An update on Welcome Finance/Cattles Welcome Finance Gives Cattles A Prod (from The Herald )

Hi everyone, I received another phone call from some other idiot at Welcome Finance today. He caught me at a bad time and I am afraid that I swore at him. This is out of character for me. I have had enough with this pathetic company and some of it's staff that are complete prats. I said to him, I am dealing with this matter already with one of your colleagues and you know my exact financial position but your colleague will not respond to any of my letters in writing. I then phoned Hessle and spoke to a guy at their CRC (Customer Relations Centre) Complaints Dept. I told him that all times I have kept your company informed by letter (Recorded Delivery) and have sent you money every month. So he has logged my official complaint against the person dealing with my account and the fact that I am still getting phone calls from other WF staff who seem to know nothing of my current dealings with this person. CRC Complaints said that they will come back to me within 48 hours. Oh yes, this character who phoned me today wanted to know my CCCS reference number and I said " That is confidential between me and CCCS". I reminded him of the Data Protection Act but this numbskill probably has not even heard of it ..... and CCCS said that I must not give WF my reference number. I am at the end of my tether with WF and all I hope is that whoever takes them over is better than they are at dealing with customers. PS. I have also been getting letters from a company called Mackenzie Hall over the last 9 months regarding a "Time Expired/Statute Barred" small debt. I have simply ignored them. Today somebody called me from their Scottish office and I said " I have no debts " (which is true as far as they are concerned) and put the phone down. This firm's bad reputation also proceeds them. This government must legislate against parasites like MH and sort out the whole finance industry a.s.a.p

Hi Andie, I have never known a company in the finance industry that behaves so badly. Companies like WH certainly do pray on the poorer members of the public. They are the closest you can get to loansharks. When I visited their offices, I was shocked at the state of their office and when I went to the toilet, there was no soap or toilet paper. I don't know how their staff can work there and during my half a dozen visits to this office, the manager had left and many of the staff too. I found visiting this place simply depressing and no wonder they have such a high turnover in staff. I have given up communicating with their Head Ofice in Hessle as they are no better than their branches.

Hi everyone, I am not going to defend Welcome Finance ( Cattles ) as I owe them money which I am very unlikely to repay unless I win the lottery. Having said that they lent me money for a car which I did repay over 3 years. At the time, I could not get a loan from any other company as my credit history was poor. I started to rebuild my credit history with WF but the Credit Crunch defeated me and now I have gone backwards. As I see, it unless subprime lenders are allowed to remain then poor people or people with bad credit histories will not be able to borrow money in the future. By necessity, sub prime lenders have to charge higher rates of interest simply because of the greater risk of defaulters. Would you lend money at a low rate of interest to someone who is more likely to be unable to repay? No, of course not !! However I would like to see much tougher regulation and control of subprime lenders and in future they should all behave responsibily to their debtors and within the law. Welcome Finance have proved to be a very irresponsible company in terms of their administration and doubtful practices by their staff. With Gordon Brown now saying that the days of 100% mortages should be over, as I see it, we are going to return to much tougher times when people either have to save or go without. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer, I feel. Not exactly a Socialist democracy is it? PS. There again New Labour has been more Tory than the Tories !!

Hi everyone, Just a quick update. I had a call from the person dealing with my account and he said that he would contact CCCS about me. In my letter to them, in which I enclosed all my financial details that CCCS prepared on my behalf, I requested that I have written acceptance of my monthly offer as well as confirmation of the freezing of any interest and other charges being added to my account. I just phoned CCCS and they said that they will not disclose or even discuss any more information about me to Welcome Finance under the Data Protection Act. I said that it seems that WF want me to enter into a DMP ( Debt Management Plan ) and they said that they cannot force me into one. All that they can now do is pass on my debt to a Debt Collection Agency or take me to court. Either way that is fine by me as I have done everything requsted by WF and still they have not got the courtesy to acknowledge any of my letters in writing. They really are an awful organisation to deal with and they deserve to go " Down the Pan ". As they say " You cannot get blood out of a stone " I await to see what happens with great interest. If they call me, I will just ignore them. Have a great weekend. PS. When I called my local Citizens Advice Bureau about them a few months ago, the lady said " Oh dear NOT Welcome Finance "....

Hi shazzyp, Sounds a familiar tale..... I have just had another phone call from these "Cowboys" asking to speak to me. I said " What do you want and have you received my letter ". They said no " It's not on the system " and I said that it was sent Recorded Delivery last Monday. I said that is twice you have called me this week and if you call me again, I will be calling the Police. They said that they would inform the Branch Manager and stop calling me. I said " Reply to my letter in writing once you have received it, OK " and put the phone down. I am now going to call their CRC Complaints office in Hessle, East Yorshire once again and tell them exactly what I think of their company in no uncertain terms. Oh yes, the person who called me just now sounded like a total idiot. God help us consumers that have to suffer at the hands of companies like this that are more or less licenced loan sharks. This is going around the internet at present: Dear Sirs, (TO THE BANKS) In view of what is happening in the banking industry right now, I was wondering if you could advise me: If one of my cheques is returned, and marked "insufficient funds," how do I know whether that refers to me or to you?* All of us to a greater or lesser extent have been guilty of probably borrowing/spending too much over the last 10 years but largely encouraged to do so by greedy banks and money lenders. It's early February and the financial crisis is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Voda

