Erudio student Loans Civil Bill for county court
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skamanchero
Posts: 3 Newbie
in Loans
I took a student loan out in 1997 aged 33, I also had loans in 98 and 99. Around about 2005 I got a call from Student Loasns Company (SLC) that repayments were due to start. I asked why that was as i had never earned near the threshold, indeed i was unemployed then.
The caller said the deferment form had never been received. I said i sent it, he said it didnt arrive, but he would send a new form out and send it back ASAP. After that requests for payment started arriving, i received calls several times a week, i asked to speak to a supervisor, anyone i could talk to about this but all i ever got was how "do i want to start repaying the loan". The statements kept arriving, incresing with arrears, even though i was still unemployed and not earning the agreed threshold amount.
I eventually went to a solicitor, who stopped the letters and calls for a while until the solicitor passed on. In 2013 the loan was sold to Erusio and soon the harassment of letters and calls started again. I have been sending in deferment forms. I have been receiving threatening letters from SLC and erudio associated "debt Collectors". Then erudio started contacting me via a solicitor.
The solicitors have sent me a civil bill for the county court for arrears of £6675. Erudio claims i defaulted on the loan in 2016. This is not true, i send the deferment forms every year. I now have 3 weeks to respond to this. I will have to hire a solicitor, who i can scarcely afford.
I am currently 55, single and self employed because i could not find work elsewhere, im lucky to earn £200 per week, i get by on it. My net earnings in my Self assessment was approx £8000 last year, i would probably be better off on benefits but i do what i can for the pride of looking after myself. Still nowhere near the threshold. I own no home or property, no vehicles, i have no assetts of any kind.
What are my chances of fighting this civil bill, given that i do not even know how i have defaulted? Is this a lost cause? Does anyone else have experience of this, or of Erudio, or a claim that the loan was defaulted without knowledge?
The caller said the deferment form had never been received. I said i sent it, he said it didnt arrive, but he would send a new form out and send it back ASAP. After that requests for payment started arriving, i received calls several times a week, i asked to speak to a supervisor, anyone i could talk to about this but all i ever got was how "do i want to start repaying the loan". The statements kept arriving, incresing with arrears, even though i was still unemployed and not earning the agreed threshold amount.
I eventually went to a solicitor, who stopped the letters and calls for a while until the solicitor passed on. In 2013 the loan was sold to Erusio and soon the harassment of letters and calls started again. I have been sending in deferment forms. I have been receiving threatening letters from SLC and erudio associated "debt Collectors". Then erudio started contacting me via a solicitor.
The solicitors have sent me a civil bill for the county court for arrears of £6675. Erudio claims i defaulted on the loan in 2016. This is not true, i send the deferment forms every year. I now have 3 weeks to respond to this. I will have to hire a solicitor, who i can scarcely afford.
I am currently 55, single and self employed because i could not find work elsewhere, im lucky to earn £200 per week, i get by on it. My net earnings in my Self assessment was approx £8000 last year, i would probably be better off on benefits but i do what i can for the pride of looking after myself. Still nowhere near the threshold. I own no home or property, no vehicles, i have no assetts of any kind.
What are my chances of fighting this civil bill, given that i do not even know how i have defaulted? Is this a lost cause? Does anyone else have experience of this, or of Erudio, or a claim that the loan was defaulted without knowledge?
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Comments
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There are free debt charities such as StepChange who you could also talk to for advice. I would contact them first before doing anything.
To be honest personally I wouldn't bother with a solicitor, I would simply write back to them explaining what you have above and let them figure it out. Keep a copy of the letter.
It is not clear if they have a CCJ against you already or if they are just trying to add on their fees to any amount they think is overdue and hope you will pay this.
Worst case they do take you to court and the court decides you need to start repaying. They will fix repayments at what is affordable for you, so maybe £1/week"We act as though comfort and luxury are the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about” – Albert Einstein0 -
I think your problem might be that you never cleared the initial arrears from when they didn't receive your deferment form. In that situation i think they are unable to grant a deferment while you have arrears, and so your arrears would have mounted and mounted until the point you've reached now. It's doubly unfortunate as you'd have been eligible to have the loans written off when you hit 50 but they don't write off loans that are in arrears. Of course they should have explained all of this to you.0
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Thanks for the advice. I have 21 days to decide if i want to defend the civil bill or not. I shouldnt be in arrears though. Yet i was never able to talk to anyone at SLC about this. It seems harsh to me that given there are millions of letters lost in post every year that there is not a clear and easy procedure to deal with a missing deferment letter. I emailed and phoned SLC many times but got no resolution. I think i would prefer to pay all i can to a solicitor to fight it than even pay them £1. I believe Erudio bought this loan from SLC back in 2013. Is there any way to force them to admit how much they paid for it?0
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Sadly it doesn't matter how much they paid for it, although i seem to remember it being around the 18p per £ mark.
Definitely put a defence for the money court claim, otherwise they will automatically find in Erudio's favour and you'll have to stump up the full whack. If you go to court you'll get a chance to put your side forward, plus a budget that should show you can't afford to pay back more than a nominal amount per month. You definitely need to speak to someone better able to advise you too, the CAB or if you have home insurance you might have some legal cover on there you can use.0
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