Erudio Student Loans Limited

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Dear The Financial Conduct Authority,

I write regarding Erudio Student Loans Limited (registered with company number 08605918) which holds an interim consumer credit licence (number 659653) with the FCA. Erudio purchased the remainder of mortgage-style loan book from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills in November 2013.

I wish to obtain the following information under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000:

Q1. Erudio received a GAZ1 'First notification of strike-off'notification from Companies House in January 2015 for failure to submit its accounts to Companies House by 30th September. Although the matter has now been rectified with the late submission of accounts by Erudio, can the FCA advise on what action it would take if Erudio were struck off by Companies House? What position would be borrowers then be in with respect to outstanding loans? What protections would the FCA put in place for borrowers in the instance Erudio is struck off by Companies House?

Q2. What position or action would the FCA take if there were either:

i) A series of successful court actions taken by borrowers for breach of contract/statute, or in relation to the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended), against Erudio?
ii) A series of court actions taken by borrowers for breach of contract/statute, or in relation to the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (as amended), against Erudio that were settled extrajudicially by Erudio?

Q3. Does the FCA take any action to monitor for situations as those outlined in Q2?

Q4. If the FCA were to revoke the consumer credit licence of Erudio (by finding them unable to pass the 'fit and proper person' test or otherwise), what position would borrowers be in with regard to loans outstanding? Would the FCA take any action to protect borrowers?

Q5. Does the FCA monitor the numbers of complaints made by borrowers against Erudio to the Financial Ombudsman Service? What action, if any, would the FCA take if the number of complaints were considered high or, in any other way, a cause for concern?

Yours faithfully,

K MacDonald

The Financial Conduct Authority

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Customer Contact Centre, The Financial Conduct Authority

Dear K Macdonald,
Thank you for your query regarding Erudio Student Loans Limited dated 24
February 2015.
I apologise for the late reply to this query.
In summary, the loans that you are reffering to being loans made between
approximately 1990-1998 are called "old-style" or "mortgage-style" loans
(MSLs).  These were regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA) and
collection of payments on these loans is a regulated activity.
I shall attempt to answer the queries in the order that you have asked
them.
You have asked a number of questions regarding the fate of Erudio Student
Loans Company in hypothetical situations. Such as the firm being struck
off from the companies house register alongside if the firm was subject to
a number of court cases. 
In either situation, the FCA would monitor and ensure that consumers were
protected. If the firm was struck off from the companies house register or
had a number of court judgments against them, the supervisors of the firm
(who work for the FCA to ensure the firms compliance with our rules) would
be aware of the activities of the firm and take steps with the firm to
ensure that consumers of the firm were still protected. The way the
supervisors monitor firms are described in detail in our SUP rules which
can be accessed [1]here.
Again, if the FCA were to revoke any firms licence, then provisions would
be made to ensure that consumers were communicated with to ensure that
they were aware of the situation and what their potential next steps were.
The FCA does monitor the number of complaints made by borrowers via our
website, you can access this by clicking [2]here.
I hope this information was useful and answers your queries.
Yours sincerely,

Imran Shaakir Ahmad (Mr)

Associate | Customer Contact Centre

Financial Conduct Authority | [3]www.fca.org.uk

Consumer Helpline: 0800 111 6768

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