Davey vs Student Loans Company - advice needed

[daveydavey]

I am being threatened with court action for 'arrears' resulting from the SLC's failure to process one of my deferment applications. They are threatening to sue me for the whole amount of the loan (£800), not just the £190 falsely claimed 'arrears' resulting from their non-deferment,('arrears' of £130 + £60 letter charges=45% of the 'arrears'), on a pre-1998 loan - can they do that for a pre-1998 Loan ? (thought they could only do this on post-1998 agreements) . they say that 'they cannot state whether or not they received the application'.

 

Any advice much apprec. - should i let them take me to court over the matter or swallow hard & pay up in instalments (i'm on income support & disability living allowance due to illness, as i was in the relevant period, my loan is currently deferred). I currently have a clean credit record no CCJ's, so worried about effects of losing a County Court case. Anyone know any sympathetic solicitors (i'm london-based) who could help defend the action (on legal aid basis) ? - this whole episode is stressing me out - details (latest complaint letters) below :

 

ref xxxxxxxxx - Complaint Stage Two

 

Many thanks for your reply below. I remain dissatisfied with your response to the complaint (stage one).

 

Your failure to defer my loan for the period 2004-2005 is not my responsibility. I cannot process my own deferment application, it is the duty of the Student Loans Company to do so and they have failed in that duty. I was in receipt of Income Support & Disability Living Allowance during the above period and can prove this, in Court if necessary. The basic founding legal principle of Student Loans is that they only become repayable once a borrower's income rises above a certain threshold. This is the whole basis upon which student loans were introduced. Even now they are publicised as such. My income during the above period was well below that threshold. Your failure to process my deferral application & subsequent failure to correct the mistake on my account at a later date is unreasonable & unlawful, and contradicts the spirit in which student loans were introduced. This is a known issue, there are widespread complaints regarding pre-1998 deferment problems on the internet on many different sites, the problems have even featured in the national press, see this link :

 

http://education.guardian.co.uk/students/finance/story/0,,955696,00.html

I have taken legal advice on the matter & have been advised that you have no legitimate claim for 'arrears' during a period when my income was so low. Income Support is the lowest amount the Government expects someone to live on, people under these circumstances are not expected to repay student loans, they are fully entitled to deferment.

I provided proof of my Income Support entitlement to you with the deferment form for the above period, just as i have before and since, in a clear established pattern of deferment. My deferment forms have been officially stamped by the benefit office. I can again provide official proof of this for the relevant period on request.

 

You state that it would breach the Regulations to correct your mistake from ' 3 years ago '.

Please state specifically which Regulation(s) these are, there is no mention of these on the Agreement between us. Furthermore, your collections department is harassing me for the falsely claimed 'arrears' & unlawfully high, extortionate standard letter charges (£20 x 3 + interest) 2.5 years later, if there is a time limit then i would expect it to apply to both parties otherwise there are clearly unreasonable & unfair double standards being applied. The normal time limit for correction of fiscal matters is not less than six years. Ask the tax office.

 

The administration of the loan is clearly the Student Loan Company's responsibility, not the borrower's - it is the SLC which is charged with this responsiblity by the Government. I did what i should have done to defer the loan by getting it stamped by the benefits office & sending it to you. It was perfectly reasonable for me to assume that it would be dealt with properly. I was not aware then of the widespread complaints around the issue.

 

Your collection department has informed me in writing that you backdated the following year's deferment application by three months. Please explain why you would do this if (as you claim) you did not have the previous year's deferment application in the file ? ** How would you know what my income & benefit entitlement was to be able to backdate it before the Benefit Office date stamp, if you did not have the previous year's form ? **

 

Under the circumstances i feel it perfectly reasonable to expect you to apply deferment of the loan during the relevant period. You could even show a little goodwill and do so, given my circumstances then and now, and the fact that problems with deferment on pre-1998 are a known, established issue. You must be aware from the number of complaints on the matter that there is something seriously wrong with your administration of these loans.

