Hundreds of thousands of people with student loans outstanding from the 1990s have been sent shock letters from the company that bought the debt from the Government. Erudio Student Loans was set up last year by the debt-recovery specialist Arrow Global. Credit industry insiders say the firm is renowned for “carpet bombing” potential debtors and, since taking over the loan book last November, it has been busy. Several readers with deferred loans have contacted The Independent with fears that they could end up with a credit black mark or be forced to repay their loans, even though they remain on benefits. They suggest that Erudio is trying to get ex-students to sign a note changing the conditions of the loan, allowing the deferral status and account to be reported on credit reports. http://www.independent.co.uk/money/loans-credit/former-students-in-uproar-over-debt-collector-9240014.html

Hi All, Firstly I have been through so many threads and my head is blowing up. This is my first thread and wanted to say the great work from DX100uk and WarrenBuffet is great! Anyway to my thread now, I've received a statement from Erudio saying that the student loans have been transferred to them, also that I have a CCJ on my account which will be passed on to their legal team and that they will contact me in a few months and some 10 pages of waffle included about the terms. Ok from my point I had the old style loans from 96 to 00. I then went on to study further onto a masters, at which point slc went on to ccj me. Ruined my credit for 6 yrs. I did not have any contact with them or even acknowledgement of a ccj...kept quiet... Nothing was enforced, don't even rememeber link or any of the others... As far as I am concerned the ccj dropped off in 2009, then a few letters that job had the debt and then a yr ago a letter from jjb saying they are selling it back to slc, followed by a statement from slc giving a breakdown of my loans rtc and that it's just a statement. Then now this Erudio sale/statement.... Not sure what to do, do I stay quiet again? Please advise

Hi, with the probability that my student loans will be sold on in the near future, I'm after a bit of advice on my position. I'm self employed and have been since 2004, never earning 15000 which I believe is the threshold for repayment on my loans. I've had no statements or other correspondence from SLC since 2008 which is the year I declared bankruptcy. (I know my loan couldn't be included) What I'm concerned about is the possibility that any private company can affect my credit file should they decide to pursue me for repayment. In November this year I'll once again have a 'clean' file and don't want anything to mess that up! Should I be concerned? Is it true that the debt can never become statute barred? I suppose that's not really relevant as I'm not in the PAYE system. Would it be a bad idea to contact SLC to check everything's ok and they haven't been adding charges etc? Not sure what for..... maybe just to flag up that they haven't sent statements etc for 6 years. Or should I just leave well alone considering I don't earn enough to repay? Thanks

Hi Firstly, apologies if posting under incorrect room ...first time posting. I'm a UK resident (owning property in the UK ) but Swedish citizen. I have quite big student loan debts in Sweden which I am unable to pay. Swedish student loan company has now threatened to sell the debt to UK debt collectors (I have not yet received letters as I have disputed the debt and its being looked at in Swedish court (unlikely they will accept the dispute though). Can a Swedish debt be enforced in the UK and can they eventually take the property away from me/us (joint beneficiaries) ? I have paid some of the debts off when I could afford a couple of years ago but its stacking up now and its just impossible for us to pay at this moment in time. Is it worth waiting for the case to be reviewed in a UK court and repay in installments what I can afford instead of being "robbed" or/and having to pay a very large one off sum... I read on previous thread that someone sent them a CCA request letter and got case withdrawn and after that did not hear anything...not sure why Csn did not chase the debt the year after as they are aksing for money every year until you paid it off in full! Is it worth ignoring the letters from CSN and see if they end up with debt collectors (likely I know)? I'm not on electoral roll and phone is ex directory but of course it does not really matter as they have got my UK address. As I understand it so fa to use European Enforcement Orders they would have to take me to court in Sweden? The swedish student loan was partly for studying in the uk ( and some for studying in Sweden). Got no uk student loan. Cheers

