'The Government has sold people out over Erudio student loans' blog discussion

Pemberton01

Grateful to MSE for their coverage of this issue. I do disagree with one point on Martin's article from the weekly newsletter link today. Loans aren't written off at age 50 or 25 years after the loan is taken out - they are written off at age 65 or 25 years after the loan was taken out. I took mine out in January 1998, have been deferring it ever since and it's now been transferred to Erudio. I took it out at age 41 and am 56 now.

JeLaw

MrsAverage wrote: »

This is sending ripples of concern to those on the current and earlier systems too. What if they sell off the current loans that have the much higher interest rate too? I always thought it risky for a student to sign a contract that was so open - ie terms and conditions can change at any time to anything but most have no option but to sign. I am pleased to see Martin saying he was wrong - I think he will be proved to be wrong on the post 1998 and post 2012 schemes too as these get sold off.

I never forgot a quote I read once...."A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will". Big kudos to Martin on this - like many of us, he was misled/misguided on student loans. And thanks to Martin for blogging about this mess and further publicising it.

I found a NUS petition requsting a halt to any further sale. I'm sorry I can't find the link right now but think someone posted it on the mumsnet site.

fermi

Pemberton01 wrote: »

Grateful to MSE for their coverage of this issue. I do disagree with one point on Martin's article from the weekly newsletter link today. Loans aren't written off at age 50 or 25 years after the loan is taken out - they are written off at age 65 or 25 years after the loan was taken out. I took mine out in January 1998, have been deferring it ever since and it's now been transferred to Erudio. I took it out at age 41 and am 56 now.

Certainly can be written off at 50 if your were under 40 when you took out your last loan.

Just not if as in your case you were 40 or over.

http://www.studentloanrepayment.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=93,6678571&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/211/schedule/2/paragraph/12/made

They can be written off if you are not behind with repayments if:

You were under the age of 40 when your last agreement for a student loan was made and you reach the age of 50.

or

You were aged 40 when your last agreement for a student loan was made and you reach the age of 60.

or

Your last agreement for a student loan has been outstanding for no less than 25 years.

Huwbert

If the minister wont' respond to Martin's requests, maybe our Mp's can ask the questions on our behalf? Is there a letter template we can use to email our Mp's (I suggest a template like has been done for the PPI stuff so we care consistent in what we are asking)?

N1AK

jimclark1967 wrote: »

Erudio have clearly seen that they can improve the collections % by enforcing the original T&Cs more tightly than SLC (and hence improve their return on investment)

Their mistake seems to have been in expecting to pursue this strategy without anyone blinking an eyelid. They're correct to say that the T&Cs will remain the same but, as Martin states, a bit of a shambles given the expectations of behaviour built up over the SLC years. A legal challenge would be interesting!

That doesn't make it a mistake. If the SLC sold the loans based on their current ability to collect payments and Erudio have found a way, popular or not, of getting back a higher proportion then I'm sure they'll be happy.

I wouldn't expect anything interesting from a legal challenge, nor would Martin going by the article. The terms were clear when people took out the loans and back in 1990-1998 when people took the loans the SLCs tendency to be very loose on checking borrowers incomes hadn't been established.

Ranavalona

My deferment is in place till 24 May so I sent off the form with a copy of my 2013-14 tax return on 17 April. Yesterday I rang to check progress and was told the application was incomplete and I had to send payslips (I'm a self employed sole trader with a second job which pays £500 a year) and evidence of the rental on a property I rent out. All this information is on the tax return which is a legally binding document - why do they need to see this additional info and, more importantly, when - if at all - were they planning on telling me? I've emailed the documents and can only hope they act before the payments start to come out. I graduated in 1995 so I only have 6 years before the loans are wiped - I've never earned anything like the amount I'd need to, and this year I earned around 30% of the required minimum so it's not like I'm a marginal case. I simply cannot afford to "just pay it" and had I been born in 1969 instead of 1972 I would have had a full grant and no student loan at all. I think they've bitten off more than they can chew with this because graduates, almost by definition, are clever, articulate and numerate and will not put up with this nonsense.

budd1405

I received a letter today form Erudio dated the 15th ( that's slow mail) saying that they had received my application but it wasn't signed. If I failed to get the form back they would start to try and take the money from my account and my amount would fall into arrears.
The thing is they got my signature, it was on the letter I sent which said I wished to defer, with my wage slips. I did not fill in their application form and they have just ignored it.

I think I may have to ask them seeing that they have acknowledged that I sent something in to them.


On a separate note, if this was a bank it would be clear miss selling, I wasn't told that my loan would be sold off, quite the reverse in fact that is was controlled by the government so it would be safe from the private sector

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

Oh no.

I have just caught up with your blog Martin having been away.

You must please please take up the overall cause against the securitisation of loans for tuition fees as a new form of debt for these crooks to play with.

You must string Willetts out to dry if he won't take your calls. He was all over you when they wanted you to head the task force.

Hold your head up and march on in - all guns blazing. Don't wait any longer. They will stall and stall and stall. You have an enormous following and you are more potent on this sort of political stage than Nigel Farage

Those posh kids who don't know the price of milk will have to listen to you or risk being sidelined. Neither Cameron, Clegg or even Cable has the sort of credibility on things like this like you do on stuff that really affects the financial well-being of the majority and therefore the future of our country.

The posh kids are out of their depth. Cable is gagged half the time. Willetts is a brainy lost kid with nothing to say and probably has forgotten what he meant when he was saying something in the days when he talked to you. You are not out of your depth. You and Jamie Oliver get listened to when you get serious! Tear down these outsourced facades. Make them pay for sullying your reputation and using your long term commitment for their own short term gain.

Parasites - get the bloody spray out and stop all these creeps in their tracks before they turn the whole bloody graduate population under 35 into their private army of wage slaves.

chrisd74

I have two loans now adminstered by Erudio. student loans company sent deferment forms to me in feb 2014 and i sent back copy payslips for deferment within two week timescale. However erudio dont seem to have received the deferment acceptance letter from student loans company which was sent out to me on 5th march when my loands were transferred across in march 2104. so they are now saying i am in arrears.
i am now in the process of getting student loans company to resend deferment acceptance leter. not happy.

griffythings

Hi. I've just had a letter telling me that they've discovered arrears that were unnoticed previously. After reading Martins blog I have some questions.

I'm 60 years old, should these debts have been cancelled?

The arrears relate to the period before the debts were bought so if there are arrears aren't they due to HMG

Can I ask for proof they own the debt and can I demand to see the terms?

The arrears relate to a period when I was on £60 per week Carers Allowance, obviously under the threshold. If I can prove this why are they claiming arrears?

Am I obliged to fill in their deferral form. Can I refuse on the grounds that they will share the information with 3rd parties against my wishes and best interest?

I put a petition on the epetitions you gov site but I can't link to it because I'm a new user (6 years ?) Anyway if someone with linking permission could link to it and if everyone asked their friends to sign we might make it to a reasonable figure. To find it search under Steven Griffiths