Since I'm not far off that date I was wondering if there are some shenanigans going on with sending out of deferment forms?

Cheers,

Tom

Tommygunn

Also, my last pre 98 loan was for the period 1996-1997 so does that, and the previous two years, get written off next year (2022), 25 years?

Tom.