Welcome Finance

[chancer1]

it's difficult - i'm sure most of us know - but seriously - you would contemplate dealing with these people again???

It sounds as if they messed up a bit with your secured loan, similar thing happened to me. I would NEVER deal with welcome again.

I know it's not what you want to hear, but if you have the money to pay another loan, save it, go on holiday when you have the money in your hand, just think how much that would actually save you in the long run.

I can guess that you don't want to wait, (not many of us do) another option is, a credit union, again you will have to save 1st, but they will allow you to borrow after a little time, and the interest rates are unbelievable (in a good way) - try and find a local one near you.

Just my 2 cents........

[MrJimpy]

I dont mind paying what i owe and initially welcome were very good so i extended my loan to consolidate some other owings so i would only have one monthly outgoing. i also took out two of the three offered insurance policies. Everything was fine and i didnt need to think about my payments.....until i heard they were laying people off and i may be one of them, so i played on the idea of decreasing my monthly payments...which i did. Isigned a bit of paper to state that i would drop my payments to the minimum of £80.80 per month.....I have now been layed off and have been forced to wake up and look at my finances i looked through my insurance policy and found out i am covered if i am laid off from work, i thought this was great until i spoke to welcome...All they stated was because i reduced my payment amount my insurance is null and void, i recieved no hint of this from the man that i spoke to when reducing my payments and all the lady on the phone could say was "sorry". I am now left paying what i owe (which i dont mind) plus another £1560 on top as apparrently i bought these policies outright even though i can no longer use them... I have since been in touch with welcome and requested a complete breakdown of my account and have been in contact with the FSA who agree i shouldnt still be paying for something i can no longer use...They have set me off in the right direction of getting in touch with Welcomes complaint department which then makes everything 'official' as it were... i will keep you posted on how it goes....one last point on the breakdown of my account i have, since the 27/10/05 payed off a massive £460.20 unnoficially the amount of my payments £1718.20 minus the capitalisation(interest) £1715.02 means in 3 years i have paid off £3.18 with regular payments.....Go figure!?!?

[chancer1]

Originally Posted by MrJimpy

i will keep you posted on how it goes....one last point on the breakdown of my account i have, since the 27/10/05 payed off a massive £460.20 unnoficially the amount of my payments £1718.20 minus the capitalisation(interest) £1715.02 means in 3 years i have paid off £3.18 with regular payments.....Go figure!?!?

With that last comment - now maybe you can see why we are so 'anti' companies like WFS - they take advantage of those can afford it least, and when things get tough - they get tougher for those who have less - which in turn, creates a nasty spiralling circle..... go figure..... WFS reckon they are helping you.......

Personally with the insurance thing - I would contact the FSA and get them involved - you did the right thing by advising WFS and having them agree to lower payments, but ' I think ' they have it wrong on the insurance, where is the cancellation document??? Have they revised your loan and advised of the new payments (minus the insurance) - i don't think so, or you would have known you weren't paying for insurance.

I would also advise asking for the agreement you signed - and not a mock of what it would look like, a copy of the 'actual agreement' you signed, you can do this under a cca request - cost £1 - there is a template on the site somewhere.

If they are trying to palm you off, because of their mistake, (not informing or even advising you of the cancelled insurance due to lower payments) then I say, go for the jugular

[Dipply75]

Chancer1 is so right - go right to the regulators, and tell them you are doing it.

Welcome can make this insurance thing like swimming through a swamp - thing is, they are only a broker who would have sold the insurance on behalf of someone. Apparently they are a member of the Finance and Leasing Assoc and subscribe to their codes of practice, which states - when you take out a policy we will tell you who the insurer is.

I would be willing to bet you lots n lots that you were actually covered. Your insurance premium is usually paid upfront, so you insurance is fully paid up - I cannot see how an agreed drop in your monthly LOAN payment could affect this.

Really upset them - ask them who your insurer is and you want a copy of the policy - inc. t&C's to check them. Advise them you will be complaining to the insurer directly for their behaviour.

Best of luck

[Dipply75]

Mr Middie - your attitude [edited] one that most Welcome staff seem to have.