Hi Dipply75, No probs at all and many thanks for the forum details. I am monitoring the number of calls that WF make to me. They have made one call this week so far and I have decided not to call them back now. I refuse to be possibly subjected to more sales talk. Afterall they have my letter and I asked that they should reply to it in writing which they have not done so far. I have never come across such a "Cowboy" outfit in all my life. Take care Voda

Hi Jamie, Thanks very much. Re your DD notification. Just another example of how inefficient their administration is.... Take care Voda

Hiya, Many thanks for your good wishes .... Yes please, can you kindly let me have the link to that letter. They will charge me for each letter that they send, of course ..... I have said to them in previous correspondence that I am considering charging WF for each of my letters to them .... Take care Voda

Hi everyone, I sent off my letter to WF together with the CCCS documents by Recorded Delivery and they should have received them by now. I had to go out this afternoon and one of their usual " Please call them " phone messages was left on my answerphone. If they start to harass me all the time after my doing all that has been requested by them then I will simply call the Police as it is a Criminal Offence under the Administration of Justice Act 1970 to harass people in debt. Companies like WF are sore losers when it comes to lending to people who fall into financial difficulties for whatever reason. I don't feel sorry for them one bit because I am sure that their high rates of interest cover against bad loans. Does anyone know if Debt Relief Orders are coming into force this April. See: Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 (c. 15) It seems to me that their staff are mostly commissioned based salespeople who have never heard of " The Credit Crunch ". One of their staff who dealt with me some time back left their employ and this person has since become a good friend of mine. This person could not wait to leave WF, now works for the Nationwide Building Society, is a very happy bunny now with excellent career prospects and much better job security. I will call WF but they will have to be very careful with me.

Well you really don't have anything to worry about. I must admit that Welcome Finance are a very inept company regarding their administration and customer care.When I originally started dealing with my local Citizens Advice Bureau, they said the same and have had dozens of complaints about them down the years. I think that a District Judge would treat any case involving WF with considerable care.

Hi, Thank you for your answer and advice on this matter. I will check into it all. I did not take out PPI with the new agreement. Take care

Hi, Yes I renegotiated my unsecured Personal Loan with Welcome Finance. They reduced the rate of interest after my going to their offices and explaining my financial position. I signed a new agreement but had to extend the repayment time to make the monthly amount more affordable. This was all before my present financial troubles.

Evening everyone, I called CCCS during the week and found them exceptionally helpful.... My phone appointment took nearly and hour and we went through everything. They then sent to me by e-mail my Up-To-Date Budget, Financial Statement and Creditor List for forwarding to Welcome Finance. They pointed out some expenses that I had forgotten and were not aware to include and therefore my surplus at the end of each month is less than before. The lady at CCCS said " Welcome Finance have in a way shot themselves in the foot " by referring me to their service. However she did point out that it is very important to get professional help in cases like mine as County Courts will accept their advice to clients rather than the creditor's. Also she said that Welcome Finance are also more likely to accept CCCS's opinion of my financial status. Finally, CCCS sent me a template letter to include with my financial details when I send them to WF. I'll let you know how I get on in due course.

Now 11p lowest !!!

Hi everyone, I first started dealing with Welcome Finance four years ago when I bought a car that they financed for me. I purchased the vehicle from a main dealer and not one of their dealers. I paid off the loan at the end of the three year agreement and all was fine except someone called me a month later and said ' Where is my monthly payment.' I told him that the loan was paid off and he apologised. They also offered me a Personal Loan which I needed and then I topped it up a year later. I was a good customer with no problems repaying the monthly instalments until the Credit Crunch affected me. I have since been taking advice from the National Debtline and Citizens Advice Bureau and have dealt successfully with my other Creditors by supplying them with Bank Statements and other details such as Income & Expenditure. When I first told Welcome of my woes, I had a very nasty man call me but I sorted him and the matter out by dealing direct with their Complaints Department. Since then their staff have been very polite to me as I have been a good customer in the past. I sent WF a list of all my other creditors, an Income and Expenditure form (their own) and my monthly offer. However my pro rata offer is not acceptable to them and they have now told me to contact the debt charity CCCS. See: CCCS - Free Debt Advice from the UK's Leading Debt Charity My other creditors are much larger organsiations than Welcome Finance so I assume that they do not have the staff or facilities to accept lower repayments. I will therefore contact CCCS next week and let them deal with WF on my behalf. However, Welcome Finance did say to me that when CCCS contacts them direct, then they will be able to accept my lower repayment and will 'Freeze all interest and other added charges.' We shall see !! At all times I have kept WF informed of my financial situation by Recorded Delivery letter and have been sending them money each month. They are a strange company to deal with unlike all my other creditors as they never reply to my letters in writing despite my asking them to. The branch always phones me whereas their Complaints Dept wrote back in response to all my letters. I have also noticed that the branches have a large turnover in staff. I will keep you all posted on what happens. Has anyone else had a similar experience with WF?