 

If you feel otherwise, then please remember to state specifically which Regulation(s) prevent you from going back & correcting the non-deferment from November 2004 - August 2005 in your reply, while at the same time your collections division is threatening me with Court Action for the 'arrears' created by your maladministration of my loan in May 2007. I must inform you that i will vigorously defend any Court Action & counterclaim for my expenses & the duress i have suffered as a result of your collection division's continued harassment, based on a false claim generated by your maladministration of my loan.

 

yours sincerely

 

 

xxxxxxxxx

 

XXXXXX wrote:

Dear xxxxxxx

 

I am writing in connection with the attached e-mail regarding the arrears

on the account and the deferment of repayments.

 

Having fully reviewed the loan account details Iand carefully considered

the information I would confirm that teh arrears are indeed due and correct

in their accrual.

 

Your e-mail states that you are aware of the deferral process, however,

when you had not received confirmation of the 2004 application perhaps you

should have made contact at that point.

 

The administration of the loan is the account holder's responsibility and

whilst I cannot state that we didn't receive the application, I can advise

our records show no record of receipt. Perhaps a postal issue.

 

I cannot retrospectively clear the arrears from 3 years ago as this would

breach the Regulations but I do realise that your personal circumstances

may be such that arrears repayments would be difficult. In order to resolve

this I recommend that you call the collection department last in contact

with you and that you request an income and expenditure form to be

completed so that we may consider reduced repayments in line with other

creditors.

 

Yours sincerely

xxxxxxxxx

 

xxxxxxxx

 

Subject: complaint re non-deferred arrears

30/04/2007 20:53

 

ref xxxxxxx- Complaint - Stage One

 

Re arrears claim.

 

Hi, after several requests for information re: arrears on my account I have

recently been informed that the 'arrears' stated on my account relate to

the period November 2004 to August 2005.

 

I have completed a deferment form for every year when entitled , including

2004, and for several years before and since, due to receipt of Income

Support based on incapacity for Work, & receipt of Disability Living

Allowance since August 2002. It seems that in 2004 the Deferment

application wasn't processed, leading to the creation of arrears on the

account.

 

There is a clear pattern of deferment on the account (due to long term

illness), & i am familiar with the deferment procedure - the only year that

i was late deferring was 1998 when i paid the arrears thus created. I can

provide proof of receipt of Income Support & of Disability Living Allowance

for the period of non-deferral on request. My income during that time was

well below the threshold of repayment. I can and could not work then due to

sickness and disability, for which I receive Disability Living Allowance

(as I did in 2004 & 2005, & i can again provide proof of this).

 

Under the terms of our agreement and the central founding principle of

Student Loans I believe that I am fully entitled to deferment. I have

completed deferment forms in good time and in the proper manner and

returned them to you within the proper time limits, if you have

subsequently failed to action them properly or have not administered them

in the proper manner or they have been lost in the system then i don't

believe that i can reasonably be held responsible.

 

I request that you defer the amount(s) in accordance with our agreement. I

completed a deferment application in 2004 as in other years when entitled

to deferment. If required in order for you to make a proper decision re:

the deferment of the loan for that period I can provide written evidence of

my income over that period on request.

 

 

yours sincerely

 

xxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

[Giveitback]

have you any proof that they recieved your deferment form, as this will be the crux of the issue, and it's what they're doing with me too.

 

I've offered to pay the amount of the arrears on my own terms but not the charges, but to be honest, I think we'll end up in court.

 

My understanding is that student loans don't show up on credit files CCJs etc.

 

Sorry I can't be more help.

 

At the moment, do you make sure that everything you send goes signed for? I send everything signed for now, which is why when I got a letter saying they had had no reply, I could write back telling them who signed for the reply they've lost again, and when.

 

I'm going to use the fact thy're unaware of losing letters as the argument that they could have lost my deferment letter, and can't prove they didn't which is why they can't prove there are any arrears.

 

Bit of a long shot, though, I think.