Just stick to your guns Posie and you'll be ok. Just don't stand for any rubbish from them. They deserve to be challenged and punished for all the wrongs and misery they've brought to their customers. Adienotts

Cheers Rory.

Hi Posie They maybe still adding interest onto your account. It all depends when you took your original agreement out with them. When I took my agreement out they loaded all of the interest onto my account right at the start. I believe this has now been deemed unlawful and that finance companies are no longer to load interest right at the start of the agreement like that. I'm not sure when this was deemed unlawful, I did manage to get that information somewhere on the Thread Welcome Finance any dealings. One thing which i did, that I think would be of benefit to you would be to write a letter to your local branch asking them for a statement of your account. This will therefore show you payments which you have made and also your outstanding balance. You could then tell whether or not all your interest was added at the start of the agreement or whether or not you are still paying interest. All the best Adienotts

Hi Posie When I ran into difficulties with my monthly payments with Welcome Finance due to circumstances beyond my control. My monthly payment amount was changed to something more manageable, they did take the ppi off my payments. This was a verbal agreement and I never recieved anything in writing. I knew for definate that a new agreement had been put in place due to a check on my credit file. You said that you had a greed a new monthly payment with Welcome. Did they give you in an indication on how long you had to maintain these new level of payments? Have they reviewed it any stage? It is worth checking your credit file to see what the status of your credit file is. You can do this quite quickly and for free if you register with Experian Credit Expert, check credit rating, credit reports & file alerts - with Experian CreditExpert.co.uk (an experian based site). It wouldn't put it past me if they have formed a new agreement, even if the agreed payments are a lot lower. They are the type of company who know damn well that it would take you ages to pay off what you owe, but they aren't bothered as long as they are loading the interest. If your credit file shows that the original agreement has been settled and a new agreement has been put in my place (as they did with myself) you are pretty much laughing as they have to abide by certain regulations (i.e. a written agreement needs to be in place signed by yourself). All the best Regards Adienotts

Hi Posie When you made the new agreement with Welcome Finance, did you actually sign another agreement with them? and do you have a copy of the new agreement? To cut a long story short, I had to ammend my agreement with them due to a change in circumstances. I never recieved a copy of the new agreement that I had with them, nor could i remember signing anything. I sent them a Stuatory Access Request and a CCA with regards to getting hold of a copy of this agreement. Welcome finance could not find a copy of this agreement and as a result they advised that they would write off the remaining balance of my account and not pursue me for any further payments. If there is no agreement, then it is not legally binding. If doing this does work out to your benefit and they do write off the balance, be sure to check your credit record file and make sure that they have recorded an accurate entry in there. I hope this is of benefit to you and best of luck. If you need any further advice please don't hesitate to ask me and I will try my best to help. Regards Adienotts

Hi Maxine The rest of the statements which were no good to me, still showed an outstanding balance for me but no other transactions such as interest or charges. The reason for this is because in 2004 I had to enter an Involuntary Arrangement, so technically although they have ended my agreement and i know longer have the card, my account in theory is still open because they are one of my creditors in my IVA. You are quite right in saying that they are trying to fob me off, and I shall be pursuing them straight away. I shall be speaking to the Information officer tomorrow to get some further advice. They won't be getting away with this. I haven't opened my own thread, I was just browsing through the threads, came across this one and thought the information might be of use to everybody on this thread, as some people may or may not get the same letter as I recieved from them. adienotts

Hi everybody. I was browsing through some of the forums and stumbled across this one. I sent a letter to Barclaycard back in January this year with regards to a copy of my statements. At the beginning of last month I recived some statements from 2004 to present. Not much good for me as my account was closed back in 2004 so I only recieved two statements which were any good to me. To cut a long story short, I recieved a further letter from them on Friday just gone apologising that they are not able to retrieve any more data from me as they my information has been deleted from their main computer system. They advised me that if I am requesting statements to be able to reclaim my charges then I need to write to the address below: Barclaycard Customer Relations PO BOX 599 Manchester M60 2NF Unbeliveable!! I will be pursuing them big time now. Just thought you might be all interested with this rather interesting letter. All the best. Adienotts

Yes fingers crossed and good luck, teach the devils a lesson. Regards Adienotts

Hi Carinas Congratulations for your success at making WF write off your debt as well. I did already manage to claim back some of my charges when I got angry with them for charging me for each phonecall where I wasn't able to answer the phone even though I hadn't breached the monthly payment deadline (£80). I waded through the statements of my account, but I don't really have many charges (about £50), so don't know whether or not its worth trying to claim for. I'm just glad that they have written off my debt. I have sent them a letter though to confirm that they won't be selling my debt onto any other debt collecting agency. Were you successful with your court case Carinas? Adienotts

