Welcome Finance

[baz300]

welcome are a joke!

i took out a loan from them in march this year and fell into difficuilty for making the payments

i contacted them to explain the situation and was told someone would be in touch to help me manage my account

no one got in touch so i had no option but to cancell the direct debit

i then recieved phone calls from them about missing payments but were all recieved while i was at work! i asked them to call me back at a suitable time( told them when my breaks were and when i finished) i tried calling them but was told the person dealing with my account was busy and would call me back

he then spoke to my mother on the phone telling her that i was in debt and was missing payments and that they will soon be visiting HER house to start repossesing goods!

i finally spoke to a manager and agreed a new payment plan but they keep trying to increase the payments that they know i cant afford

[Dipply75]

Hi Baz300, welcome to CAG . Hope we can help you with these muppets.

First thing is to put a big complaint about their breach of the Data Protection Act. Secondly, do you have any of their insurances with the loan?

Without trying to be too nosey can you give some details, like:

Did you choose to have the insurances and what ones do you have (PPI, healthcare etc) and what kind of difficulties were you having?

We may be able to help with those too, claim on any insurances or if you were missold, maybe claim back the cost.

Don't let the buggers get you down....we've all been there

[WFSSales]

Oh they're very careful not to missell...since June they've got all new employees on a 6 weeks compliance camp...we're FSA water-tight right now.

Some VERY intelligent people run this gaff, and they stick to the very letter of the law. One of the directors is responsible for compliance, and they monitor us like hawks for the slightest chance that we missell.

It's a very clever script.

I sleep very well at night on that basis. Remember, we only quote. The punters accept those quotes by their own free wills often signing credit agreements with clearly stated 80% aprs, and PPI's worth half of the loan amount itself. Bonkers? I'd say so....but there's the freewheeling "gimme now" society for you, coupled with the objection handling skills of salespeople. Tis merely a sad reflection of our sick credit obsessed society. Still we all have mouths to feed eh?

[Dipply75]

and in the branches where it's not all recorded, one to one with no-one to check what the salespeople are telling folk?

If you could give the name of the director responsible for compliance it would be a great help - his name would be publicly listed anyway - but to know he deals with that side of it, as there are MAJOR complaince issues at one branch he needs to know about.

If he doesn't already know, then there are other serious non-compliances going on too!

[bobbyh99]

Originally Posted by WFSSales

Oh they're very careful not to missell...since June they've got all new employees on a 6 weeks compliance camp...we're FSA water-tight right now.

Some VERY intelligent people run this gaff, and they stick to the very letter of the law. One of the directors is responsible for compliance, and they monitor us like hawks for the slightest chance that we missell.

It's a very clever script.

I sleep very well at night on that basis. Remember, we only quote. The punters accept those quotes by their own free wills often signing credit agreements with clearly stated 80% aprs, and PPI's worth half of the loan amount itself. Bonkers? I'd say so....but there's the freewheeling "gimme now" society for you, coupled with the objection handling skills of salespeople. Tis merely a sad reflection of our sick credit obsessed society. Still we all have mouths to feed eh?

Given the number of people claiming for misselling etc, clearly the people that run this Gaff aren't that intelligent.

[082stewie]

[quote=WFSSales;1828673]Oh they're very careful not to missell...since June they've got all new employees on a 6 weeks compliance camp...we're FSA water-tight right now.

Some VERY intelligent people run this gaff.


So what happened to all those thousands of people who were conned previously to June and the mis-informed staff and customers? Not your fault I guess, should have read the small print I guess, not my problem I guess....I’m certain you sleep well at night!

Intelligence is your opinion. My cat was intelligent and so are my gold fish. I would prefer some very QUALIFIED people run this gaff over intelligence any day.

[082stewie]

Originally Posted by 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.

I compliment your passion, but you should try and be at least a little bit more factual regarding your company. Why not try and answer some of the questions posted instead of back-peddling that Welcome are famous for.