Hi, I have been searching through the forums and found various threads but nothing that quite covers this area. If I have missed something them please direct me and I will have a look. Here's the story, my girlfriend previous studied a degree course and had a student loan for that course. She went into full time employment then decided to change careers so went back to uni to obtain a degree in pharmacy. A few months ago she was offered a student loan. She contacted the SLC to confirm this was correct as she thought she would not be eligible as she already had a loan for her first degree course. The SLC confirmed she was eligible. The contract was signed and the money received. The SLC have contacted her recently to advise her she was not eligible and that she has to pay them back £2000 immediately. She has contacted them to advise she is happy to pay the loan back but does not have the funds right now. If she has to pay she will not have sufficient funds to complete her course and will therefore have to drop out of her final year of uni. Can they add the money to her student loan until August 2014 when she completes her course and goes back into full time employment. They advised her this was not possible and apparently the contract has a clause to say the money is repayable immediately in this instance. They have advised her the case has been referred to a debt collection agency. What I am wondering is, legally speaking can they demand the money immediately? She has funds in her bank to cover her outstanding course fees, rent and food until August 2014. If the debt collectors see that can they demand payment? Does anyone have any advice on how best to proceed with this case and the next step? Any advice would be very gratefully received. Thanks, Tim.

Hi, My husband has a query and would be very grateful if anyone could offer any input: I took out a couple of student loans back in 1995-96. Up until now I have always deferred repayment due to earning below the national average but have always replied to the repayment requests promptly and fully. I was informed towards the end of last year that my loans had been sold off to a company called Erudio Student Loans. A few days ago I received a repayment request from them with requests for bank details etc. This time I will be unable to defer as I am now earning above the threshold but I am concerned about the legitimacy of this request. I didn't take out my loans with people and am not sure I should be giving them any money. I have been reading through threads on this forum and am interested to know whether it would be worth attempting to pursue it as if it was any other type of sold-off loan ie check my CRA and then write to Erudio to see if the have a true copy of the cRedit Agreement? If so, does anyone have and thoughts or advice on how to proceed? Many Thanks

I took a top up student loan in the last year of grants/first year of phasing in of student loans. Due to not earning enough through my early employment career, I deferred, and deferred, made the odd payment here and there. I was made redundant in 2005 and was unemployed for nearly 2 years, during which I had a lot of debt sorted out through the CAB. SLC didn't agree to any arrangement. Fast forward to December 2012/January 2013 and I get a letter from Link Financial, unfortunately I haven't got a copy of this, but they definitely passed themselves off as acting officially on behalf of SLC. Not wanting to be falling in to debt problems again - and particularly with a government endorsed organisation - I phoned Link Financial, initially demanding that the debt be handed back to the SLC, eventually coming to a £50/month payment arrangement with Link, which is taken via a debit card. I have obviously now learned that Link are, shall we say, somewhat of a rogue outfit, who resurrect bad debts to fill their own coffers. Is there anything I can do now that I have actually made an arrangement with them? I just received an arrears letter today which triggered research that lead me to this forum, and a while ago I received a similar arrears letter, which was a bit scary as I hadn't missed a payment, tried to call them on their 0843 (or similar) and put in their queueing system for 45 minutes, and hung up before I spoke to anyone.

I r'cd a letter today to inform me that my student loan has been sold to Erudio, I did not know about the sale of these loans until today. After doing some research online I have discovered for loans taken out before 1998 (which mine was) that under certain circumstances they may cancel my liability to repay my loan. http://www.studentloanrepayment.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=93,3867066&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL For example, your loan may be cancelled if: You were under the age of 40 when your last agreement for a student loan was made and you reach the age of 50. As of this month this now applies to me. I intend to phone the SLC tomorrow but have no idea if I have any grounds for requesting this as it appears the loan has already been sold? Although the letter from SLC states that my loan accounts will be transferred to Erudio on 14th March 2014? any advice welcome - especially re my telephone conversation with them tomorrow (if I can get through).

