Erudio Student Loans

PartlySunny

Hi All, I need you help and advice. 

I have an old style mortgage student loan, 1997, that was passed on to Erudio Student Loans to administer. I've never met the earnings threshold to start paying the loan back so every year I'd send in proof of my earnings to get an annual deferral. All ran smoothly and easily until Erudio took over. First of all I didn't receive any deferral letter, then I received contradictory letters asking for different amounts, letters asking for 'arrears' payments, one's saying my loan had been deferred, then others saying I was in arrears? One occasion they took £100 something pounds from my bank account without notice. I tried to query all of this at the time but got nowhere. I did provide all of what they asked for and was a bit at a loss with it all. 

I think I had around three rounds of annual dealings with Erudio with all of the same problems. I then had various personal problems. I lost the job that I'd been in for the last 15 years, divorce, sofa surfing, nervous breakdown. I'm coming out the other side of this now thankfully and I've got myself back on my feet. Despite my problems I only had about eight months without work and I got a job that's just above the minimum wage, which I've still got. At Christmas last year for about a month I had telephone call after telephone call, each day leaving me a message to get in touch with them. I was really scared and eventually I picked up. I'm now being asked to pay back £8000 because my student loan has 'matured'. I was told I'm not eligible for the deferral anymore and I need to start thinking and budgeting to start paying back.  

Does anyone know what a 'matured' loan is and what this means? 

I did explain a little bit of the above to the caller. I did accept that I hadn't been pro-active myself in chasing the deferral up myself. It genuinely wasn't even on my mind to do so. A lot had changed and it was a difficult time.  While empathetic the upshot was I need to pay it back.  

Like I said, I've never come close to meeting the criteria to re-pay the student loan. I think in fact the whole of the loan was meant to be wiped out after 25 years anyway, which would have been this year. I was told that because the loan had 'matured' I just had to pay the money back, it wasn't eligible to be wiped. 

I've never had any debt problems before so this is really worrying. I don't really know what to do? Since me speaking to them around a month ago the calls have stopped. I was told they'd call back to discuss my budget and how I'm going to pay it back but nothing.  I've had no contact at all and If I'm honest I'm too scared to make the call myself. 

I was hoping someone on the forum could offer some advice on what to do? 




  

kaMelo

The conditions of the old mortgage style student loans did indeed write off loans when you turned 50 (60 if you were over 35 when starting your course) or after 25 years whichever came first. Your responsibilities were to keep your address details accurate at all times and inform them each and every year of your earnings, depending upon whether you reached the threshold would determine whether repayment or deferral was required.  Having a payment method from which they could collect was required at all times. 
Breaching these terms would mean the account would default, the entire loan would become repayable and never written off.

But, despite all that things are not lost.  As a mortgage style loan they are subject to statute limitations.
When did you last acknowledge the debt?
For the avoidance of doubt, payment and/or deferral is acknowledgement.

PartlySunny

Hi, thanks for your reply. 

The last time I deferred the loan was Summer 2018. 

kaMelo

PartlySunny said:

Hi, thanks for your reply. 

The last time I deferred the loan was Summer 2018. 

In that case you've breached the terms and the whole loan is repayable with no write off date.

You've two choices really;
1, Come to an arrangement to repay the loan.
2. Ignore them, do not acknowledge the debt, sit tight and hope they don't apply for a CCJ before summer 2024 when the loan will become statute barred.