Erudio Student Loan, Advice Please

rizla_king

Log a formal complaint with them for refusing a valid deferment and tell them you will be taking them to The FOS (Financial Ombudsman), will report them to the FCA and will add to the complaints in the media about them.

rizla_king

This guy from the independent is looking into Erudio for one.

https://twitter.com/simonnread

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/loans-credit/former-students-in-uproar-over-debt-collector-9240014.html

ericctheking

rizla king seems to have good advice.
For a lot of people it will be their first encounter with a DCA so they will be unsure what to do.
Rizla king, Would you advise never talking to them on the phone and making sure they never call you, the everything in writing approach? Funny how their numbers are premium rate too, which must be a nice little earner for them!
They might have picked the wrong target here as there are lots of mums on mumsnet who are furious and I wouldn't want to pick a fight with the mums!

kathrynha

I am so concerned about this.
I have sent in mine without a P60, but a note on it to say that my current P60 relates to the 2012-13 financial year which last years deferment was based, therefore it is irrelevant to this years deferment claim, and the council (my employer) don't produce P60's for 2013-14 financial year till the end of May.
Also don't think they will like the bank statement to prove child benefit, which is mainly blacked out, with a note on it saying that it is a joint account, therefore they can't have under data protection any of the blacked out information.

Haven't heard back from them yet, but I know they have received my deferment info, as I sent it recorded delivery, and I have even screenshot the signiture, and name of person who signed for it.

One question: Do we have to go through their complaint procedure before we go to the financial ombudsman? Also what is Erudio's complaints procedure?
I do not trust them at all!

ACL7

Thats the joke of it Kathrynha. They want p60s and yet my new one like yours wouldn't be available until late May anyway. They have rejected my deferment on the basis of not having receipt of an out of date P60.

rizla_king

They are just looking for any slight excuse to deny people who are actually legally entitled to defer. They are debt collectors, so make no money from people who do defer. Means you have to be prepared to fight your corner all the way.

simpywimpy

What about people like me who are supported by husbands/partners for less than the limit. I used to just have to fill in a form and get hubby to write a letter. How will I get deferrment?

Grunaki

Hi,

Just wondering about this myself. I've got a notice from them saying my loan is due to start payment May 10th (got a letter from them saying that it would be late due to the switch over of the loan's ownership) and the option to defer.

I called them this morning, and the lady I spoke to said that I should get my application in right away as they're currently processing claims from March 30th and if they didn't get to my deferment claim before that date, the loan would become due regardless and I would only be able to defer for 3 months then have to pay the balance.

(My first thought was "why should I have to suffer for the fact that your staff are inefficient?" and "You mailed the forms Second-Class post to Canada!")

SLC were always great with me and said that as long as they received my application before the date that was fine. These people just seem out to get their hooks into you.

Also, this crap about a P60 bothers me.. I don't have a P60 as I haven't worked in the UK since the mid-2000s. I do have Canadian tax records, but frankly I don't think it's any of their business - same as whether I'm a homeowner or not. (Yes I am, jointly with my Wife.. We also have a joint bank account.. I don't consider that a !!!!ing 'allowance' and won't state it as such, and I wasn't married when I made this contract WITH ANOTHER COMPANY so what is it to do with them? SLC always asked me for proof of my last 3 months' income - I provided it - I got deferred. End of.)

(Oh yeah, and reading the form - how is it possible to swear that you haven't inadventently omitted something? And why do you want my previous addresses?)

I'm seriously wondering what to do here.. As I mentioned, I live in Canada now and have no plans to return to live in the UK. I still have a UK bank account so I could set up a direct debit (which they say is required for deferment) but do I really want to?

I don't really care about my UK credit rating (as I said to my friend earlier, "we'll mess up your UK credit rating!" kind of resonates with a threat like "you're banned from driving in Poland!").. It makes me consider just ignoring the deferment and then offering them some money to forgive the debt later (as credit agencies tend to do.)

From what I've read, they paid 5p in the pound for each debt, so they paid £200 for mine. Fair enough, I'd give them £500 say, but I'm not going to sit there and take !!!! from loan sharks about repaying a debt that I'd always been promised would never be followed up on unless I was earning a specific amount, which I've frankly never come near (and probably never will given the disparity between Sterling and the Canadian Dollar.. Trust me, if I earned that much I would happily have paid the loan back to be done with it..)

I'm assuming that as it's a civil matter, there's no way I could be compelled to attend a court summons in the UK (or be deported to attend it - I am a Canadian Citizen now) but you never know with the way these Capitalist !!!!!!!s are scratching each others' backs these days..

Any help much appreciated.

rizla_king

P60 is not required no matter what they claim - all you have to do is show that your income for the month before you apply to defer and for the next 3 months in not or is unlikely to be above the threshold.

If deferment is late for some reason they can backdate the deferment for up to 3 months. So you would not have to pay or would be refunded for those months.

You dont have to disclose your housing status in order to be eligible to defer.

If you analyse the agreement terms, having a direct debit mandate is NOT a requirement for deferment and they should not be able to refuse you deferment if you dont. Apart from being over the income threshold, the only reason they can refuse deferment under the agreements is if the loans have previously been demanded back in full. Under the agreement they can ONLY demand the loans back in full if you fail to make a required payment under the agreement. In other words not having a DD in place is not a breach of the agreement that allows the to demand the loan back in full, so it is not a breach that gives them legal grounds to refuse a deferment. Again Erudio do their best to make you think otherwise with deceptive wording on the forms.

Lorienne

I also have had a letter from Erudio but on contacting them was told my deferment was in place till December which I already knew but there was no mention of this in the letters and forms only they veiled threat if I didn't take action! I'm also confused as to how the repayment of the debt situation applies if as I do, a person reaches fifty whilst in deferment? Does anybody know as Erudio was very evasive!