Apologies if this is not in the right place. Im after some advice on how to deal with student loans, if anyone can help. I graduated in 1999. My loan agreement was the type that you only had to make payments if you were earning over a certain amount, which I never have. I was able to defer for the first few years without too much trouble. Then I had to claim welfare and the benefits office said they had to send the forms directly themselves, so I left it with them. I also moved house at this time, and gave SLC my new address. Thats when the trouble started. This was back in 2007. SLC claim not to have received the forms to defer, but failed to notify me of this for a whole year. They never asked for payments in this time, just suddenly 12 momths later sent me a demand for arrears plus interest for the past 12 months. They refused to send more deferment papers, insisting I pay up. I offered to send proof I do not earn enough to be liable for it, they refuse this. They even sent a man around my house who listened to me, agreed i owe them nothing, and said he would write a report saying that. For the last 5 and a half years I have recieved constant letters and phonecalls demanding payment. I have asked them to stop, and just take me to court and we can let a judge decide. I even changed my phone numbers but they track the new ones down and carry on. I am a full time carer for my severely ill husband, but they continue to ring the house, even late into the evening, demanding payment. I insist I owe them nothing, they insist I owe them thousands. They refuse to take me to court. Any advice on how to deal with this would be much appreciated. What can I do about this? Its driving me insane.

Greetings one and all I have read a lot and this is basically a polite enquiry for info that I have thus far been unable to locate. I am not by any means advocating this as a recommended course of action, I just would like to fully understand all of the implications. So please, no moral coaching necessary My question is this. Suppose a British SLC customer with a post 98 loan who has not yet began repayments moves overseas to somewhere like Thailand or China, and then stays there without informing the SLC of her whereabouts what can the SLC do to recover the debt? Thanks in advance TVLF

Hi all, This is quite an old issue, which I am able to address now. Approximately in 2002-2004 I opened a student account with Natwest Bank. Due to family issues and student debts, this account became essentially dormant not long after it was opened. This shouldn't necessarily be a problem, however there was an outstanding overdraft on the account. I have retained this overdraft following bouts of employment where i've been able to repay some of it, often setting up monthly direct debits of £40-50 - turning an overdraft of around £1600 to a now £800. Having examined some recent statements, I have realised that I have been charged numerous charges, often one justifying another. For example (fictitious figures at the moment, but close to originals from memory): £1500 overdraft receives £40 interest charges This pushes the account over the agreed overdraft for further charge of £15-25 Due to the account having activity (as if I were using it myself), it counts their own penalties as me using the account overdraft, for a fixed fee of £6. This downward spiral has been significantly muted now i've been able to pay off around 50% of the total cost, however I am curious as to if I will be able to reclaim the £6 account 'use' fee, despite me never actually drawing that money it - it was their own account interest that caused it to be 'active'. For information, I have informed their collection dept numerous times that I do not use this account so I should not be charged them, and once paid off in full, I wish the account closing. By my estimations, I believe (if the £6 is illegal/unfair) that the outstanding balance would be nearly paid off in full (approx. 10yrs of £6 per month, + interest). I feel that as a student I have been unfairly preyed upon, and even now, after nearly 7yrs after graduating, I am *still* trying to pay off this debt. Please could anyone advise as to anything I have mentioned, and if it is common/possible? Thanks for your assistance. (I understand that I will need an itemised statement dating back to account creation, which I will ask for if there is something to reclaim)

My daughter is 19 and in her second year at Uni, sharing a student house with her partner, also a full time student. She is 29 weeks pregnant and trying to find out what benefits she will be entitled to (housing benefit and income support) as they are looking to move into their own place. Both receive the full student grant (Wales, around £7000 pa each). Shes had no joy from CAB, all the government benefits checkers exclude students and she is struggling with her health at the moment. Can anyone offer any advice please?