Hi DNA I think your letter reads very well, and I wish you all the best. Did you send a CCA request to Welcome for the copy of your ammended agreement? If not, it might be worth doing that first. They should respond to you within 14 days if not, you can then put the account into dispute and withhold any further payments. If they still haven't responded after within the 40 day limit, then they will have commited an offence. Thats exactly what I did under the advice of Smoothy and Falcon185, and guess what? Welcome couldn't find the signed copy of the agreement for my ammended Hire Purchase and now they have agreed to write off the outstanding debt. I hope this will be the case for yourself and your partner. Good luck Adienotts

Thanks everybody, I shall continue checking the this thread in the hope that I hear many more success stories. Thanks for that advice Pmhcfc, I shall get on the case with that straight away. I wish all of you the very best of luck with your claims, let's teach Welcome Finance for once and for all that we can not be walked over and treated like dirt. All the best Adienotts P.S. If anybody wants any information or anything answering, please feel free to ask me, and i shall try my best to help out.

Success!!! Smoothy and Falcon, you are both legends!!! Thank you very much for all of your help and advice. I got a letter from Welcome Finance in the post this morning!! I had my letter and identification ready to be sent off to welcome finance today but no need. In the letter they included all of my data under the data protection act but advised me in the letter that they could not find a copy of my ammended agreement and are therefore going to write off the remainder of my account and not pursue me for any further payments!! The outstanding balance was £2116.48. That therefore saves me £154 per month. I can't thank you guys enough for your help and as a result I shall use some of my new found monthly savings to contribute to this site as soon as I get paid. Many thanks guys. Adienotts

Hi Smoothy Sorry for the delay in replying back to you, i've had a few computer problems over the last few days. I will be giving them a call tomorrow to find out what ID they require. Like you said, it may be a stall tactic (I hope so). Many thanks for your help and once again sorry for the delay in thanking you for your assistance. Best Wishes Adienotts P.S. I shall keep you all updated

Hi Guys Just recieved a letter from Welcome Finance today. In summary they state that the fees applied to my account are there standard charges which are contractually in the agreement which I've signed and advertised in their branch offices. They advise that the fees are fair and below the OFT guidance and advise that my reliance on the OFT guidelines are not applicable because they are not in relation to secured loan agrrements. They've advised me to send copies of my identification which they will then forward to their Data protection Co-ordinator who will then send me my required information (I requested a copy of all data held on their systems about me). They've attached an account statement to the letter but there is still no copy of the signed and ammended agreement!! Considering the fact that my original letter to them asked for a copy of my original signed agreement, they were only to happy to send this without any form of ID. They've not specified what sort of ID they want from me and quite frankly I don't trust them!! I'm tempted to phone them and ask whats happened to the ammended agreement, and question why they need ID from me to send the copy of the ammended agreement out (I understand the need for ID with regards to the data). Any idea's or suggestions on how to proceed please? Many thanks Adienotts

Hi Smoothy Thanks for replying. I did send both of the requests recorded delivery. I shall take your advice and send them a courtesy letter now. Many thanks for your advice. Adienotts

Hi All, Its now been 24 days since I sent a CCA and SAR Request to Welcome Finance. Still haven't heard anything from them. I am now wondering whether or not I should have sent these requests to Welcome's Head Office rather than the Branch Manager at my local branch. I did get a response from her a while back but it was inviting me into the office to discuss my request for a copy of the agreement for my modified finance. Not sure what to do now, shall I send another SAR and CCA Request to the head office? or shall I just stick to my guns and leave the situation as it is? I did send a letter to my local branch manager advising that I will be withholding any further payments until the situation is rectified. Would be grateful for any further advise. Many thanks Adienotts

Hi Falcon Thanks for your help and advice, it has been much appreciated. I shall do exactly as you have advised and will keep yourself and everybody else informed of the outcome. All the best. Adienotts

Hi falcon I sent an SAR and CCA to Welcome Finance as you advised me. I have not recieved a response from Welcome Finance. The 14 day deadline for the CCA was up yesterday so I am in the middle of writing another letter to them advising them that as they have not responded I shall be putting the account into dispute and will be witholding payment to them. I suspect that I didn't not sign an agreement with them for the modified finance or they have lost it, as the only response I've had from them before I sent them an SAR and CCA was an invite to the office to discuss the request for the agreement for the modified finance. Just thought I would keep yourself and the thread updated with what I'm going through so far. Cheers Adienotts

Hi falcon Thankyou very much for your advice. I shall get on the case straight away and try and get to the bottom of this. Many thanks adienotts

