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

fermi

griffythings wrote: »

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?

Only if your are not in arrears.

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

The loans were sold completely, so Erudio are due arrears now.

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

Yes.

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?

If you failed to defer then it doesn't matter what income you were on. You have to defer at the time, otherwise you lose to right and arrears build up.

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?

Just cross out the parts you don't agree with.

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

See some replies above in red.

Assuming the arrears were genuine, then once paid off you should be able to have the loans written off due to the age rules. If that applies to you now.

You may get better replies on this thread here, rather on this older blog discussion --> https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4923210

Black_Eyeliner

Hi everyone. I'm looking for abut of advice.

My husband has pre-1998 'mortgage style' student loans, which are held by Erudio following the government sell off.

I have applied to defer repayments for this year (I take care of the finances!). He currentky earns £30k through employment, but made a loss of around £3.5k through self employment last year. Offsetting the loss against employment income puts him below the repayment threshold for pre-1998 loans (currentky £26,727).

However, Erudio have refused the request to defer repayments on the grounds that they do not taKe loss through self employment into account when calculating gross income.

Is this right? I understand that post-1998 student loans do take self employment losses into account when calculating the amount to repay, so I can't understand why they aren't for pre-1998 loans.

Can anyone offer me any advice?

fermi

What he earned or lost last year is not relevant to deferment.

Under the loan regulations it is last month's income and likely income for the next 3 months that govern whether you are eligible for deferment.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/211/made

9. Each year the lender will tell the borrower the new deferment level for the period between 1st September and the following 31st August. The borrower can defer making repayments of the loan if—

(a)the lender has not already asked him to repay the loan in full, and

(b) he can show—

(i) that his gross income for the relevant month is not more than the deferment level, and

(ii) if the lender asks, that his gross average monthly income during the 3 months immediately following the relevant month will not or is unlikely to be more than the deferment level.

“relevant month” means the month before the month in which the borrower asks for deferment;

Black_Eyeliner

Thanks fermi. How can gross income be predicted in this situation? I assume payments can't be refunded retrospectively?

The whole thing is so messy and complicated! It would be a massive help to us financially if we could defer repayments, especially since we're also repaying income contingent loans.