Hi, I am writing this to see if anyone can help me with a problem I am experiencing with my fixed term tenancy agreement at my student accommodation. I suspended my studies at university a few weeks ago, and I lived at Malik Halls student accommodation, which is across the road from Bradford University. I left through severe feelings of homesickness and felt that I had to suspend my studies incase I became ill with the worry. I phoned up Malik Hall's offices and spoke to the manager, and I explained that i am currently unemployed, receiving no Job Seeker's Allowance as of yet, and neither of my parents are employed. They expect me to pay up the rent until they can find someone to replace my room, but if not I have over £1,000 to pay up. I am in no financial position to be able to afford this, and was wondering what I could do? Many thanks.

Hi everyone, New to all of this so don't understand too much of the jargon as of yet, but hope someone can offer some advice for my situation as I am clueless! My situation: 21 year old University student Debts: £2200 - Nationwide credit card £500 - HSBC overdraft unpaid £500 - HSBC credit card £1400 - Co op overdraft unpaid So I'm consistently receiving letters to my parents house threatening court action however I now live at university where they don't have my address and I have completely ignored contact with all of them. These debts were all 1 - 3 years ago when I really was a silly young boy with a terrible spending habit, a gambling addiction and a desire to not work. I also did lie on some of these application forms to obtain credit (not all but on some saying I had an income when I didn't) Not pleasant I know. But I really have changed things around tho, I'm at university studying a course I love, focused on being successful in my future career now, budgeting the money I do have, never gamble, infact rarely buy anything I don't need and Now I'm wondering the best plan of action is for my debts. With the small amount I do get from my student loan and Saturday job I would still have nowhere near enough to even be able to consider making minimum repayments to these debt collectors. At this moment in time with 5 days a week at university, 1 day a week working I simply think adding an extra day of working to make small insignificant payments to these collectors could jeopardise my potential for being successful at University. Does anyone know roughly how long I can expect until I'm issued a CCJ from one of these companies? What I'm really concerned about Is that to all these companies I always put down my address as the one at the time, being my parents house, can this affect them in any way? If I wasn't to keep up repayments could they take assets from my parents house? This is my worst nightmare tbh! Would anyone have any advice for the best course of action now?

Hi all, I really hope someone can give me some advice, I would be so greatful. Heres my situation.... I have 4 children and I am currently on my final year of study at university, on a social work degree. I was the happiest women alive when I got into uni, all i've ever wanted to do is help people I had no qualifications and a difficult past so bettering myself and my childrens future was all I ever wanted. I now feel depressed, manic and made to feel like a criminal - I have never been in trouble for anything in my life and always played by the book. I cant stop crying and ive lost nearly a stone through all the stress so please don't judge me- I cant cope. I started uni in 2011 and was receiving hb and ctb as my partner was on a low income. I genuinely at any point did not think that my student loans were classed as income - how can something that is paid back with interest be classed as an income?? I obviously now know that they are and that I really should have done my homework!! I am in no way excusing it but I was so bogged down with uni work, assignments, family life etc that I didn't even think to check. I had an IUC back in August, I was honest and gave all the information re SF etc, I asked how the benefit is worked out and was told it was a complicated system and I would hear in due course. I then got a letter about a month later saying they have calculated it and I was entitled to full housing benefit, more than what I was getting b4! I was confused but so relieved, then I received another letter a while later saying there had been a £7000 overpayment. I have started paying this back and have agreed that I will clear the balance with the remainder of my student finance payments for the rest of this year and next. I then received a letter yesterday stating that the council are instigating legal proceedings against me, I am absolutely petrified about whats going to happen and the detrimental effect it will have on my course/future career. I know its easy to judge and think this was deliberate but I genuinely was unaware I was doing anything wrong. Also My son has a disability which he has suffered with for 4 years, I know I would be entitled to DLA but have never claimed as I feel it is immoral to receive money just because my job is harder as a parent!! If I was 'out to get more money' I would have never taken the risk (knowing the impact it would have on my future) and would have just claimed DLA! Can anyone please give me some advice on what happens in court etc. Thank you in advance xx

Hi I need help, I had a student loan in 1997, and was deferring until 2011 when I was made redundent and thought if I wasnt working I didnt have to defer anymore, thesis took hold of the loan, but I didnt make any payments, now link have rung saying no payment plan can be considered, I have 48 hrs to find the money, she told me to borrow it from family, which I cant as its £1800. Or I will be given a ccj and peopke will come to my house to take goods to the value of the amount owed. She told me to take legal advice. I'm scared, what do I do!!! Will people just turn up and come in my house??? Any help will be much appreciated she is ringing back today as 48 hrs is up!!! Gemmings.

