ERUDIO student loans help

Beezmouse

I'm panicking about deferment now. Has anyone successfully managed to get a their loan deferred from this debt collection agency. Really worried about it. Also I dont want to use their forms, they want far more details than they need and its none of their business my home status. Someone earlier on this thread posted a master letter that could be used in place of their "official" forms.. has anyone managed to use this successfully?
I guess we're all in the same boat with this company but im really worried about it. I cant afford to pay my loan back although I did pay for over a year when I didn't need to.

Any input greatly appreciated.
Thanks

ericctheking

I wonder how much money they have already made from all the phone calls to them!
It is probably best to take the attitude of under the threshold then refuse to pay a penny, and not care what they say.

rizla_king

Mephistopheles666 wrote: »

Strictly speaking if you don't provide Erudio with current bank details you would be in breach, but they wouldn't know about it unless they tried to debit money from the account and couldn't get it. Of course if you're not earning enough to pay back the loan and are entitled to defer, they shouldn't even be trying to debit the account in the first place.

They will do what SLC used to do which is set up the DD mandate but not take payments under it until they are meant to. So they will know whether your bank details are valid from that.

ericctheking

I still think the need for the direct debit when deferred is open to interpretation. I don't think not having one is sufficient grounds to find someone in breach of agreement but anyway.
How about setting up a special account with no overdraft facility and a token amount of 1pound. That way they won't be able to get their hands on your money (which you need for living as you are under the threshold and not a high roller) when you are sure and have proof you are under the threshold. If you know you have gone over and it is time to pay you can only then transfer money into the account???

Jill18

This has got me really worried and annoyed. I received my deferment forms 2 weeks ago but haven't decided what to do as yet. I am tempted to just send the letter suggested along with payslips as I do not want to sign anything to say that they can put the loan on my credit file. I have worked hard over the last few years to improve my credit file and even though it would only say the loan was deferred I do think this would be detrimental. As Martin stated in his blog about the sell off, it was promised there would be no detrimental changes and he also said that if there were he would be campaigning against them. I really hope he does or at least gives us all some advice as to how to handle this. I am waiting until as late as possible to send off the form/letter so I can get as much info as possible first.

Mephistopheles666

I wonder how Erudio would react if they were threatened with being reported to the Financial Conduct Authority? How Erudio is currently behaving seems to fit in with the FCA's definition of unfair contract terms. I want to post a link on here to the relevant page on the FCA's website but MSE won't let me because I am new grrrrrrrrrrr. If you can find the FCA's homepage yourself, the rest of the address of the page I am referring to is as follows:

/consumers/protect-yourself/unfair-contracts

erudioed

M'666: i refer you to my post #68 above, i tried the FCA and they said they dont deal with this and to contact the student loans company...the guy there said they certainly seem to have breached the original terms and conditions. He gave me the only email address he had been given to complain to outside of erudio's own procedure that then involves the ombudsman. The mail address is in the post above and suggest everyone start there, and also concurrently start a complaint with erudio.
We have to be very careful about not breaching our agreement right now because i get a sense (although early days) that they are going to be mercenary in what they are legally allowed to do. If we mess up once, they will sight us for a breech...and then they can unleash hell, such as immediately demand full payment, probably in the same reply that they would inform us our deferments have not been authorised. They will then be on much more familiar territory as a debt collector with CCJs and all that stuff coming in to play. If their plan is to turn a deferer into a defaulter, i feel that they could do that very easily, just by not allowing them to set up a direct debit for example, or refusing to sign up to the CRA part (pre1998 loans they say will automatically be passed on to CRAs and 1998 ones being the ones that need permission) by refusing to sign the deferment application. Maybe our pre1998 loans are already on the CRA's sites...maybe our original agreements allowed this i dont know cause i dont have it. The fact that they distinguish in the original welcome packs between pre- and post-1998 CRA information suggests they may have the right to do this. i just dont know. I am mailing the Department of Business Innovation and Skills complaints department email that i list above in the next day or so to seek answers. But we all have to for all our complaints, what ever they are.
But we all need to make sure we do not default and allow them to turn legitimate deferers into defaulters. As soon as that has happened, we could be in deep do-do...and very quickly, like this month if they send out deferment answers.
We can buy time by logging a complaint with erudio and making sure the deferment deadline is extended beyond the 8 weeks they take to respond to a complaint. Hopefully that will give the Dept of B, I & S complaints a time to be assessed...if we all make them. Because after the first default, all terms and conditions no longer apply, and from what i understand, loans will never be written off. By getting us to default, it extends the time they have to collect our full loans, guaranteeing that we will have the debts until death. Maybe this is why erudio told me they are not accepting short settlements for deferers, they must think they can open up the pool of deferers who are currently deferring by getting them to settle in full over the course of our lifetimes. It also implicitly suggests that they think most deferers are illegitimate if they wont accept short settlements, as most or us only have 10 years or less of deferment before it is written off. It seems crazy business sense to not accept part payment for something when most of us wont earn the threshold amount to start repaying, so they must have a plan, and my fear is this turning deferers into defaulters and trapping us!

rizla_king

Yesterday the FCA had nothing to do with Erudio. Today they have become Erudio's regulator and you can complain to the FCA about them.

Mephistopheles666

It seems strange that the FCA wants nothing to do with it, though. They came to mind this morning because there have been items on BBC News about their new powers- apparently they are saying that a quarter of payday lenders could be shut down. If they can shut down payday lenders, why can't they do anything about companies such as Erudio? If Erudio's contract is unfair, surely we should be able to report them to the FCA?!

Mephistopheles666

Thanks for that, rizla king- it makes sense in view of what I heard on BBC News this morning.