1 - I did not borrow money at a high street rate - my overdraft exploded with ridiculous charges when my employer tried to avoid paying me properly and the HMRC made a catalogue of mistakes - bank defaulted me.

2 - Certainly wasnt able or willing to pay over £1500 in charges to a bank who made me believe I had no rights because I was in debt

3 - instead of saving I borrowed more money - No again - with HMRC still messing me about, saving impossible - actually borrowed to continue paying childcare so I could still work and PAY MY BILLS.

4 - Yes, because the bank defaulted me, just because they could.

5 - Yes they offered finance - they seen desperation and took full advantage. I could afford the repayments (and never missed one) - and no, I couldnt walk away, I was fighting to keep my job and they knew this.

6 - I did pay them back, including the missold PPI, their nonsense charges and other breaches of LAW that cost me, which they only attempted as they knew I WOULDNT know it was wrong - why just assume we have all borrowed and ran?

7 - damn right - I never missed a payment and they still marked my file with late payments so I would have to go back to them again.

No brainer that most customers COULD have defaults - Welcome are a non status lender. But you, holier than thou, automatically assume we all just stopped paying - WRONG - we are normal folk that hit hard times and had to approach companies like Welcome.....who seen us coming and made a fortune out of conning us as they knew joe bloggs had very limited knowledge about the laws and regs involved. We are not moaning, we are realising we have been ripped off and are doing something about it.

Having debts is not a crime and you have no right to judge people purely on that basis. Debts can happen for many reasons, not just borrowing and running.

I sincerely hope your life runs smoothly as I think if problems hit you and pushed you into a such a position, it would hit someone with such an judgemental attitude very hard indeed.

Apologies if I went on a bit, but being judged and looked down on by people when in debt is one of the reasons folk hide it and let it get worse, they need to know that kind of tosh is damaging

[chancer1]

WOW - 110% agree Dipply....

Very well put!

[Dipply75]

thankyou (blushing), if only I could do that in everyday life

[lala100]

I worked within the sub prime market for almost 2 1/2 years before the credit crunch set in - I understand and agree with pricing for the risk of any borrower but NOT to the extent of 60% + - this is absolutely extortionate and I was horrified when I found out that some companies charges this. I feel these companies are the type to target people who probably do not understand the implications of the loan. Also their 're-finance' option that I am aware of is even worse - paying off 1 loan with another one can only mean paying double interest. I feel loans like this should only be taken out in absolute desperate measures i.e. borrow or starve to death, not for the yearly holiday or a new flash car!!! Most responsible sub prime lenders have proper underwriting proceedures in place and DO NOT lend to people who cannot afford to pay it back for the simple reason that it is not in the customers best interest. Now I have lost my job I have cut back drastically, total rubbish but it won't be forever!!! Not into the buy now pay a lot more later strategy. try typing
moneysupermarket into google - finds a variety of loans for any credit rating from excellent to poor!!! At least this shows people the options without then having companies mither you on the phone!!!

[coogi72]

I had a loan with this lender.
I borrowed 12,000 over 15 years. paid it for 3 years and settlled for 17,000 how i managed this im not quite sure. I recently asked for a Subject Access Request. they complied and i looked at the info. Turns out they had hit me for a £1800 penalty charge £1400.00 disbursall fee. None of these were mentioned when i took the loan out,I intend to claim these back. If anyone has advice or similar experiences please help.

[Dizzy_Lizzy]

I took out a HP Agreement with then in April 2006 which was arranged through a local car dealer. This went well however I was contacted by them in January of this year to upgrade my car. Naively I did so.

In February myself and my partner separated which caused a massive problem with my financial situation so in March I contacted Welcome and asked if I could terminate the agreement, they told me I could but would be liable for the costs agreed to in my contract, they also said that I would have to but my request in writing which I did.

By April they had still not contacted me regarding uplifting the vehicle, I contacted them and was told that my letter was not received so I sent it again this time by fax to the person that I spoke to on the telephone, I was told that I would be contacted soon.

By June I had still not been contacted to arrange the uplifting of the vehicle.

On the 24th June I was contacted by the Walsall branch of Welcome Finance to arrange a repayment scheme for the arrears of my HP and also a loan agreement I am currently signed in to with them, I informed the lady that I was still waiting for someone to contact me with regards to uplifting the vehicle she then gave me the telephone number to the inspection desk to arrange for the RAC to inspect.