Flipping burgers and pushing wheelie bins around requires some form of drive and intelligence. I would consider reading off a script is pretty much brain numbing but well suited to your chosen career path!

Remember this, the people you are slagging are the ones who will bring welcome to its knees, never under estimate the power of numbers thats if you could count to more than 10. Enjoy the salary and the bonuses you are getting. I am certain they will be short lived..You would be fortunate to flip bugers some day, just remember not to include Welcome finance on your CV.

Stewie

[mojo8]

just thought i would read through this post as i have just posted my thread and i find that childish littel rant unbelivable and typical of the kind of people they employ, i find it strange though that if its that busy why a friend of ours has just been made redundant from there sales force and and they are currnently not putting vehicle finance into dealerships, obviously doing well... not. there day will come, what goes around comes around.

[naughtykitten]

Wow, this whole thread is bizarre!

Not sure how it went from an innocent request for help regarding a son's loan -which my advice on would be that requesting a settlement figure is usually unproductive & that you would tend to have better response if you give an offer of settlement figure, backed up by income & expenditure evidence or they will just reject it...but since that first post was amazingly in August 2007 I'm sure that case is well on it's way to being resolved!

I am gobsmacked at the posts of these Welcome employees! So rude & unhelpful! If you are so happy working for them & have no problems with what you do & can sleep well at night etc etc then why come onto a support forum to defend them? Methinks they are not as comfortable in their roles as they make out!

I agree with various points on here...Welcome usually charge a crazily high interest due to the fact that they offer loans etc to people who have been refused by everyone else. People who are desperate, & whom may not necessarily read the small print or pay enough attention to the PPI they have agreed to as they are merely focused on getting the money & just say yes to everything.

Everyone (I hope) knows that if you get a loan, credit card etc you will be charged interest & if you don't pay back on time you will get charged, & you will in the end always end up paying back more than you initially got, but that's the condition of them 'lending' the money to you in the first place. It is not free money. Most people understand this.

Unfortunately, alot of people come into unforseen circumstances in that even though they had every intention of paying back installments etc on time, their situation changes & they for whatever reason cannot afford to. These people are not bad people & are not stupid people & they try everything they can to sort things out through great stress.

There are also people who for whatever reason think that they are better than others & should be able to get money that is not theirs & never pay any of it back. This ruins it for everyone else who has every intention of paying back money they owe & take responsibility for it. Debt collectors treat everyone as the latter & they are very well 'brainwashed' into believing that what they are doing is right & have no problems with what they do.

Welcome as far as I know are doing well & is in no danger of getting into difficulty at the present. I have heard that there is restructuring, & they are also just one part of a very big company: Cattles. They lend to the people who noone else will, & so long as people who cannot get credit elsewhere keep taking out loans with them, they will carry on exactly the same.

I would advise noone to go to Welcome for anything, -no matter how bad it is at the time, it can only ever get worse if you go with them!

[ceebee]

Compliant ? my son was naive enough to take out a loan in July with this shower and looking at the agreement the boxes for PPI were pre-printed with a tick. So much for choice, basically Welcome preys on people who are desperate.

[Mikwales]

Im sorry i went with welcome finance, i borrowed 750 and am paying back 1516. i had the loan a year ago and still owe 630, if i was to get a settlement fee i can only get that by sending them a letter to request it, endless problems with these, please do not go with them for any finance whatsoever, they rang me the other day to offer me a loan for only £1000 and the payments were (with insurance) 145 per month over 3 years! so for a 1000 loan id pay back around 5220

[deafandy]

Originally Posted by WFSSales

Hello, I work in sales at WFS...etcetera

everything you said made me want to drown kittens.

you sound just like the moron from WFS i spoke to on the phone in august last year...and i'm still waiting for you to take me to court...

why haven't i recieved a summons yet, if i owe you £3500+? could it be that your sums don't add up, and any judge would look at your paperwork and throw you straight out of the door?

yes, i f**king thought so. c'mon welc**t, serve me some papers, if you've got the cojones

and, yes. i will have fries with that.

[Charlie1!]