To anyone who can help, Please advice [Enforcement Notice from Lambeth] Received enforcement notice on the 29 Aug 2013 from Lambeth council stating that on the 23 August 2013, Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court granted a LO against me for non payment of council tax totalling £1798.37. Cost of £127.00 were incurred. A balance of £1798.37 is currently owing under this order and this amount should be paid in full by 15 September 2013 [/Enforcement Notice from Lambeth] [Equita Reminder Notice] Received a Reminder Notice dated 07 Nov 2013 regarding unpaid council tax. The letter states "Dear XXX, We write further to our previous applications for payment. To date we note that you have failed to settle your outstanding Council Tax. Our removal teams will be in your area in the coming week and will be looking to seize goods. Further substantial costs will be added to your debt once this action has been commenced. The additional costs include bailiff and porter, removal vehicle and auctioneer expenses. Should you wish to avoid this course of action we urge you to contact our offices immediately. [/Equita Reminder Notice] [Equita Bailiff Removal] Received a "Delivered by Hand" Bailiff Removal letter on the 19 Nov 2013 stating that Payment was due in full - 24 hours. The text reads "I have attended today with the intention of removing your goods and chattels as are necessary to discharge the outstanding council tax liability order and any additional enforcement costs incurred. PLEASE NOTE - No further arrangements are acceptable and payment is now required in full by CLEAR FUNDS ONLY. I will re-attend at your address with immediate effect and may remove goods even in your absence. Should you wish to avoid this distressing course of action, contact me immediately on the telephone number below to arrange prompt payment of your debt. No contact will be taken as your refusal to pay. Yours Sincerely *signed* .........- Bailiff in charge [/Equita Bailiff Removal] Now that I have stated the three letters I have received, I shall proceed with my question. i) I am heading down tomorrow (20th Nov 2013) to the council to show my Confirmation of Study Letter which suffice as an exemption. Will I have to pay the council anything? Does the £1798.37 and £127.00 stated in the [Enforcement Notice from Lambeth] affect me in any way ii) After proving to the council that I'm indeed a student and am exempted from council tax, will they call off the Bailiff? Does the Bailiff still have any legal rights to bother me? Does the bailiff have any rights to force entry into the house? iii) On a brief phone call to the bailiff to understand more he stated a incurred charge of about £200+ (forgot the exact), from what I've read and to my knowledge, since he has only made one visit to deliver the [Equita Bailiff Removal], and the council has applied for a LO. I should be fined a total of £24.50 + £3.00 = £27.50. Thus who should I pay this to if necessary? iv) If this helps at all, I tried inputting "....." into the Certificated Bailiff Justice Website and only received a ......which is not the same as "......" stated in the [Equit Bailiff Removal] and does not state an employee. Another search of certified bailiffs in Equita resulted in a list without ...... at all. I'm not sure if this will help at all, but just wanted to mention it. All help is greatly appreciated. Regards S.

Hello All, I need some help please. HMRC have wrote to me advising that I owe student loan from a few years ago as I had 2 employments. I was completing a tax return but for my business only and did not include my PAYE income. Student Loan payments have been deducted from both of my PAYE income over the years. I have also underpaid tax on PAYE by about 1k from a few years ago, despite them knowing that I had 2 jobs and issuing me an adjusted tax code every year. I am really stressed regarding this matter as they are demanding 5k, plus penalties. I dont have the money. I was thinking is it really necessary to pay the student loan as I currently paying it anyway? and also whether I can apply the above using that legislation E19 i think it is? Any advice please?

