Copy of petition sent to local MP (Who seems more worried about local raves than anything important!) and Baroness Shepherd Of Northwold (Was Gillian Shepherd MP) who lives next to my mum and always seemed a fair politician.

Ahhh welcome (No pun intended) to (edit) world of Welcome Finance Dont feel alone, there are lots of us out there! Check out thread "Welcome Finance Any Dealings?" in General Debt Section and then PPI section, lots of Welcome in there! You will have a good starting point and then we can discuss some ideas!

I think everyone accepts that Dolly. I also think we need to get some "out there and doing it" legal advice. So off to get that tomorrow! Zooman has been very helpful to me in the past and all I want to do is see how many ways to skin a cat there are before I make a move. Need a devious legal mind to look at this, not my single litigant one!

Hi Am I too late? Any help I can provide let me know. Regards Grapes

Ummm time to return to quietly reading I think ..... Never was any good at this thread thing.

Sorry, just a quick question for Zooman. So you are saying everyone has a choice on mortgage? Well we didnt, we had a sub prime mortgage that was the ONLY one at the time we could get. We were paying well above base and had paid for the pleasure of getting the mortgage. If we could have picked another lender we would have done. we had to get out of the mortgage because we were being repossessed and they would not agree to spread the arrears, another bone of contention. I can assure you I never had a first bite of any cherry, let alone the 2nd! I thought the subject of indemnity clauses was covered by UCTA "The extent and scope of indemnity clauses are regulated by the Unfair Contract Terms Act. A consumer cannot be made to indemnify another party to the contract or a third party to the contract expect to the extent that term of the contract meets the requirements of the test of reasonableness" Does this come under fairness? Getting you to pay their defence in the small claims? Sorry Bona. Email sent regarding fast track by the way.

Email will be on the way shortly.

Well done you! I didnt think of Lord Faulkner but have just despatched letters to FSO,FSA,OFT,Local MP et al highlighting the use of contract terms to claim for costs when the clause seemed only intended for the lifetime of the contract thus creating a playing field in which they cant lose and the extortionate level of costs applied to single litigants etc when the cases are within the fast track. Maybe I am being naive but the scales of justice seem tipped! And its definate not in the small guys favour! Does it seem from Mr Meeks answer that the courts are making sure the solicitors get paid or am I reading it wrong? Or just cynical?

Hi Westy After a period of dead silence on both my NW cases, had a Notice Of Allocation Hearing for mine today (26th March) Slightly confused though, the claim is for £10,000plus, I asked for it to be considered for small claims (Didnt think it would hurt!). Does this mean they are going to consider small claims?

Ummm seems too quiet doesnt it I sent them a copy of my AQ, reply to their defence, defence of their counterclaim and a draft order. If nothing else will give them something to do! I loved the part which said we charged 6 months as everybody else does, ummm genuine pre-estimate, I think not .... Also pointed out we paid the brokers and their own fees and rate 1.5% above base, wheres the loss!

Thanks for PMs Got a copy of my AQ from Eversheds today, nothing on it at all. Other than happy for it to be Small Claims. Seems strange.

I think the chances of getting anything out of Welcome without resorting to legal action are slim. So I think that would be your only choice, been mine anyway!

I think you should write them a letter saying that the level of information is unacceptable and they need to provide you with EVERYTHING they have and if this is all they have they need to confirm it. And you need to go thru what they have got with a fine tooth comb as they are inclined to hide things!

Hi Seawall Mine is exactly the same as far as I can tell. So we have to defend the counterclaim, not sure if we have to wait for the AQ to do it or can do it now? I know its 14 days, I assume from the official date of defense? I am sure we will work it out!

Hi WFFs (Welcome Freedom Fighters ) Well N1 finally completed, took rather longer than I expected to fine tune and stretches to several pages. So off to local court tomorrow and a faxed copy to Mr S tonight. Feel relieved its finally at this point.

I think when push comes to shove you have to make your own decision but we have been down this route and basically it is just a way to make Welcome money and nothing to do with helping your dad. They just know he is at breaking point and want to take advantage of him. They told us exactly the same thing and it was nothing like what the b**t**ds did! They will give him a new loan so he has to pay off the proceeding one, its not a renewal of the first one or an extention or anything like that, whatever they say, check the paperwork. So he will not only pay off the outstanding sum minus a few SMALL refunds for any useless insurance he may have been persauded to take out. They will charge him a penalty fee for closing the account early that adds to the amount outstanding. They will charge him an acceptance fee for the NEW loan, then they will try to squeeze him into taking more insurance and they will prob have a cheque there to balance up the sum he has "borrowed". Do I like them? Nope not at all, been there and been burned. They told us the payments would go down and the period would be lengthed, then when they arrived it was the total opposite.

There are lots of us in a very similar position, so tell your parents not to feel alone. I would start by reading the thread "Welcome Finance Any Dealings?" Sorry cant insert the thread but I am sure that somebody with more skill than me can! Its in the Debts & Bailiff section as well. Then hopefully all us Welcome Freedom Fighters will be able to help!

You need to send the letter recorded to the Compliance Dept at head office at Ruddington. No real point in sending anything to the local offices, they often appear next to useless. We are going thru exactly the same thing. Managed to get some of the premium refunded pro rata and about to chase the rest thru the courts. They will deny wrongdoing at every turn, so be prepared!

Where did you sent the letter?

Hi Seawall In exactly the same position, eversheds to defend by 10th (My Birthday!) so we will have to compare notes!

Surfing the internet for Welcome related stories and found this one, "A case brought to my attention involves a constituent who was loaned £500—not much by today's standards. On top of that, he bought health care insurance at £130 and optional payment protection insurance for another £100. In addition, he faced a £65 acceptance fee, making a total of £795. He received the whole sum on credit, and the APR was 90 per cent. Such charges are both extortionate and disproportionate, especially as the loan was only for 12 months. None of that insurance protected my constituent when repayment became difficult for him. Indeed, the authors of his misfortune, Welcome Financial Services Ltd.—a misnomer if ever there was one—called at his mother's house threatening court action. To add to the irony of its name, the company has won an Investors in People award. It would say that it is doing nothing illegal and would, no doubt, point to other loan sharks whose behaviour is 10 or 100 times worse. However, that is no defence. Those rip-offs may seem more respectable, but they are still rip-offs. According to a copy of my constituent's repayment record, he had managed to repay about £290 of the original loan—more than half of the lump sum that he wanted—before he ran into difficulties" MP Colin Challen - In Parliment- lets hear it for Hansard!! It made me smile particularly liked "a misnomer if ever there was one"!

Off to the local court to file the N1, the MCOL just does not give you enough space to put down ALL the information I want to in the POC. Said the same thing about service of legal documents to me, if its a bluff, they picked the wrong person because I dont care. The harassment used to worry me but now I just want the boot to be on the other foot. Welcome really did us over with the "help" they offered and I havent forgotten, I am just not the same gullible person I was before.

Hello!! Sorry to have been away for a while but I am back now! Hope you have missed me! Well Mr S and I have finally grown weary of the essays we have sent back and forth to each other and off we go to court. Actually I feel quite relieved that we are finally at this point I had given him until Monday 15th but sod it, he has come back with his final offer, so off to local court tomorrow to file the documents. How is everyone else doing?

Hi Deller Just to ley you know that Cap One managed to squeeze the acknowledgement of service in before the 28th Dec but recieved a letter today saying that as a "gesture of goodwill" the full amount was repaid into the account yesterday! That clears that debt then Never got as far as a defence

We have the same letter, same author!