On 24th June PM I was contacted by another branch of welcome finance in Lancashire I think, requesting that I arrange a repayment schedule with them or risk being taken to court, I informed the gentleman of my conversation with the Walsall branch and he said it was ok for me to carry on my business with this lady.

I agreed with the lady from the Walsall branch that I could pay back £150 per month which was all I could afford she informed me that she would have to come back to me after speaking with her manager as that was not enough per month.

Please also note that they still have not sent my settlement figures for both accounts as requested.

I contacted the inspection desk and arranged for the RAC to come to my property the following week to inspect my car, this was carried out and I was given a copy of the report and was told another copy would be generated and sent to welcome.

2 weeks later I still had not heard from the Walsall branch, I tried to contact the lady I had previously spoken to on a few occasions left messages and didn’t get call back.

I was then contacted by a gentleman at the Tamworth branch, insisting that I pay my arrears and get up to date on the accounts, I informed him that I was dealing with the Walsall branch and that I had the inspection of the vehicle carried out and I was waiting for them to come back to me with regards to uplifting the vehicle. He had no information about this at all.

Since then I have dealt with Manesh at the Tamworth branch (who refuses to give me his surname as does every other person I have spoken to at welcome.)

He assured me that he would get the vehicle uplifted, which he has not done. I have been contacted again today by Manesh suggesting that “the voluntary termination desk have tried to contact me” which they haven’t.

I took the number from him to contact them directly and got to speak to a man called Liam (who again refused to give me his surname) Liam said that I would have to arrange yet another RAC inspection to get the vehicle uplifted as Welcome Car Finance have no record of having this done, This was carried out a month ago. I tried to explain to Liam that this had been done and that I was not prepared to take more time off work unnecessarily.

I then contacted Manesh again at the Tamworth branch of welcome to ask why they claimed that no inspection from the RAC had been done, he contacted the voluntary termination desk on behalf of me, the branch manager Zoe (again no surname) confessed to Manesh they have lost this document and can not uplift the vehicle without it. They have requested that I fax over my copy and they will then arrange to have the car uplifted.

I understand that my letter is quite long winded but hope you can appreciate the trauma I have experienced simply trying to return a car that I can not afford to run let alone pay for, they require once I have sent the car back £6,119.98 & also £390.00 for scratches found from the RAC inspection.

The vehicle has been sat outside my house since March 4 months I have tried and tried to resolve this matter and am still no further forward, the car now does not have tax either so I am having to keep it on my drive (yet more inconvenience!)

[kitty08]

hi well my partner applied for a secured loan two months ago with welcome finance and we have had nothing but trouble from the word go .
At the moment we are still waiting for the so called quick pay out in 10 to 15 days lol its a joke .
So my partner applied for a 20 thousand pound loan and we got the first set of letters and 7 days after recived the letters to sign as you have a cooling off period by law which is the 7 days , so we sent the forms back with photo copies of passport bank staements etc and then we waited 7 days went by nothing so when it got to two weeks we thought ok lets ring them , then we were told you cant have 20 thousand because of equity on your house it will have to be 19 thous so again we went through the first set of letters n cooling off period etc and photo copies again we waited and nothing was heard so we rang again , this time oh your photo copies are not clear enough and also from us sending you the forms ur house value has gone down by 9 thous so now you can only borrow 10 thous we will send you the forms out again while on the phone my partner asked why havnt you contacted us about this instead of leaving us to sit there and think we are waiting for the cheque the reply was well we dont ring from here its a call centre we did send you a letter (till this day never recieved that letter lol ).
so we waited for new forms to come out for 10 thous we waited a week nothing rang again still nothing for a week eventaully we got them to send recorded delivery only to be the forms for 19thous by this point we was going to give up but my partner said right one more time and thats it so he rang up gave them an absaloutly big telling off and said if the forms were not with us in the next 4 days we would go elsewhere so this tuesday finally the forms have come through and the right ones ,then wednesday we got the same forms again .
obv today is friday and we sent all the forms back tuesday night first class with all photo copies again and my partner is ringing them today to make sure all is in order as we are not waiting around again if it goes wrong this time we have a spare set of forms to resend but after that we will just remortgage which we should of done in the first place

