Erudio/drydens Claimform - SLC Loan - ignored everything inc recent PAP

[Cheesusrice]

Hi all,

I received a County Court Claim (Northampton) 4 days ago for a couple of pre-1998 student loans that I'd successfully deferred until 2013

 

. My account was not in default at the time, but when Erudio took over, I decided to ignore their deferral form because of all the personal info they were demanding, and later because of all the stories I heard about their dodgy practices.

 

long story short,

I've never replied to any of their correspondence, but unfortunately I ignored a PAP from Drydens recently, and now I have a County Claim form.

 

My address hasn't changed, but I'm guessing that they're going for a default judgement as I've never sent them anything.

 

I intend to defend the claim, but not sure whether my ignoring their letters previously will look bad if it goes to court?

 

Many thanks in advance for any help on this matter.

Edited November 6, 2018 by dx100uk
Spacing

[dx100uk]

Follow post 17 here

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?490967-Student-loans-claim-from-court(1-Viewing)-nbsp

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?419198-You-have-received-a-Claim-What-you-need-to-do.-**UPDATED-2018**

 

please complete this:

[Cheesusrice]

Many thanks. Will get on the case ASAP.

[dx100uk]

thread moved to legals

thread title updated

[Cheesusrice]

Name of the Claimant? Erudio

Date of issue? 2/11/18

 

Particulars of Claim

1. The claim is for the sum of £4000 in respect to monies owing by the defendant on a credit agreement held by the defendant with the Student Loans Company under account number ############### upon which the defendant failed to maintain payments.

2. A default notice was served upon the defendant and has not been complied with.

3. The balance owed was assigned from the Student Loans Company to the claimant, and the defendant has been notified of the assignment by letter.

Contact drydenfairfaxsolicitors on ##########

 

Have you received prior notice of a claim being issued pursuant to paragraph 3 of the PAPDC (Pre Action Protocol)? Yes

 

What is the total value of the claim? £4000

 

Is the claim for - student loan

 

When did you enter into the original agreement before or after April 2007 ? Before (pre 1997)

Is the debt showing on your credit reference files (Experian/Equifax /Etc...) Not sure. Haven't checked.

 

Has the claim been issued by the original creditor or was the account assigned and it is the Debt purchaser who has issued the claim?erudio

 

Were you aware the account had been assigned – did you receive a Notice of Assignment? Yes

 

Did you receive a Default Notice from the original creditor? No. I had always deferred successfully.

 

Have you been receiving statutory notices headed “Notice of Default sums” – at least once a year ? I received a Notice of Sums in Arrears letter every year (2015 & 2016). They notified me that the T&Cs were terminated in 2016.

 

Why did you cease payments? N/A - I have never paid/contacted Erudio. I deferred with the SLC until they sold the loan to Erudio.

 

What was the date of your last payment? As above.

 

Was there a dispute with the original creditor that remains unresolved? No

 

Did you communicate any financial problems to the original creditor and make any attempt to enter into a debt management planicon? No

Edited November 11, 2018 by dx100uk
format

[dx100uk]

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?490967-Erudio-drydens-claimform-old-Student-loan(4-Viewing)-nbsp

[Cheesusrice]

Thanks,

but that's the same link as you posted above (referring to post 17 on that thread).

Is there something new on there?

 

The fundamental differences between mine and paperphobia are that my loans were taken out earlier than his (meaning that my agreement specifies that they can assign rights and duties to a third party),

 

the amount I "owe" is only half that of his,

and I have never entered into any correspondence with Erudio.

[dx100uk]

just get this done for now.

 

pop up on the MCOL website detailed on the claimform.

.

register as an individual

note the long gateway number given

then log in

.

select respond to a claim and select the start AOS box.

.

then using the details required from the claimform

.

defend all

leave jurisdiction unticked.

click thru to the end

confirm and exit MCOL.

