ERUDIO student loans help

On the DD requirement, could Erudio be relying on something in the form used when applying for the loans? As far as I can remember, the original DD mandate was attached to the application form, and had to be completed before being accepted.

There could have been terms included on that form, or something in the declaration, relating to the DD - does anyone remember, or even better, have a copy of an application form?

I've put an FOI request in to the Student Awards Agency for Scotland for the MS loan application form, DD mandate and guidance -

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/application_form_for_student_fin

I would have applied to the SAAS, although I'm not sure if they issued the form. I think the SLC are the equivalent body for Student Finance England, but I'd risk going over the cost limit if I put another request in to them. Would anyone else be willing to submit an FOI request to SLC?

There are separate agencies for Wales and N. Ireland, which I'll send requests to later.

AReeves wrote: »

The loan terms and conditions are those on the agreement (either the pre 1998 Agreement or the post 1998 Agreement plus the prescribed terms in the Regulations. On the loan agreements it says: "on the terms and conditions of this Agreement as set out on this page and overleaf".

There is a presumption in law (parol evidence rule) that the written contract contains the entire agreement between the parties. So in my opinion, the only Terms that form part of the agreement are those on the Loan agreement and the prescribed terms in the 1998 Regulations.

Anthony Reeves

Thanks Anthony, that's good to know.

The reason I was asking is because I was looking at the current application form for student finance last night, and there are nearly 2 pages of terms in the declaration, one of which is that you confirm you've read the t&c's online, which are linked to. I don't know if current students need to sign a separate agreement, but it looks like the application form is the agreement.

Our MS loans would have worked differently, but it made me wonder if there were extra terms on our application form, and whether they could form part of the loan agreement.

The terms on the current form are on pages 23-24 of 36 here:

http://www.sfengland.slc.co.uk/media/682892/sfe_pn1_form_1415_d.pdf

My FOS complaint has been upheld. Yet it still feels like I lost:(

Here is the outcome:

[FONT=&quot]Dear Mr Trapped in an unwanted [FONT=&quot]F[/FONT]austian pact with devils.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] The basis of your complaint relates to the business’ failure to defer your student loan.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] You are also not satisfied with the business’ request for you to complete a Deferment Application Form (DAF) and that details of your loan will be reported to credit reference agencies. You are also concerned that it will be registered as a ‘payment holiday’ on your credit file which could adversely affect your credit rating.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] A request to defer the loan was originally made by you on 1 May 2014, however, you did not submit the standard DAF requested by the business. As such, the deferment was not processed at this time.

You stated that you were concerned by the volume of information being requested in the DAF which you considered to be irrelevant. This was explained in a letter to the business and instead of completing the DAF, you submitted information i.e. evidence of your income that you considered was relevant and consistent with the information you had provided previously to the Student Loans Company.

The business responded to you on 19 May 2014 and sent you another DAF to complete – the business did not, however, respond to any of the points you had highlighted in your letter nor explain to you why the information you had submitted was insufficient to process the deferment.

On 29 May 2014, you made a formal complaint to the business about your loan not being deferred.

A response was sent to you by the business on 12 August 2014, two and a half months later. At this time, the deferment had still not been processed and to date, the situation has not changed.

In settlement, you would like the loan deferred and to be compensated for the inconvenience you have been caused. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Additionally, you do not want the deferment to be reported with credit reference agencies as a ‘payment holiday’ as this may have a negative impact on your credit rating.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Having considered the circumstances of your complaint, I am of the view that it should be upheld.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] I do not consider that your enquiries and concerns were addressed appropriately and your complaint was not responded to in a timely manner or in sufficiently clear terms.

Had this been done at outset, I am persuaded that a DAF could have been submitted and the deferment could have been processed without any delays.

With regard to the issue of the business reporting information about your deferred loan to credit reference agencies, I would advise that Student Loans Company Limited (SLC) did not report regular information about the loans to credit reference agencies, however, the terms and conditions of loans taken out between 1990 and 1997, as in your case, did effectively permit the SLC (and subsequently Erudio Student Loans) to report information about loans, including whether they are in deferment, up to date, in arrears or in default – it simply elected not to do so.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot] Therefore, in reporting information about loans to credit reference agencies, the business is not acting outside the terms and conditions and these have not changed.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] With regard to loans taken out from 1998, disclosure will only occur if the account is in arrears or default. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] Borrowers with these loans are being offered the option to consent for their up to date accounts to be reported. If consent is withheld, these loans will not be reported to credit reference agencies unless they are in default or in arrears. As I have stated, however, this only relates to loans taken out from 1998.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] I understand your sentiments regarding this, however, this office is satisfied that the permitted level of reporting is not unreasonable provided the information is an accurate reflection of the account.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] Regarding your concerns as to the completion of the DAF, I would advise that if the completion of this is required by the business in order to defer the loan, then you will need to do so. We are unable to enforce the business to defer the loan without the completion of the DAF.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] The business has advised that deferments are going to be reported with the credit reference agencies as payment holidays and I understand your concerns in respect of this. According to Experian, however, provided these are reported as a ‘u’ in the monthly status report, it should not have a negative impact on credit scores. I hope this mitigates any concerns that you may have in respect of this.[/FONT] (The use of the word SHOULD really does not fill me with much confidence.):mad:

[FONT=&quot] For your information, the business has advised that it has or is in the process of updating its deferment policy. It is also currently working on a new DAF with clearer wording[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] As I have explained, it is my view that your complaint should be upheld.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] In settlement, it is my recommendation that once a DAF is submitted and accepted, the new deferment period should be back-dated 3 months before the date the application is accepted.

The business should also ensure that no adverse information is recorded on your credit file.

In addition, any arrears on the loan after the last deferment period should be removed.

Lastly, you have been caused trouble and upset and in recognition of this, it is my view that you should be compensated. In the circumstances of your complaint, I consider the sum of £75 to be appropriate.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] Having put my recommendations to the business, I am pleased to advise that once you have completed, signed and submitted the business’ DAF, it has agreed to write off the arrears and subsequently back-date your deferment date to ensure a continuation of your deferment. This will ensure there is no deferment gap and, therefore, no adverse information would be recorded as a consequence.

[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] You now need to consider this offer. [/FONT]

I would like to share with you my wife and I's victory against Erudio Student Loans.

My wife lets her old house at £375, but after mortgage interest, commission, insurance and general expenses, ie. all the allowable expenses for tax purposes, the average monthly profit that the tax was paid on was £131.83. My wife declared this as her income from self employment, and supplied supporting evidence to that effect in the form of Self Assessment return. In addition to this, she declared her salary, and her half of our Child Benefit, again supplying our joint account bank statement.

In all, this was below the deferment threshold. However, Erudio had other ideas and, using the information supplied, took the rental income of £375 to be income, and added this to her salary, then took the whole of the Child Benefit payment rather than 50%. By doing this, it tipped her monthly earnings over the deferment threshold and she was refused deferment.

I sent a long winded complaint letter and yesterday they replied, upholding part of the complaint, saying they agree with me on most of it, but not all, but they did not go into specifics.

They blamed 'human error' for incorrectly calculating the gross monthly income. Upshot is that wife is getting the deferment backdated to November, a refund for the payments that have been taken since, and £100 'in recognition of the inconvenience and additional costs our actions have caused you'.

However, my cynical self thinks that they will not have learnt anything of this episode, and continue to apply their crooked methodology on other borrowers in future.

I am writing again to Erudio to ask for specific details on why they changed their calculation and once I have their response, I will then decide on further action.