[kitty08]

just an update really we sent all the forms bk as i said we rang up friday they said ring bk today (tues) and the wage slip is now outa date which on the phone before we sent the form they said everything was fine so now we have sent the wage slip special delivery to get there tomoz for them to put the cheque through im getting rather upset and down about it now its so pathetic and they have batterd my partners credit score it must be them as we was switching our sky to virgin and virgin have come back and said our credit score is so bad they want a 100 quid deposit im sorry but we declined that we might not get in back it must be through welcome it was fine before

[Us versus Debt]

you might want to visit carcreditcomplaints.com They Know Welcome very well!

[simplyplaythem]

I've worked out a good way to play welcome when purchasing. Firstly you have to accept that your at welcome because your credit isn't grade A. Secondly you have to remember your in charge.
The psychology of welcome is to put themselves in control, they do this from the moment they fix an "appointment" time. WTF?
Next they won't display the full price on the car, this is because your negotiating by payment. If you look at the list on the wall, hidden away, that they HAVE to display, the cars are way overpriced.
A girl next to me was chuckling at one point listening to me. Afterwards she said, she had taken a month haggling with them and finally they came down to her ideal payment for the car SHE wanted.
That's the other thing about them, they want to put you in cars they want. Keep saying no until your happy.
Now this is the important thing, double the monthly payment you really want to make, you want 150, tell them 300 is your ideal. Then you find your ideal car (don't be silly and go for something you know you can't afford, know the prices of cars, check autotrader b4!!), then you need to keep telling them no on the monthly repayment. Do not go to welcome in desperate need, you need to walk away, remember the girl who had been working them for a month? I shaved £120 off my payment within 40 minutes, the cost of the overprice car dropped a fair bit! Then I walked, boy was she (sales) p1ssy about that I'm 120% sure she'll call me monday, she doesn't know it yet, but she needs to drop the payments buy another £25 a month.

The whole experience is horrid, but you MUST be prepared to say NO and leave or you might as well ask them to kiss you afterwards. I always like being kissed while being f*cked And that's what they'll do, you'll wind up with a car in negative equity the moment you sign (something worth thousands less than your paying for, you can't sell it basically).

Good luck, be firm, don't be desperate and make sure to remember your the customer. The free coffee's cr@p too.

[WFSSales]

Hello, I work in sales at WFS...they're a fantastic company to work for, but I'm guessing most of you don't care about our free vending machines and fresh deli sandwiches and you want my opinions of the so-called "misselling" of PPI, our "extortionate" APRs, and our utterly unreasonable demands to ask for the money we lent you back as per the legal document you signed with your own free will.

I'll start by saying that I personally wouldn't touch a WFS loan with a barge pole...but why would I need to? I'm not some muppet who has 10's of 1000s of punds worth of defaulted debt and CCJs...I just talk to such people. I earn and I save, and I don't borrow. Maybe I'll get a mortgage one day, and you can be damn sure with my spotless credit file that I'll be shopping around for the best rates in the prime market.

Far be it for me however to deny my employers their marketplace, and they pay me well with handsome bonuses for compliant sales of PPI, life insurance, accident insurence and home emergency insurance. Did you spot that c-word? Yes compliant.

In the script that we work off, a number of give away phrases are used. To start with we make it clear at the start of the call (where we witter on about the agenda) that we fully intend to offer you insurences if we establish you qualify for them. We then ask a bizarre series of questions (are you in the army, are you self-employed, do you have any next of kin) especially designed to ensure that according to the answers you give, that FSA rules on selling insurences is obeyed to the very letter of the law.

Next when we come to the big push for insurences, the words "of course the insurences are optional" is printed in extra bold type and we are trained to emphsise this statement, so at the end of it nobody can be in any doubt that the customer has taken it (the quote with insurance) of their own free will. Incidently the calls are really ALL recorded so it would be very easy to prove if we missold or not, in case conspiracy theorists are about to angle that we don't do what we're told. We live under constant fear of being monitored by the quality section.