.

get a CCA Request running to the claimant

leave the £1PO blank and uncrossed

.

get a CPR 31:14 request running to the solicitors

.

type your name ONLY

 

no need to sign anything

.

you DO NOT await the return of paperwork.

you MUST file a defence regardless by day 33 from the date on the claimform.

[Cheesusrice]

Just a quick update - I sent the CCA and the CPR 33.14 requests. Dryden have sent me the following:

 

We refer to the above matter and your recent communications with this office.

Please be advised that we have placed your file on hold whilst we seek our client's instructions. We can also confirm that we have issued a request to our client for the copy documents to which you refer in your letter.

We will contact you further once we are in receipt of their response.

 

Also, the POC refers to an account number that is an Erudio one, and not the original SLC ones. They have bundled multiple loans into one account number without referring to these in the claim form. I did receive a Default Notice from Erudio too, in June 2016, followed by a termination notice about 4 weeks later.

[dx100uk]

just dint miss your defence filing date of dec 4th

 

did you do aos?

[Cheesusrice]

Hi Dx.

Yeah, I did the AoS last week. Just preparing my defence now. I was wondering if the issue of the account number was a valid point to raise?

[unclebulgaria67]

Hi Dx.

Yeah, I did the AoS last week. Just preparing my defence now. I was wondering if the issue of the account number was a valid point to raise?

 

Just wait to see if CCA and 33.14 requests come back first.

 

The account number issue is a small issue, which could be mentioned about clarity of their claim, as they have not provided all information required to be able to properly scrutinise the validity of the claim.

[dx100uk]

but do NOT miss filing your defence no matter what you do NOT wait for returns if they do not come in time.

[Cheesusrice]

Understood, dx.

Also, thanks, Unclebulgaria. I wasn't planning on relying on the A/C no discrepancy, but would certainly use it as part of my defence. At the end of the day, I always deferred successfully with SLC and have never earned over their threshold.

[Cheesusrice]

Only just realised this - not sure if I've made a terrible error or not.

The CCA request I sent referred to the Erudio reference number, and not the original SLC ones.

So I only sent one CCA for the bundled account (with the Erudio a/c#). Is this likely to be a problem?

 

An interesting development

- the postal order for the CCA request has been returned in a hand-written envelope with yesterday's date.

Included is a hand-written note on an Arrow Global compliments slip.

 

It says "Please be advised Arrow no longer require a £1 fee.

Please find the postal order enclosed and now considered returned to you. Many thanks"

 

The returned postal order has the Erudio account number written on the back.

[dx100uk]

they still have to comply

send 3 new ones just nail arrows down

use the slc number on each one..no need for £1 po's then...

[Cheesusrice]

Thanks dx. So I'll send separate CCA requests using the original SLC numbers (which were not listed on the claim form). Am wondering if the returned PO is a trick and whether I should send new ones with the new requests just to cover my arse?

[dx100uk]

Ah hang on getting you confused with one of the others here..

You've only received one claim form yes? Not 3 Sep ones like someone else here?

[Cheesusrice]

That's right. I received one claim form for multiple loans. The POC quoted an A/C# that was actually the Erudio one and not the SLC one (see posts 6 & 10)and made no mention of there being more than one loan. The CCA request I sent quoted the A/C# they had put on the POC.

The D/N and termination notice I received bundled everything together too, instead of being one for each loan.

[dx100uk]

you've not received a claimform for multiple loans...it only states one [cleverly hidden behind their number]

now if that is a series of loans lumped together, they cant really do that.

 

why don't you wack an sar off to slc, then you'll have the ammo to throw at erudio, as if they simply return ONE agreement and their claimed sum is far greater than that ONE stated on its agreement, then you have the info to bat them away forcing them to come clean.

[Cheesusrice]

Thanks again, dx. I'll send that SAR on Monday

 

. I suspect that some of the similar claim forms on this forum have exactly the same issue.

