Hi, Beedles. Just read these FAQs myself. The Advent salesperson told me that the average CDS student can complete the course in about 12 months (probably why she put my end date 12 months from the start date). I now know that this is very unrealistic. Others seem to have been offered longer. She also said that I would have full support from Advent for as long as I needed it and that there would be NO additional costs. It took me 10 months to achieve my A+. I had never looked inside a computer before I started the course. The A+ represents the knowledge expected of an IT Technician who has spent 9 months working full time as an IT Technician. I don't work in IT and thought that I did well to complete A+ in the space of 10 months. I was hoping, however, to at least have started my last module within two years and have started work as a Database Administrator (all through Advent). In my now terminated contract, it states that the "Term" means: "the period starting on the Contract Start Date and ending on the earlier of the date when you pass the final certification examination which forms part of your course and the date two years from the Contract Start Date ("Relevant Date") unless the initial term is extended as set out in paragraph 10.2 when the Relevant Date shall be the date of the extended term." (My paragraph 10.2 simply states "The Contract will terminate immediately in the event of your death" - I don't know how that extends the term of the Contract!!) I would like to hear from all the other "average" students who completed the CDS course (Database Administrator) in around 12 months - or am I just thicker than the "average" student? I wonder which date Computeach will be looking at? Hmmmm.... I'm certainly not going to pay more for something I thought I'd already paid for.

Hi, 10pack. According to my contract with Advent, the action Advent have taken constitutes a termination of my contract with Advent. I am suggesting that since Advent provided the BPF loan to me (a linked loan) then the termination of the Advent contract may render the BPF loan contract unenforceable due to them both being linked. There have been so many conflicting opinions given to contributors of this thread by different organisations that it is hard to be absolutely sure. Personally, I would be happy for BPF to try to enforce their contract with me through the courts. Of course, BPF do have an alternative - they could take up the issue with Advent ...

I am now wondering if the linked loan contract a lot of us have with BPF is now no longer enforceable.... .....and perhaps BPF know that - hence their "bully boy" tactics.

Hi – this is my first post on here. I’ve read the entire 102 pages (phew!!) and the information they contain is absolutely brilliant. My thanks to everyone who has contributed. I signed up for the CDS course in February last year, so my 12 months deferred payments would have started in mid-February this year. I had the account frozen as soon as I received the email from Advent in my junk mail folder. Much of what follows has probably already been stated by many of you, but I will repeat to help explain where I’m coming from. If you have an Advent Enrolment Form like mine, you will have a section 10 in the terms and conditions on the back (mine has not been signed by an Advent representative, but gave the start date as 15/2/09 and the end date as 14/2/10 – 12 months: a bit optimistic, I think considering I’m not yet currently employed in the IT industry): “10 TERMINATION 10.1 The Contract will terminate immediately on notice from us to you: 10.1.1 In the event that we make any voluntary arrangement with our creditors or become subject to an administration order or go into liquidation (except for the purposes of amalgamation or reconstruction and in such manner that the company resulting there from effectively agrees to be bound by or assume the obligations imposed on that other party under this agreement);” It seems to me that Advent terminated my contract at the end of January this year. In the last few months, like many of you, I’ve had time to consider my options. I will be continuing my IT studies, but not through a BPF-financed training provider. I’m making my own arrangements. It seems to me there are three possible options here. So we do have a choice: First, go along with BPF’s “suggestion” of their sourced alternative training provider; Second, request a cancellation of the BPF contract and a full refund of any monies already paid; or third, request a cancellation of the BPF contract and offer a settlement figure based on time elapsed since course start (which appears to be about £1200 per year according to some of the posts regarding Computeach’s fees - suggested only because BPF have allianced with Computeach) or amount of course completed (a bit like what Hitachi appears to be offering their customers). So, what to do? I will not be accepting the offer of Computeach as a training provider. I think that we should all get behind CAG and try for option 2 above, but settle for a variant of option 3 if necessary If BPF have an issue with options 2 and 3 then they can just take it up with Advent Consulting Limited – oh dear – haven’t they gone bust? What a shame…. Advent appears to have released us all from our contracts at the end of January – so now we have a choice. BPF are trying to deny us that choice. In this day and age this is completely unacceptable. Gone are the days when banks seem to operate from a sense of fair play – now they operate from a sense of greed, hence the lack of transparency in what options we have from them. No matter what our current circumstances or our future goals, one thing is certain: we must not bend or give in to BPF’s will. WE HAVE A CHOICE AND IT IS OUR GIVEN RIGHT TO EXERCISE THIS CHOICE. (soap box sermon over - sorry about the long post)