Erudio Claimform - Old Student Loans - poss Statute Barred.

[jimfishybob]

Nope, they are a government body and consequently, their agreements are not regulated by the CCA.

 

Sorry

 

Your only redress on this would be through the courts, however, the fact that there is no requirement to sign an agreement to recieve a loan from SLC, i'm not sure how you would approach this.

 

Depends on your complaint, I guess.

 

Have just read through your thread and I'm not sure I agree with your interpretation.

 

I suppose, if you have been charged penalty fees, then you could argue that it is not an exempt agreement, (are they allowed for in the t&C's?), or if the agreement was signed before 1997-1998, then you may also have a case, but this needs more work.

[Nurselayer]

Thanks for replying to my post Jimfishbob.

 

I strongly believe (and have had confirmation from the NUS) that Student Loan Agreements made before 1998 are regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974. They also responded to Giveitback when he made a request under the CCA for his signed agreements. If they weren't covered by the CCA1974 then I would have expected them to return the money I paid for disclosure and a letter stating why they were not going to comply.

 

I suppose that I will find out for definite when I take the next step against them:) but I need to know what the next step to take is.

 

The more I get into this the more confusing it seems to become and I've read so many contradictory threads through this site that I really don't know what to believe.

 

Some are saying that after 30days the debt is completely unenforceable as the company committed an offence, some say that the debt is only unenforceable until the company comply and send the copies of the agreement whether or not the lending company has committed an offence, some say do nothing, others say write and get the loan written off. As you can see I'm a bit muddled as to what my next step should be.

 

I've been advised by someone else to inform the FSA and trading standards about the non compliance of the CCA. Should I?

[jimfishybob]

If you believe they are covered, (and i've already expressed my doubts), then yes. This should be your first action. As far as TS goes you need to complain direct to the TS office in which the company resides.

[Movingon]

I am assuming that each case will be taken on an individual basis, where the judge/magistrate will look at the actions etc of both parties involved, or is it that failure to provide the agreement within the set timetable is considered an absolute, unquestionable defence?

 

The lack of a properly executed agreement is an absolute, complete and total defence to any case brought against you for non-payment. HOWEVER if the document is produced LATER than the limits, they would be able to continue pushing for payment; but having committed a criminal offence in relation to it, they would be stupid to pursue you; the fact of the offence would render it extremely unlikely that a Judge would find in their favour.

 

I will remind everyone again that the process is designed not for you to squirm out of legitimate debt, but to get collection agents off your back when you genuinely don't recognise the debt they're chasing you for, or when you believe it to be statute barred, or when you believe you have already cleared the original debt... etc etc etc.

[Nurselayer]

Thanks Jimfishybob,

 

Just to clarify, my next step should be to write to both the FSA and the Trading Standards office nearest to the registered office of the SLC and complain that I think the SLC have committed a criminal offence by not complying with the CCA1974.

 

What happens then? Will the debt then be unenforceable for ever?

 

(All of this is of course providing that the SLC is covered under the CCA1974)

 

Thanks

[kokomar]

I agree please I've been surfing for three days on student loans (pre '98) for info on CCA etc. Please could we have a separate space for us impoverished poor ex-students. I have loads to say on this subject as I'm sure many others do.

 

Thanks, Koko

[Nurselayer]

I have received a letter from Smith Lawson & Company - that is the collection arm of the Student Loans Company Ltd. They are actually part of the same Ltd company but just use a different name to try to scare you into paying up.

 

Anyway, the letter from SLC (luckily they have the same initials too!) was asking me to make a payment regarding one of my loans. Here is the reply that I intend to send. I would appreciate your comments/advice on whether I've worded the letter correctly.

 

Smith Lawson & Company

21 Thomas Street

Bristol

BS1 6JS

Dear Mrs D Hay

Re: Ref XXXXXXXXX

Further to your letter of the 17th October 2006 requesting payment for The Student Loans Company Ltd please be advised that I do not recognise any debt to the Student Loans Company Ltd.

I wrote to you (the Student Loans Company Ltd) on 25th July via recorded delivery, requesting a true copy of the signed agreement under the terms of the Secs. 77(1) and 78(1) of the CCA 1974,enclosing the statutory maximum fee of £1 in the form of a cheque.

 

I have not been provided with a signed agreement under the consumer credit act, I have not been provided with a statement of account, and I have not been provided with a true copy of the deed of assignment, despite my properly formatted and paid for request.

 

I therefore do not acknowledge any debt to the Student Loans Company.

 

I will not be making any payments against this "debt" as it is unenforceable. I also believe that you may have committed a criminal offence under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act, and non compliance with the original request is therefore a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

 

As I believe that you may have broken the law this will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.

 

I require repayment in full of any monies taken by yourselves in connection with these loans within 14 days or I shall begin a claim against you for the full amounts plus interest plus my costs and without further notice.