If that were not enough, the whole shebang of info is sent for your perusal...remember we only quote...you do the whole paperchase, signing, and dreaming of what you'll do with the cash. We look at your file. We ask you what your existing credit is. We don't judge you for having a piece of sh!t credit rating. We certainly don't quote you if your outgoings are more than your incomings...the decline button is our friend in such cases.

I personally think you'd have to be insane to take APRs of upto 80% (and yes I sold such a rate today with PPI), but people are snapping them up like there's no tomorrow. Put it this way. There are 80 (yes 8-0) sales people on our floor, who are on the phone from dawn til dusk, and still the recruitment drive goes on...we get insane amounts of calls every single day and insane amounts of loans with PPI are given and paid out. The Crunch is also our friend.

We are not forcing people to take these rates, nor are we forcing people to take the frankly quite ridiculous PPI..indeed if they ask us (for the 3rd time at least) to take the PPI off we do so with the utmost courtesy, and it is never even hinted that the quote is indanger of being declined if they don't want it. It p!sses my bonus up but thats FSA rules for you...

Finally, I'm not sure how far people are not getting the concept of legal agreements, but my hard and fast rule is, if you don't like them don't sign them, and if you do make sure you stick to them. Whining that it's not fair that you have to pay back your loan is just pathetic....I see some ridiculous credit files daily with folks owing thousands, but still wanting more. They often have great jobs, but instead of saving money they p!ss it all up the wall on crappy interest payments...but fok me if that's not their choice.

I hope I've been frank with you on this. I like having a job, and this is certainly better than flipping burgers or emptying wheelie bins, and it's definitley better than being dolescum. I like welcome, they give me money...but the difference is that I don't have to give it all back to them and then some.

[sillygirl1]

Originally Posted by kitty08

just an update really we sent all the forms bk as i said we rang up friday they said ring bk today (tues) and the wage slip is now outa date which on the phone before we sent the form they said everything was fine so now we have sent the wage slip special delivery to get there tomoz for them to put the cheque through im getting rather upset and down about it now its so pathetic and they have batterd my partners credit score it must be them as we was switching our sky to virgin and virgin have come back and said our credit score is so bad they want a 100 quid deposit im sorry but we declined that we might not get in back it must be through welcome it was fine before

I'd stick with Sky, had no problems with them, buut Virginmedia continually have billed me incorrectly since May and I have been getting 'late payment charges' even though the bills have been paid off. When asked for their return they are returned and when asked to have the info off my credit rating they said 'sorry, incurred legallly' I said 'why refund then....' Their customer service is hit and miss, sometimes you get an Indian call centre, sometimes not.

[Dipply75]

Hi WFSsales, let me respond briefly to your slightly overly annoyed ravings:

Shocking surprise to have another welcome employee that thinks they can look down their nose and throw abuse at people purely as they have not lived exactly like you

Manners are free....and you can't even afford them

Of course the recorded calls are compliant....try reading what goes on in the branches where it is all one to one with no witnesses

And don't you realise, for someone so self righteous, that time and effort you put into that long rant and rave could have been spent actually helping someone

This thread is for folk who either need help or want to help. I agree you need help but not the kind offered on here

[bobbyh99]

Originally Posted by WFSSales

I like welcome, they give me money...but the difference is that I don't have to give it all back to them and then some.

The more people successfully claiming back extortionate charges and PPI (and there are quite a few), the more I like Welome too. These people too don't have to pay the money back either, they even get the added bonus on knowning that all of these reclaims are probably p...ing up your bonus!!!

[Dipply75]

Originally Posted by bobbyh99

The more people successfully claiming back extortionate charges and PPI (and there are quite a few), the more I like Welome too. These people too don't have to pay the money back either, they even get the added bonus on knowning that all of these reclaims are probably p...ing up your bonus!!!

[fergal71]

hi mr welcome congratulations on having a job well done... I am glad you can sleep at night without worry... I am also sure many of the bankers where saying much the same last few years.... let us see your postings 12 months from now after the oft have investigated your business and you have been slapped with heavy fines like so many others. Let us see if you are not flipping burgers then.
nothing against flipping burgers, i am sure it is much more rewarding ...

good luck