Hi Guys I've just spent this weekend reading through this thread with great interest. Thanks Falcon for pointing the thread out to me. I unfortunately took up an HP agreement with Welcome Finance back in June 2001. The original agreement was as follows: Total Price of goods = £5695 Finance Charge = £2491.80 Optional Insurance = £1312.99 Total Optional Insur = £2507.82 Total Finance = £10778 My total monthly payments were £240.11 per month. Unfortunately within 6 months of taking out the agreement my circumstances changed resulting in a reduction of income. I couldn't afford the monthly payments anymore and as a result my finances were restructured by Welcome Finance leading to an extension of my agreement from 42 months to 60 months and a reduction in payment to £153.16 per month. They took the PPI off my account to help achieve this. To cut a long story short, things haven't been smooth running over the life of the agreement due to further changes in jobs and circumstances, which has led to me paying an even further reduced amount on some occasions or no payment at all in the case of 2 months. I have always tried to pay them to the best of my ability but i have been plagued by harrassment from Welcome finance in the form of phone calls asking me when I will be making a payment. They have often called 5 - 6 times a day on some occasions. Due to my current job, it is not always possible for me to answer my phone. The phone calls have always been a couple of weeks before the payment is due and some occasions if they have not been able to get hold of me 3 days before payment is due, they have called around at my home. The final straw was when I requested a copy of my account statements when I was trying to organise my finances. They cheeky barstewds had the audacity to charge me for every phonecall that they had made before my payment date. They had done this for the last two months showing on the statement. I wrote to them and advised that the charges had been unlawfully taken and that I wanted them refunded to my account. I also asked them for a copy of my original agreement and details of how they had worked out the interest as I shocked at how much was still outstanding (£2658.48 - December 06). I also stated that that their persistent phone calls and visiting my home was harrassment and contravened the harrasment act. I advised them not to contact me by phone anymore. Welcome have stopped the phone calls, reversed my charges for the phone calls between November 06 and December 06 (amounted to £110). Welcome also sent me out a new account statement reflecting the refunds and my original agreement. Welcome blissfully neglected to fulfill my request with regards to the working out of interest. However, it dawned on me that my HP has been modified by Welcome Finance, infact they created a new agreement for me when I they restructured the payments. It even advises on the account statement that this is modified finance. Am I right in believing that the original agreement therefore no longer stands and that the legally binding contract between myself and Welcome Finance is based on the new agreement for the modified Finance? I can remember going into the office to discuss the new lowered rate of payment but can't remember actually signing anything. I have written to Welcome Finance advising this and have asked for signed copy of the new agreement. 16 days later I got a letter from the branch manager advising me to contact her at my earliest convinience to arrange an appointment at the branch!! Why can't they post this out to me, why do I have to go into the branch? I want to pursue them for the rest of the charges on my account and the 5 months of PPI payments which I was not made aware that this was optional. Does anybody have any advice as to where I stand with regards to the agreement please? what if they are unable to supply a copy of the new agreement? Sorry to have waffled on so much but wanted to give everybody a bit of background into the matter. Any advice would be gratefully appreciated. Good luck to everyone. Thanks adienotts

Thank you Falcon. I shall take a look in that forum. Regards adienotts

Hi Guys Just wondering if anybody is able to offer me some advice please. A few years ago I took out car finance with the above company. After a few months due to unfortunate circumstances I could no longer afford to meet the monthly payments. As a result my circumstances were reviewed by welcome finance and my agreement was modified. I can't actually remember signing a new agreement at the time. Due to Welcome finance doing something which really angered me, I have requested a copy of my agreement so i can check the terms and conditions of the agreement and also the interest terms so I can get them analysed. To date they have sent me the original agreement. Am I right in thinking that they should have sent me the new agreement which was set up for the modified HP? I sent a further letter requesting this and giving them 14 days to respond. They have not responded and it has been 16 days now. What can I do next to get the information which I have requested? what would happen if they can not provide this information? Many thanks adienotts

Thanks for your advice rooster-uk, i shall do that right now. Regards adienotts

Hi everyone! I have finally decided to try reclaiming my charges from my old banks, after a few months of watching what others have been up to on this site. I have just sent my letters of for subject access data requests from Barclays, Barclaycard and Egg. I shall keep you all posted with how I get on. Straying off the subject a little, is anybody well informed with HP finance agreements? To cut a long story short, I purchased a car a few years ago, couldn't keep up with the monthly payments due to unfortunate circumstances and therefore had to take out a new agreement to lower my monthly payments. I do not have a copy of the new agreement and decided to write to them for a copy of the new agreement so I could check the interest charges and terms. They have ignored my letter completely. Does anybody no where I stand with regards to this please? I would be very grateful for any advice. Many thanks, and good luck to everybody adienotts