Yours sincerely

Nurselayer

So how's that sound? Or would I be better off just sending a one line reply saying "I do not acknowledge any debt to the Student Loans Company Ltd" without giving a reason?

Thanks in advance for your help

[Movingon]

Nursey that's fab - except (isn't there always an "except"? LOL)

 

Firstly it's s77(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (As Amended) - s78(1) deals with rolling credit and not loans, and "CCA 1974" means nothing.

 

Also, there will be a "Deed of Assignment" only in cases where the "debt" has been transferred to a DCA and you're writing to the DCA in question.

 

Otherwise? Sounds great

[Giveitback]

Sounds good to me. they didn't send the copies? Wow. Don't know what's more surprising. That they sent mine, or that they didn't send you any.

 

bonne chance

[Nurselayer]

Thanks Stonelaughter, and Giveitback,

Here is the final copy (unless you find any further errors in it) which I'll be sending to them by recorded mail tomorrow. I added in a bit at the bottom about them responding to accept that I now owe them nothing.

Smith Lawson & Company

21 Thomas Street

Bristol

BS1 6JS

Dear Mrs D Hay

Re: Ref XXXXXXX

Further to your letter of the 17th October 2006 requesting payment for The Student Loans Company Ltd please be advised that I do not recognise any debt to the Student Loans Company Ltd.

I wrote to you (the Student Loans Company Ltd) on 25th July via recorded delivery, requesting a true copy of the signed agreement under the terms of s.77(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (As Amended),enclosing the statutory maximum fee of £1 in the form of a cheque.

 

I have not been provided with a signed agreement under the consumer credit act, and I have not been provided with a statement of account, despite my properly formatted and paid for request.

 

I therefore do not acknowledge any debt to the Student Loans Company.

 

I will not be making any payments against this "debt" as it is unenforceable. I also believe that you may have committed a criminal offence under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act, and non compliance with the original request is therefore a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

 

As I believe that you may have broken the law this will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.

 

I require repayment in full of any monies taken by yourselves in connection with these loans within 14 days or I shall begin a claim against you for the full amounts plus interest plus my costs and without further notice.

Please acknowledge that you have received this letter and that you recognise that I have no liability to yourselves.

 

Yours sincerely

Nurselayer

[Movingon]

Excellent. **Nods vigourously**

[blackrain]

So s78(1) is the section that should be used when requesting Credit Card agreements?

[Movingon]

So s78(1) is the section that should be used when requesting Credit Card agreements?

 

yep - or other "rolling credit" ideas - budget accounts and what have you.

[Nurselayer]

Received my annual statements of my accounts today.

I think I'll resend the letter telling them that I do not recognise any of the loans.

 

They have apparently added £120 of administrative charges to one of the accounts this year!

I will put the letter up on here before I send it.

 

The amount in total comes to over £7500 over 4 loans.

This is an amount that I think is worth fighting for! Regarding the Small Claims Court, if it ever goes to court, will they treat each loan seperately or would they lump them all together?

 

All four loans were made at different times and each has separate calculations of interest etc so I'm imagining that they would treat each loan separately.

 

Can anyone confirm?

[onlymepault]

saying "i don,t recognise any of theese loans" is a denial... you would be better stating that "theese loans are in dispute"(until such times that they provide you with a copy of the origional loan agreement) and therefore stopping them from persuing you or placing default or trying to obtaine ccj.you seem to steaming in there be sure to follow all steps and time scales..p.s best of luck 8-)

[Nurselayer]

Ok, here's the letter that I'll be sending to them tomorrow following the receipt of my annual statement. I've sent one for each of my loans. Please could someone give me the gist of what to write to the Glasgow Trading Standards office regarding this. I have said that I'll report the SLC for non compliance with the CCA 1974 and so I had better do it!

Student Loans Company Ltd

100 Bothwell St

Glasgow G2 7JD

Dear Sir or Madam

Re: Ref XXXXXXX

Further to the annual statement dated September 2006 that you sent to me regarding the above loan please be advised that I do not recognise any debt to the Student Loans Company Ltd.

I wrote to you (the Student Loans Company Ltd) on 25th July via recorded delivery, requesting a true copy of the signed agreement under the terms of s.77(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (As Amended),enclosing the statutory maximum fee of £1 in the form of a cheque.

 

I have not been provided with a signed agreement under the consumer credit act, and I have not been provided with a full statement of account, despite my properly formatted and paid for request.

 

I therefore do not acknowledge any debt to the Student Loans Company.

 

I will not be making any payments against this "debt" as it is unenforceable. I also believe that you may have committed a criminal offence under the terms of the Consumer Credit Act, and non compliance with the original request is therefore a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

 

As I believe that you may have broken the law this will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.

 

I require repayment in full of any monies taken by yourselves in connection with these loans within 14 days or I shall begin a claim against you for the full amounts plus interest plus my costs and without further notice.

