Career Development Loan repayment.

Mamanohead

Hi. I got a career development loan from the Coop to study for an MA. This was in 2008, I think. I borrowed £8000 at 12.7% interest, and as I was in no position to pay it off in one go, I've been making my monthly repayments for the past few years.
I've paid over £8000 now and only have a couple of thousand left to pay.
Anyway, a month or two ago, I hit a bit of a financial hurdle, so I contacted the coop to ask if they'd give me a break for three months to let me get sorted, then I could carry on with the repayments. The conversation was really confusing. The woman I spoke to in the money management dept, let's call her Jane, told me to just not pay for the next three months. She said it would be fine. I asked her to put it in writing for me, and she refused. She said there was no need for her to give it to me in writing and that if I just stopped paying there would be no comeback. She told me there would be no penalty charges, and that it would not go on my record so it would not affect any credit I tried to get in the future.
I was really confused, so I asked her what she meant. I said, "what if I don't pay for the next 5 months?" She told me not to worry; the most I would get is a phonecall to try and get me back on track with my repayments.
I said, "what if I don't pay for the next ten months?" :rotfl:
Again, she repeated that there would be no penalty, and added that there is nothing they can do because of the type of loan I've got. I asked her, so what is my incentive to pay this back? She just stuck to her story telling me not to worry and to just take an informal payment break till I can manage the payments again.
Needless to say, I have continued to make my payments religiously, but it has played on my mind. Does anybody know what she meant? I wrote to the coop putting the details of my conversation with Jane down and asking them to explain what she meant. I've had no reply.

Can you help me?

tomtontom

What do the terms and conditions say about payment breaks?

leebo87

I also have a CDL from the Co-Op bank and had trouble with the repayments (missed a month here, a month there etc) but paid fairly regularly. It was due to end this August so I chased it up to see what was happening. Apparently the account was sold by the Co-Op to a DCA over a year ago. I haven't heard a thing from them and the loan isn't on my Credit Report. I called and was told the above + that if I kept-up repayments then there won't be a problem with the DCA. It's all very odd. My point being, they seem to be fairly relaxed about missed payments to an extent.

My advice would be to write to them and ask for a statement of account. You'll know then exactly where you stand.