My daughter has moved into a private accommodation student house sharing with four others splitting the rent between the four. It now transpires that one of the four has a girlfriend who also lives there all the time (in a full time job) that wasn't mentioned at first and she is not on the lease. They have now asked my daughter never to mention this girl to the managing agents as she is not supposed to be there. She shares a room with her boyfriend and they pay half each of his rent. Our question is - can this void my daughter's lease as she is unhappy there - the girl in question is 'queen bee' calling the shots and generally bullying my daughter and she wants out but has signed a lease with me as guarantor. Any help would be appreciated.

Advice please. I would be very grateful for any advice helping me to rectify this situation favourably, I don't have much experience of this kind of situation.. I recently checked my credit report for the first time in a long time as I am in the process of applying for a mortgage and found that The Student Loans Company had put a default on my account. I was unaware this had happened. I made a complaint via Experian - they came back with the message that SLC felt it was justified - apparently it happened after I last moved house and there was a period when letters didn't reach their destination this was Feb 2008 so the default is due to expire. I would like it removed obviously as I don't feel it was justified - I gave them my new address and even called them to communicate that letters they promised to send ( I wanted to defer the account) hadn't arrived. During this time they also charged penalties to the account - I think the "admin fee" for sending a letter..it's so long ago I don't rightly remember. Secondly - I wrote to them some years ago - not sure exactly when but say 2010 ( I wasn't aware the account had been put into default on my credit report) when I paid off the loan and highlighted the fact I would be paying off the amount I owed but not the charges but from that moment I considered the matter closed - I also called them to state this and I didn't hear back from them. Then this July I checked my credit report to see the account in default and the amount owing remained as the amount of charges I had not paid... then there's asecond amount Payment terms of £63 - I'm not sure what this is? Current Balance: £95 Payment Terms: £63 Anyway I called them - slightly distressed.. after lengthy discussion an agent agreed that I need not pay the charges and that she would close the account and update credit agencies etc This was agreed with manager or whatever. 3 weeks later I checked my credit report - the account remained the same. I called again.. some bizarre discussion occurred whereby it was claimed I had to pay £5.06 in order for them to to do what the previous agent had agreed to even though the previous agent hadn't mentioned anything of the like..I really couldn't understand but just paid the £5.06 really hoping this was the last of it. So just checked my report and it's all still there.. Current Balance: £95 Payment Terms: £63 I have called and been told they will call me back on Tuesday next week. I should add that my every dealing with them practically causes a nervous breakdown as the conversation is so lengthy getting the agent to understand the situation .. the situation is causing me to feel quite insane and worried for all the students who are now getting out massive loans. My loan was £500 in 1994.... it enabled me to buy a car after graduating so that I could drive 20 miles back and forth to my first post-student job - great at the time but the grief it has caused - - lost hours chasing them and sheer frustration plus the knock effect - is incredible...and depressing.

Hi, Firstly I hope this is the correct place to post this. Here is my situation that I hope someone will be able to shed some light on for me. I am in receipt of Income Support due to the fact that I provide care for our disabled daughter. My partner receives carers allowance. Through income support we get our interest paid on our mortgage (a god send). Last year I decided to begin studying a degree. The hours were minimal (16) and having checked with Income Support as long as it was under 21 hours there would be no problem. I applied for and received Student Finance as follows: Tuition Fees: £6000 - paid directly to the college Maintenance Loan: £4290 Broken down as: £3575 Not based on household income + £2340 Based on household income - £1625 Loan replaced with grant Maintenance Grant: £3250 Parents Learning Allowance: £1508 Adult Dependant's Grant: £2642 I have spoken with Income Support today for a review/update and on giving them these details they have informed that I could have my benefit stopped and have to repay any overpayments. They couldn't however tell me how much or when. The mortgage interest is huge for us and if it came down to it I would leave the course to maintain the income support and payback whatever was owed. Can anyone advise what amounts from the above they would take into account and how they would work this out? Thanks in advance D4

