After being unemployed for quite some time iv recently started a job at a call centre not to far from where I live. Im working about 35 hours a week, 5 days a week 10-6 or 10-4. Im quite enjoying the job but there are a couple of things im still not that sure on. Firstly apparently im self employed, this is a new thing for me as iv never been self employed before but im only being paid £100 a week plus bonuses (extra £50 if i get 5 pitches in a week) plus £5 per pitch and 2% commision from any sales. I realise that as im self employed they do not have to pay minimum wage but it still feels like very little for the amount of hours im doing. Has anyone worked in this kinda of situation before and does it sound about right? After looking on a few sites iv also got another question as the hours are set (8 mon-thurs, 6 fri) and im selling something for someone else does that still mean im self employed? The deffinition on the DWP website left me all confused. Any help will be greatly appreciated

Just a random aside really, im going to be starting a job at carter financial next month so should be able to understand alot more about how loans and stuff work out. Hopefully I can get some insight that will be usefull to people dealing with Welcome. Anybody heard anything good or bad about Carter Financial?

Decemeber 2007. So I can just reject their contract and say I want to keep to the old agreement paying say 50 a month into it?

Hey guys and gals, can someone have a look at my thread please. Iv just been sent a pre-contract information thing and i cant recall reading about anyone else recieving one so im not sure what to do with it. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/welcome-finance/196750-welcome-have-stolen-my-2.html Thanks

Just a quick update, got a pre-contract information form in the post. Shame iv not got a scanner because there are some things that are a little worrying. Firstly its over 10 years, this isnt really a legal worry more that I didnt realise it would take so long to pay it all off. Secondly when I last asked someone about how much I owed I was told its was £3206.97 however the figure they use as the amount used to settle loan as £3405.00 which I cant work out how they got to. A more pressing worry is that they do not mention anywhere the total amount that will have to be repaid. I had to work it out myself using an APR calculator. 120 months, at an APR of 13.29% making a total of £5991.24. But apparently after a quarter of the loan is through i can settle for £2913.48. Not sure if this is normal but on a pre-contract information thing there is no where for me to sign. Is it up to me to get back to them, or do they have to get in contact with me now that iv received this information.

Ahh didnt consider that, thanks will do it now

Ah balls, wish I had read this the other day instead of getting rather jolly I phoned up the branch, because when I phoned up head office about the fact they took money without my permission they said I had to deal with the branch because only the branch would have recordings of the calls. And my ever cheerfull man at Welcome told me that he had forgotten to email head office but he would phone me back. He phoned back telling me that theres no way they could refund it as it had entered their system or something along those lines, but what he could do is let me use £50 of the £100 to pay for next months payment. I agreed as im still in the process of getting a job so wasnt sure if I could afford not to. Then I asked about my new agreement and he said he would draw one up and send it to me that evening, im still under the impression that this is a new agreement writing off my old loan so when it arrives tommorow il let you know what it looks like.

Just a quick update, iv not heard off welcome yet about the refund although he said he would phone back the next day, but I guess there head office has got alot more on their plate at the moment. More worryingly is the fact hes still not posted my new agreement yet, so im not sure if im still incurring charges on my old agreement and if welcome do end up selling off their accounts that I wont be able to rearrange a new deal with them. Think im going to phone them tommorow

its a maestro switch card

I bit the bullet and spoke to Welcome, I tried to record the call but for some reason it didnt work basically I told them I have no problem paying them some money but not £100 that I paid them so if they refunded me the money I was owed I would be able to afford the future payments. The guy then told me that they couldnt do a partial refund, and he would have to email head office to see if they can do a refund and then take the money back off. He also seemed a lil reluctant to send me my new agreement details. The fact he hasnt sent them off yet seems a lil odd but I guess he hadnt spoken to me so he wasnt sure what to put in it. Oh and apparently I agreed for the £100 and we must of got our wires crossed, i dont think that is really a great excuse but I guess were all human, and if it meant he had something to write down on his notes that made him look like a productive employee then thats all good then. grrrrr.

I managed to get through to the fraud department, but as Welcome are a company im in an agreement with they cant count it as fraud, wasnt really what i was asking about but still nice to know. He advised me to get hold of the citizen advice bureau and speak to them. :S

Im on the phone to someone at the mo and im being told the same thing, because i provided my card details theres nothing they can do, and I willl have to speak to welcome to get it refunded im phoneing again to try my luck again.

Yeah i did think it seemed a little wrong that the bank couldnt do anything about a company taking their customers money without their permission. Im going to phone up the bank and see if I get a better response from them.

I had a 20 minute conversation with a man at my bank and he said that there was nothing they could do. Im just waiting for some money to transfer over from my other account so i can pay bills before i get a new card. Should be all done by end of the week and il order a new card after that

Hey im wondering if anyone has got any advice about what I should be mentioning in my conversation im about to have with welcome. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/welcome-finance/196750-welcome-have-stolen-my.html#post2135740 Heres my thread with the back story and some information in, any help at all with what to say, any buzz words i should mention to get my message across will be an amazing help. Thanks

Just got back from the bank, theres nothing they can do unfortunatley as it wasnt a direct debit and was telephone card sale thing. Their not insured to claim that type of transaction back, they said the only way I could get it back is by calling welcome up and telling them. Iv tried calling but no surprises there not answering. Will try again in a bit Any hints as to what to say, im not that great at putting across my point over the phone, hence how they ended up getting my card details off me.

Im with Natwest, Im not sure how long it takes to get a new card, but the card will be sent to my home address down south as iv not changed my address due to the lack of utility bills i get in student accomodation. So it would take and extra 3 days for it to get to me from when my parents get it, so its not really an option I want to go with. I wont be leaving till I get a satisfactory result. Thanks for the advice Andie

No PPI no, I cant really not have my card as its my only debit card and iv still got some bills to pay over the phone. Im popping down the bank in a bit just grabbing a bite to eat, il let you know how it goes. Thanks for everyones advice

I gave them my card details.