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?491546-Erudio-Shoosmiths-Claimform-1995-98-SLC-Loans-ignored-or-returned-everything-since-2013

 

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?491501-erudio-drydens-claimform-old-SLC-1997-2000-ignored-everything-since-2013

 

If we look at the historical maximum loan amounts (for one year), it was £420 in 1990/91 (see http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/22816/1/SN01327.pdf),

and when The Education (Student Loans) Act 1997 (s6) was published, the figure was £2085 for London residents.

 

This would mean that those with a claim form for £7-8000 must have had more than one loan, yet have only been issued with one claim form.

 

I suspect that it is the Erudio A/C# on the claim form, and not the original SLC ones

(the SLC one was an 11-digit code - [YY][4-letter university code][5-digit numerical identifier])

 

is it OK for a Default Notice to cover more than one agreement?

Or should there be one for each agreement?

I can't find anything in the CCA 1974 about this, or anything specifically on CAG.

[dx100uk]

you have a claim for ONE loan not 3

[Cheesusrice]

Yeah I get what you're saying dx. But it is an interesting point and not sure whether anyone knows the answer to this?

[dx100uk]

not sure why you keep going on about it, I made the mistake earlier....your claimform only states ONE account number...end of, the fact that in all honesty it might be more than one at this point until the disclosure stage [iF the claim gets that far...] is totally irrelevant.

 

the claimant has failed the CCA request [fatal] and their sols have failed the CPR request.

 

you defence is due by 4pm Tuesday

you'd better get working on that.

 

std holding / no paperwork defence in many loan claimform threads here already

 

use the search CAG box of the red top toolbar

 

post it up here 1st mind for checking.

[Cheesusrice]

OK. Point taken. I was interested for future reference and for other forum users.

 

This is my proposed defence so far:

 

1. The claim is for the sum of £4000 in respect to monies owing by the defendant on a credit agreement held by the defendant with the Student Loans Company under account number ############### upon which the defendant failed to maintain payments.

 

2. A default notice was served upon the defendant and has not been complied with.

 

3. The balance owed was assigned from the Student Loans Company to the claimant, and the defendant has been notified of the assignment by letter.

Contact drydenfairfaxsolicitors on ##########

 

The Defendant contends that the Particulars of Claim are vague and generic in nature. Accordingly, the Defendant sets out his case below and relies on CPR 16.5 (3) in relation to any particular allegation to which a specific response has not been made.

 

1.Paragraph 1 is noted and accepted the Defendant has in the past had financial dealings with the Student Loans Company. The Defendant has no recollection of the precise details of the alleged agreement and has sought verification from the Claimant who has to date failed to supply any relevant paperwork.

 

2. Paragraphs 2 and 3 are denied as the Defendant is not aware of the service of any Default Notice pursuant to section 87 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 nor any legal assignment or Notice of Assignment pursuant to section 136 (1) of the Law and Property Act 1925 by either the Claimant or the original creditor.

 

3. On receipt of this claim, requests for information pursuant to the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (section 77) and CPR 33.14 were posted to the Claimant and the Claimant’s legal representative on 15th November 2018. To date, the Claimant remains in default.

 

4. It is not accepted that the Defendant owes any monies to the Claimant, who is put to strict proof to:

a) show how the Defendant has entered into an agreement;

b) show how the alleged debt has been calculated;

c) show the nature of breach and service of a Default Notice and subsequent Notice of Sums in Arrears in accordance with the Consumer Credit Act 1974;

d) show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under statute or equity, to issue a claim.

 

5. As per CPR 16.5 (4), it is expected that the Claimant proves the allegation that the money is owed.

 

6. On the alternative, as the Claimant claims to be the assignee of a debt, it is denied that the Claimant has the right to lay a claim due to contraventions of section 136 of the Law of Property Act 1925.

 

7. By reason of the facts and matter set out above, the Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed in the Particulars of Claim or to any relief.