Erudio Student Loan, Advice Please

ACL7

Update: I contacted Erudio last week and asked if they had recieved my P60 as they had previously rejected my deferment as I hadn't sent it. They said said it hadn't been placed on the system yet( I had sent it a week prior to this call) but not to worry as it would eventually show on the system and then they would let me know. After no news I rang on Monday only this time to be told that the criteria had changed again and the P60 was no longer required. As things stand my deferment still hasn't been accepted even though I sent off the original deferment pack in March I believe. Apparently the criteria regarding proof of deferment changed exactly a week ago. I would love to know what is really goingon. Erudio is an absolute shambles. Have they been pulled up by someone or something. They were adament on receiving P60s and suddenly within a week its all changed.

rizla_king

Grunaki wrote: »

She did say that once the deadline had passed, I could only defer for three more months and then payments would start, but that was always something SLC said..

Never true even for SLC. It's that a years deferment can be backdated by up to 3 months, which if they do that you will the be deferred for a year from the backdated date. Think they are just making a sh1tty job of explaining that fact.

rizla_king

ACL7 wrote: »

Apparently the criteria regarding proof of deferment changed exactly a week ago. I would love to know what is really goingon. Erudio is an absolute shambles. Have they been pulled up by someone or something. They were adament on receiving P60s and suddenly within a week its all changed.

A P60 was never a legal requirement for deferment. That was just Erudio trying to be as bloody awkward as possible. They have probably been forced to change the procedure to match what is actually required by the law due to many complaints.

fermi

---> Erudio student loans: time to complain to the ombudsman?

Former students being aggressively chased for debts could soon deluge the Financial Ombudsman Service with their complaints.

Student from the 1990s are fed up with the tactics of the firm which bought the outstanding debts from the Government last autumn. Erudio Student Loans paid just £120m for around £900m-worth of debt and last month contacted graduates with demands for proof that their loans do not yet need to be repaid.

Those concerned have repayments deferred because their wages have stayed below an earnings threshold.
Yet many have had money wrongly snatched from their accounts by Erudio, which is owned by debt collecting giant Arrow Global.

However, i has taken up the case of several and Erudio has apologised and repaid the money, or the fed-up former students have reclaimed it under the direct debit scheme after confirming money was taken in error.

For instance, reader Debbie got in touch after £84 was taken from her account. After i’s intervention, she reported: “I had the £84 credited to my account by Erudio yesterday.”

But despite the firm ’s promises, more are reporting bad experiences and plan to complain. If they don’t get satisfaction they can turn to the Financial Ombudsman Service. It gets 50 new debt collection complaints a month and upholds 40 per cent.

The ombudsman said: “If you feel you’ve not been treated fairly by a debt collector, or that they are not taking your circumstances into account, get in touch – we are here to get things sorted.” Details at financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Grunaki

rizla_king wrote: »

Never true even for SLC. It's that a years deferment can be backdated by up to 3 months, which if they do that you will the be deferred for a year from the backdated date. Think they are just making a sh1tty job of explaining that fact.

Thanks for clearing that up. I called them back the other day as I submitted my documents by e-mail on April 25th and haven't heard anything back and my payments are due to start May 9th. (Was just hoping for a confirmation e-mail to say they had it).

The girl I spoke to said that if I hadn't gotten an undeliverable error, then my documents would have reached them, but they hadn't gotten around to answering them yet. She said that if the deadline passes they will start taking payments from my account, but if they then process my deferment and I'm eligible to defer, then they'll refund the money (I have my doubts..)

She also said that if the deadline passes and they can't take the money from my account and I don't make other arrangements with them by that time, then the loan will be considered to be in default (at which point I'm sure deferment will no longer be an option and it will go to the threat-collecting department. :eek: )

Edit: Hmmm... Less than 20 minutes after posting this, I received a confirmation e-mail from them.. Coincidence? :P

fermi

---> Money alert: Erudio Student Loans and the Ombudsman

Former students being aggressively chased for debts are being advised to turn to the Financial Ombudsman Service if they are unhappy with the way they've been treated.

The Ombudsman said: "If you feel you've not been treated fairly by a debt collector, or that they are not taking your circumstances into account, get in touch – we are here to get things sorted."

Students from the 1990s are being targeted by Erudio Student Loans, which bought the debts from the Government last autumn. Those concerned have repayments deferred because their wages have stayed below an earnings threshold.

Yet many have had money wrongly snatched from their accounts by Erudio, owned by Arrow Global.

When the wrong payments have been pointed out to the firm, Erudio has apologised and repaid the money, or the fed-up former students have reclaimed it under the direct debit scheme after confirming money was taken in error.

But if they don't get satisfaction they can turn to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Details at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

budd1405

I sent a letter to them a month ago and have received nothing back yet, I didn't fill in their form, but included all the usual info I would need to defer. I guess I'm going to have to send off the same info again.

fermi

Interesting blog entries on Erudio

http://greykodiak.wordpress.com/tag/erudio/

Grunaki

So what would you do in this position?

I got the acknowledgement from Erudio on Friday that they would deal with my deferment request within 21 days. The first payment they want to take is this Friday (May 9th).

I spoke to a girl at Erudio and she said that I should let them take the payment and if my deferment is approved then they would refund it. Otherwise the loan will go into default.

I did send my direct debit details as part of my deferment form, but I'm not sure what to do here. My current details are somewhat complicated (in state-sponsored further education in Canada) and I filled out their form to the limits I could and sent them a document explaining my income and everything I'd written on the form, but I get the impression that they might pretend it's unintelligible (just for the sake of being belligerent) and may reject my deferment because of it, trying to get money out of me.

I never permitted a DD from them in the first place (had one in place with SLC as it was a contractual condition, but the one I sent in with my deferment form is the first contact with Erudio).. I'm tempted to phone my bank and have them block it.

I don't want the loan to go into default and not have any chance of deferring it then though (is this a possibility?)

So should I:

a) Assume there's a phantom DD hanging around from them (as others have said happened to them) and let them take the money on the proviso that they'll refund it once I get my loan deferred

or

b) Block Direct Debits to/from them until further notice and see what happens.

Opinions please.

fermi

Read Martin's "The Government has sold people out over Erudio student loans " Blog.