Iv already checked and there are no direct debits. Il speak to them about claiming the money back tommorow. I guess if they refuse then I should SAR them or is it worth doing it now? thanks for the advice

No nothings been set up yet. Could you explain what the direct debit guarantee scheme is a little more? Im not fully up to speed with all the in ands outs of banks and stuff.

Thanks JonCris, done http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/welcome-finance/196750-welcome-have-stolen-my.html#post2133078 and will be writing up the SAR tonight

Im not happy, for a while I thought I was one of the few unlucky guys with an enforceable agreement, but i didnt mind, i made my bed it was time for me to lie in it. I didnt even mind when my subject access request and change of address form was "lost" in the post. But now Welcome have really got to me. A few weeks ago a guy phoned me from debt collection and said that he could offer me a loan which would pay off my old one and reduce my payments so I could afford to repay them as I had fallen behind on the last one. Being wary I didnt commit myself fully I told him how much I could afford and mentioned that I May be able to make a £100 first payment on the day I got my student loan, but I wasnt sure because it depends on my budget, he came across helpful and told me that wasnt a problem and that he would phone me in a week, little did i know i was talking to a machievalian prince of the highest order. I stupidly gave him my account details so if I could afford it he could take the payment out on student loan day. A week passed and like the majority of the girls I meet he never called, fighting the repressed memories of rejection in the past I plucked up the courage and called him, he was "away" collecting some poor saps money so I was told that he would phone me back as he was only going to be about 45 mins, the day passed without a phonecall. Thinking he would try and get hold of me sometime leading up to loan day I didnt think much of it, but he never called. I know this as my housemate is writing his dissertaion downstairs next to the phone and has only managed 10 hours sleep since last thursday, and even if he did call in one of those rare moments of rest for my zombiefied housemate he still didnt speak to me to confirm. Loan day came and I was busy visiting banks transferring my loan to cover all the bills that have built up since I last had money and I missed a call from welcome. Still no confirmation then. As is often the case on loan day I didnt check my balance all day I was revelling in having some money and was spending it wisely on food stuffs. It wasnt until today when I was trying to pay a bill over the phone that I found out that my account was now empty, "strange" I thought as even with my copious buying of pasta and noodles I should still have around £100 left in the bank. After waiting in line for what seemed like an age in the bank the ugly truth was revealed to me, £100 had been taken from my account 10 mins after I put the money in, the swines. The tragedy of the situation was if they did speak to me he would of found out I could only really budget for around£20-£30 down payment. Oh and he never sent me the documents for the new loan agreement either the fecker. So now I must turn to the trusty caggers and hope that you can fill my day with a little bit of hope. What should I do, oh and sorry for the mini essay, really needed to vent =] Iv been told to subject access request them, Ill do it tonight/tommorow when im in the library, would be a nice distraction from stats. Is there anything I can do now, with them taking so much (its not alot when compared to how much they have fleeced off people before, but that £100 would of seen me to June) is it worth phoneing them up and giving them both barrells? This time recording the call

Thanks enamae =] A little update, loan day was yesterday and I was pleased to find my overdraft was still there. However today I checked my balance, and I could withdraw 0 which is strange as if I had my overdraft still, as it has not been defaulted, just warned that it may be, I should still have around £150 left to spend...waiting on May 19th with baited breath now

Im not happy, for a while I thought I was one of the few unlucky guys with an enforceable agreement, but i didnt mind, i made my bed it was time for me to lie in it. I didnt even mind when my subject access request and change of address form was "lost" in the post. But now Welcome have really got to me. A few weeks ago a guy called Dan phoned me from debt collection and said that he could offer me a loan which would pay off my old one and reduce my payments so I could afford to repay them as I had fallen behind on the last one. Being wary I didnt commit myself fully I told him how much I could afford and mentioned that I May be able to make a £100 first payment on the day I got my student loan, but I wasnt sure because it depends on my budget, he came across helpful and told me that wasnt a problem and that he would phone me in a week, little did i know i was talking to a machievalian prince of the highest order. I stupidly gave him my account details so if I could afford it he could take the payment out on student loan day. A week passed and like the majority of the girls I meet he never called, fighting the repressed memories of rejection in the past I plucked up the courage and called him, he was "away" collecting some poor saps money so I was told that he would phone me back as he was only going to be about 45 mins, the day passed without a phonecall. Thinking he would try and get hold of me sometime leading up to loan day I didnt think much of it, but he never called. I know this as my housemate is writing his dissertaion downstairs next to the phone and has only managed 10 hours sleep since last thursday, and even if he did call in one of those rare moments of rest for my zombiefied housemate he still didnt speak to me to confirm. Loan day came and I was busy visiting banks transferring my loan to cover all the bills that have built up since I last had money and I missed a call from welcome. Still no confirmation then. As is often the case on loan day I didnt check my balance all day I was revelling in having some money and was spending it wisely on food stuffs. It wasnt until today when I was trying to pay a bill over the phone that I found out that my account was now empty, "strange" I thought as even with my copious buying of pasta and noodles I should still have around £100 left in the bank. After waiting in line for what seemed like an age in the bank the ugly truth was revealed to me, £100 had been taken from my account 10 mins after I put the money in, the swines. The tragedy of the situation was if Dan did speak to me he would of found out I could only really budget for around£20-£30 down payment. Oh and he never sent me the documents for the new loan agreement either the fecker. So now I must turn to the trusty caggers and hope that you can fill my day with a little bit of hope. What should I do, oh and sorry for the mini essay, really needed to vent =]