Good advice, esp when we have a postal delivery service which now thinks nothing of NOT ringing the bell OR knocking on your door, and think they can sign for Recorded Delivery goods themselves and dump them hanging out of the letterbox as I experienced last week.

When the Home Visit Rep was discovered tohave lied to me, I cancelled my Direct Debit immediately at the Bank (First Direct let you do this,others too, I think RBS is one) and I told them I stll had the course materials safe and unopened, however, I also complained to HLC directly, and to Stow College who had contradicted the Rep. Ive received nothing whatsoever in explanation from either party so I have not yet returned their materials to them. HOW is anyone supposed to organise self-financed study when the Reps are lying through their teeth to you? I will publicly admit here and now that in the past, I have told a lie to prevent myself from suffering what I felt was a massively disproportionate punishment, especially eg. if a parking ticket had itself provably been issued illegally in the first place!? But this is telling lies for no reason. I was still going to sign up for the course regardless of whether or not the ILA funding was awarded. What I couldnt possibly do was go ahead when the people in charge of your assessments are working hand in hand with fraudulent deceitful crooks. If ANYONE can explain to me why it is even remotely intelligent, or fair, to penalise someone for early settlement of a ZERO INTEREST LOAN, when doing so benefits the lender(!?) - I'd love to hear from you. They're mad. One final thing; I believe if you sign up to receive goods / services paid for by Direct Debit, *I think you have a statutory 2weeks in which to cancel, not 1 week. It doesnt matter what HLC say, they cannot change the Law to suit themselves. My advice- kick them into touch.

BEWARE the STOW COLLEGE/HOME LEARNING COLLEGE collaboration. I also had their Rep at my flat and asked two very clearly worded questions to which I received decisive answers, namely Are there any fees for early settlement of the ZERO INTEREST loan? And, Do I need to have my ILA funding in place before I commit to starting the course? Answers were - NO, and NO. Once the rep was gone, I examined the finance paperwork and found that she'd filled it in with penalty charges for early settlement of the loans of £250, £500 and £750. This is punishment for repaying a ZERO INTEREST LOAN. That's barking mad. If they're not losing money by you taking longer to pay back the fee money, why would they punish you for giving them the money back sooner whereupon they'd get interest by putting it in the Bank?? Have I landed in Thick as Mince Universe by mistake?? Also, the next piece of mail to arrive at my house was from Stow College telling me that the ILA Award had to be already awarded before I start my course. I have received no response to my complaint. These people are MORONS CONSUMMATE LIARS, and CROOKS. Avoid like the plague.

AVOID THESE (Regrettable also Stow College, Glasgow?!) I asked the Home Visit her just two questions critical to my decision; Q1. Do I need to ensure that my £200 ILA contribution is in place ie. already received BEFORE I commit financially to the DD+course fees? Answer; NO. Just apply now; when they send your Reference No. give it to Stow College and they'll discount the money from your balance of fees. (only fools would commit early otherwise on an Open Start Date course!) Q2. Are there any penalty fees for early re-payment of the 0% interest loan? (If there's no loss of interest for the lender, why the heck shd there be?!) Answer; No. There are no penalties, but what most people do is they take the lowest payment per month over the longest period of time. Within days of signing on the dotted line, I received my Welcome Pack, then a letter from Stow College stating "Students must ensure that their ILA Fund Award has been received BEFORE starting their course." WTF! :shock: I decided to look closely over the Finance Forms! On the reverse of one this prize B*** had written in, Penalties for Early Settlement of Course Fees - £250, £500 and £750!? I decided to immediately cancel my Direct Debit and fortunately could do it online so I wasn't out of time to legally do so. I immediately wrote letters of complaint to a Ms J BLair at Stow College, to the College Principal (a Mr McGrory), and of course to HLC. I demanded explanation & a full admission to this obscene dishonesty, plus I wanted an apology. Nothing more than any decent person shd expect. Did I get any response? Not one...until HLC sent a stock letter yesterday, indifferntly saying "We're sorry to hear that you do not wish to proceed with your course. Please call this number to obtain a code for free courier uplift of our course materials". I hope thousands of people get to read this. It's 100% TRUE. Pls pass it on and warn everyone you know of the risks of dealing with HLC+STOW!