erudio stopped sending emails

bellyrub

Heloo.

I hope someone can advise me about this situation.  I have some of the old style mortgage type loans from 1997-2000 that I have deferred successfully every year since then (except 1year  when i was rich). 

Usually they send an email to remind me about the deferment window when it comes around.  This year they did not.  Also I did not receive a letter by mail about this.  I have had no mail from them since Feb 8 2023 (successful deferment). In summer I thought , maybe its time to do it so I  logged on to make a deferment application in June and got an immediate email confirmation of receipt of application  but after that nothing. 

Now, I did log on to the Erudio homepage a couple of times after making the application but there was no mention of anything there.  The splash screen just reads [blue banner] LOAN AMOUNT $#### and next to that another [blue banner]   repayment amount $0.00 (underneath in small print some other amount,).  So I assume that all is gravy.  I got on with life, its nothing to worry about I thought. Been doing this for over 20 years, no worries.  Except... that $0.00 figure seems to be a decoy.

Bear in mind I have had no contact from them between Feb 2023 and August 2024.

Then today I got a batch of letters (postal) dated from August 23 to Oct 1 2024.   The letters ramped up from you owe this much per month until  the final one said your loan is terminated and you must pay the full balance, interest is accruing at 4.3%.  There is nothing to immediately alert me to this on the portal homepage. 

It seems that my deferment window ended in February 2024 and I was supposed to be paying back after that because I missed it.  Then because I didn't pay back they put me in arrears and eventually terminated my agreement.   I had no idea about any of this because I had no contact from them.   

Some info about my living situation is required.

Resident of Japan (over 10 years, never going back to UK probably)

The address registered with Erudio is my permanent address in Japan but I dont stay there much.  Its my wife's house, I work around the country and go back there every couple of months.

She doesnt open my mail, just leaves it for me when I get back.

email address has not changed for over 10 years.

phone number is updated with Erudio, It hasn`t changed for years.

So when I got home and found a stack of letters I was... surprised. 

I called them immediately and the woman said its my fault for not receiving the letters, its my responsibility to get their mail.  Then she listed a number of items of postal mail that was sent out that DEFINITELY DID NOT arrive.  Apparently its my fault they didn`t arrive.  When I asked why they stopped sending  emails she said "post is our priority method of communication". 

Also "your aggreement has been terminated and cannot go back into deferment and you have to pay the full amount now"   This seems very fishy to me. 

Why would they stop sending emails... unless they wanted to catch people out before the loan becomes obsolete?  Why, when you log i to you account is it so bereft of information... unless they wanted to catch people out before the loan becomes obsolete?

Has this happened to anyone else? 

What can I do?

silvercar

Googling around, it seems you aren't the only one in this situation. You have the option to go to the financial ombudsman (Note, this only applies because your student loan is a credit agreement, it doesn't apply to loans under the newer student loan system as far as I'm aware).

Erudio made a decision to communicate via post rather than email and the terms and conditions of your loan allow it to do so. Whether you can blame Erudio for not sending post or a combination of Royal Mail and the Japanese postal service I don't know.

Here is the decision of the ombudsman on a similar case: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-4274560.pdf Unfortunately it went in favour of Erudio.

Here's one that went in the applicant's favour: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-4141462.pdf

and another one where the applicant won: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-3629000.pdf

Consumer Action seem to be aware of these cases - https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/454154-erudio-stopped-sending-email-deferment-reminders-nosia-terminated-loans-won-at-fos/

bellyrub

OK , thanks for you response.  I think this needs to made aware to everyone of a similar age as me as they will do this more and more.  The lack of information, misdirection and other words I cant think of on their "portal" is much more concerning, legally, IMHO. 

The fact that I logged in there multiple times over the course of this year and had no inclination that anything was wrong is dodgy AF.