Originally Posted by tightbum

This company needs to be banned. My husband made the mistake of borrowing from them and he is still paying back the sum after 6 years. They are a complete nightmare to deal with and the rates are terrible. Suggest you borrow from the bank, someone reputable, and pay it off that way.

Unfortunately, it is always a mistake after you sign on that line! The terms and conditions of the loan are defined in the agreement! Why do people not read them! Dont let finance sales people rush you into a deal! Ask questions and read the small print!

[Charlie1!]

Originally Posted by mojo8

just thought i would read through this post as i have just posted my thread and i find that childish littel rant unbelivable and typical of the kind of people they employ, i find it strange though that if its that busy why a friend of ours has just been made redundant from there sales force and and they are currnently not putting vehicle finance into dealerships, obviously doing well... not. there day will come, what goes around comes around.

They are FTSE250 so not doing to bad! Also, they pulled out of dealer credit to avoid the afore mntioned problems

[jamiethemac]

I've had a small loan with Welcome for about nine months now, and haven't had any problems with them. I keep up with repayments and haven't heard anything from them since the money cleared into my account. I made it clear when I applied that I didn't need any PPI or any other insurance, just the loan and they were fine with that.

I agreed to pay the money back over two years, so I assume when the 24th and final payment is made I won't owe them a thing.

Reading the other posts it's clear that people feel a lot of hostility towards the company, but if if you pay them on time every month you shouldn't have any problems.

[bobbyh99]

Originally Posted by jamiethemac

I've had a small loan with Welcome for about nine months now, and haven't had any problems with them. I keep up with repayments and haven't heard anything from them since the money cleared into my account. I made it clear when I applied that I didn't need any PPI or any other insurance, just the loan and they were fine with that.

I agreed to pay the money back over two years, so I assume when the 24th and final payment is made I won't owe them a thing.

Reading the other posts it's clear that people feel a lot of hostility towards the company, but if if you pay them on time every month you shouldn't have any problems.

I see you agreed to pay back over 2 years. Did you check the APR?
Unfortunately, if you ever get into financial difficulty (and I hope you don't), then I am sure you will be back on this thread ranting with everyone else.

What about the people that can't pay anymore. The one's which through no fault of their own are unable to pay anymore? The one's which were told they had to have PPI in order to get the loan! The one's in financial difficulty and desperate only to be sold another loan to pay off existing one's!

I could rant on for ever about these sharks but as I am sure you have already read, there are plenty of people that have already done this!

[jamiethemac]

Originally Posted by bobbyh99

I see you agreed to pay back over 2 years. Did you check the APR?
Unfortunately, if you ever get into financial difficulty (and I hope you don't), then I am sure you will be back on this thread ranting with everyone else.

What about the people that can't pay anymore. The one's which through no fault of their own are unable to pay anymore? The one's which were told they had to have PPI in order to get the loan! The one's in financial difficulty and desperate only to be sold another loan to pay off existing one's!

I did check the APR, and it's high but that's what you get when you deal with companies like Welcome. I have the greatest sympathy for people who can't pay through no fault of their own, people who have lost their jobs etc. but there also seems to be a section of people who don't want to pay back as much as they agreed to simply because the APR is stupidly high, or the PPI is massively expensive.

For the record, when I applied they never said "no PPI = no loan". Granted they wanted me to buy it, but I simply said no and they reluctantly accepted it.

[082stewie]

Originally Posted by jamiethemac

I've had a small loan with Welcome for about nine months now, and haven't had any problems with them. I keep up with repayments and haven't heard anything from them since the money cleared into my account. I made it clear when I applied that I didn't need any PPI or any other insurance, just the loan and they were fine with that.

I agreed to pay the money back over two years, so I assume when the 24th and final payment is made I won't owe them a thing.

Reading the other posts it's clear that people feel a lot of hostility towards the company, but if if you pay them on time every month you shouldn't have any problems.

I am so proud of you!

[postggj]

interesting comments from new posters x2

very strange if i may say

[jamiethemac]

why strange?