Hi there Can anyone advise me please. I took out a student loan with the student loan company in 1998. I didn't finish the course and have never earned enough to make repayments. I moved temporarily and told the Student Loan Company when I filled in a deferment form for that year, and when I moved back to my origianal address I sent a letter in. I didn't hear from them and simply forgot about it all. I have had a letter from CCS Collect so have been in contact with both the Student Loan company and the debt collectors. I have sent the forms off for a deferment. Tonight the Student Loan Company said as a passing comment that the deferment if agreed would only be for 3 months and I have to make a repayment plan for the balance with CCS. The Student Loan Company said that they wrote to my temporary address in 2010 and have no record of me moving back and it is down to me. The amount of loan outstanding is £2k+ and I now owe this amount less £150. Should I make a repayment plan with CCS now to save all the hassle? Are CCS likely to try and make me bankrupt? Any thoughts gratefully received - many thanks

There are a lot of them out there, they want a corner of the world they can claim as their own. They want more control,the three feet of clothing on the floor and the pile of dirty socks, CD cases, and assorted papers is their declaration of independence. its their way to demonstrate they can do as they please, so I'm told. Well I'm not buying that feeble excuse. To be trashing your room and leaving it looking like a Tornado has hit the area is not on. Forget the whinning, dawdling, getting distracted with Facebook, get it sorted out. I see it as having a lazy streak which needs to be nipped in the bud before it gets worse. If it carries on I will be rubbing his face in his dirty socks. What do others think?

Hello All. I'm hoping someone can help. Before I started university, I racked up some debt, which as a course of being unable to repay, I was issued a CCJ at the the beginning of the this year, by the debt collection agency that the debt was passed on to. I start a summer job next week, which will contribute towards my living costs as being a student. I will also be getting my student loan in September. After researching that DCA's can freeze bank accounts, I am worried that the money I earn as well as the money I receive in my student loan will be frozen. I recently opened a basic account and I am wondering how the DCA will find this account. It's putting me under a lot of stress and I'm literally considering withdrawing every penny as soon as it hits the account just o avoid this. Can you guys offer me any advice please? Cheers in advance.

Please could somebody give me advice on my current situation with the student loans company. My loans are all pre-1998. For the past two years I have been out of work but not claiming JSA. My income during this time has been extremely low and for the most part falls below what I would receive claiming benefits. The first year in this situation I filled out my deferment form giving details of my income backed up by payment reports from the companies that I receive payments from. This was accepted without question. The second time I was required to fill out a deferment form I sent exactly the same information in the same format as the previous year. On this occasion they did not accept deferment and replied saying that I needed to provide further evidence of how I could survive on such a low income. Although eventually I was able to satisfy their need for further information - in the time it took to do so they began to demand repayments and charge me for each letter they sent. The arrears and charges have accumulated to an amount that I have no way of paying. For each month that passes I am being charged £40 in letters which is being added to the outstanding balance. On top of this they have given me a 'default notice' which affects my credit rating. My main question is what should be my main course of action to get out of this mess ? Additional points that I would appreciate some information on .. - I read an article about student loans (http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/apr/29/student-loan-poor-credit-rating) and credit scores which stated the 'measure was a last resort and said it would contact borrowers first and give leeway to those who are genuinely struggling.' . As they had received all information relating to my low income should they have been allowed to give me a default notice? - I attended two universities. When sending out deferment forms each year my loans from two universities are combined within one deferment form which is sent to me in a single letter. When sending out arrears letters for which a £20 charge is incurred the loans are split into two separate identical letters which arrive at my home on the same day (Costing £40). In the past I have been credited for some of the letters (As a gesture of goodwill) but then they continue to do the same thing. Is this allowed or is there any way to stop this happening once and for all? - I have already sent them letter asking them to reconsider their position and asking them to reverse the charges and arrears but this has been acknowledged but ignored. Would there be any benefit in contacting some external organisation such as the financial ombudsman etc. Any advice would really be appreciated.