Please acknowledge that you have received this letter and that you recognise that I have no liability to yourselves.

 

Yours faithfully

Nurselayer

[noomill060]

Any news from SLC?

[Nurselayer]

No news as yet, I'll update when I hear something from them.

[Nurselayer]

I got this reply from Smith Lawson & Co yesterday, the bold is theirs' not mine.

 

Dear Nurselayer

 

Your Ref: 95XXXXXXX

Creditor: The Student Loans Co Ltd

 

Thank you for your recent correspondance regarding the above account.

 

Deferment of loan repayments is an option offered to customers who earn under the threshold set annually by the Dfes. To be eligible for deferment the customer must sign and date the Deferment Application Form and also provide confirmation that their income is below the threshold. If confirmation of income is not provided or is insufficient the DAF will be deemed incomplete.

 

Please note that your account is not deferred until you receive notification in writing that your application to defer repayments of your loan has been accepted. Until such times, your monthly payments are still due for repayment regardless of your employment status or financial position.

We have included a copy of the letter sent by you dated the 25th of July, a response was sent to your (sic) regarding this request stating that the Student Loans Company would sent (sic) you all the requested information by the 8th of September.

 

From Student Loans Company records we note that on a recorded call to thier office on 5th of September, you stated you no longer requested this be sent to you.

We have contacted the Student Loans Company and this will now be forwarded to you. Please find enclosed with this letter a copy of your Credit Agreement. The outstanding arrears balance stands and should be cleared immediately to avoid further action on your account.

 

We have to inform you that if you fail to make payment as requested, we will have no obligation but to request that our client terminates your agreement and proceeds with legal action for the recovery of the full loan balance as per section 5.2 of your credit agreement.

 

'If you do not make a repayment under this agreement when it is due, we may ask you to repay the loan in full immediately. We may do this even if your obligation to make other repayments is currently deferred.'

You can call Smith Lawson & Company direct and make a payment via debit/credit card, alternitively you can send a cheque or postal order to the address above. Cheques should be made payable to Smith Lawson & Company and your Loan Account Number should be quoted on the reverse of the cheque.

 

Your sincerely

 

Mr R Reid

Smith Lawson & Company

 

(Smith Lawson & Company is a trading name of the Student Loans Company Ltd)

 

They have attached a copy of my loan agreement for my 1998 loan!

 

It makes me laugh that they've missed the point completely, I shall be composing a reply shortly. I'm particularly pleased that they have stated that they have a recording of my telephone call as there can be no doubt then that I only cancelled the SAR under DPA'98, not the CCA 1974 Request.

 

Thought I'd keep you up to date. Any suggested responses would be most welcome.

[Nurselayer]

Ok, here's the letter I'm proposing to send to Glasgow Trading Standards, I'll also send one to Bristol Strading Standards as the Registered Office is in Bristol:

 

Glasgow City Council

Environmental Protection Services

Consumer & Trading Standards Division

231 George Street

GLASGOW

G1 1RX 21st November 2006

 

 

Dear Sir or Madam

 

COMPLAINT UNDER SECTION 78(1) CONSUMER CREDIT ACT (1974)

 

The Student Loans Company Ltd, of 100 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, G2 7TD have failed to respond to my properly formatted and paid for statutory request for information under Section 77(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. My request to them was sent on 25th July with the required fee and the statutory time limit for them to reply was 16th September 2006. As yet they have still not complied with Section 77(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and I believe that this may constitute a criminal offence.

I wish to submit a formal complaint to you

and would be grateful if you would investigate The Student Loans Company Ltd for non-compliance

I would be obliged if you would confirm what action you propose to take in respect of this matter.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Nurselayer

What do you think?

[Movingon]

Excellent. *nods vigourously*

[The_Badger]

I'm going to be sending off the SAR request today as well - I got a call yesterday demanding money for arrears despite being deferred and having charged me £20 for not paying despite me sending a Direct debit form that they "didn't recieve" like about 50% of my other letters I sent to them!

 

Its amazing how their postal deliveries go so astray really - You'd expect a postal service underpinned by the crown and protected by harsh legal penalties to be better at delivering letters to them - sorry sarcasm really is hard to do in text! :0)

 

Anyway I'll be pursuing them for the charges - might be just enough to pay off the loan - that would be great!

 

Many Thanks for the information.

 

The Badger

[Nurselayer]

Bump, for Blueskies and all the others that I met today at the OFT protest.

 

There really are hundreds of posts about the Student Loans Company in various places on this board.

 

Pretty, pretty, please.

 

Blueskies I've pm'd you too.

[MilkTrayMan]

If we all write to Father Xmas perhaps we might get a specific SLC Forum for Xmas!?...lol

 

Just imagine all the potential graduate brainpower drawn to the CAG website?

...some may even be in positions to oil the wheels of financial fairness for others eh?

[melanieanne63]

For student loans do i do the same as i do for the banks? Thank you!