Welcome finance early settlement issues

prudent · February 23, 2009

I wonder if anyone can help.... i was hoping to settle a loan i took out with welcome finance 2yrs ago early and the settlement figure i received doesn' make sense. ABout 2000pounds despite 2yrs worth of monthly payment of 131.53. Never missed a payment.

I asked for a statement of how this came about over two months ago and received nothing to date. and the more this drags on the more the monthly interest which is about 59% apr.

This is my second attempt at trying to pay off my loan. The first time about a year ago... they wouldn't cash the cheque i sent and just kept on with the ddr until i used the money.

andie_303 · February 23, 2009

Welcome front load there loans so it effectively costs you more to settle early!! I had a £2000 loan in Jan 07 paid £190 every month without fail - yet in feb 2008 my settlement figure was £4,700 even though I had paid £2280. They also told me that I had to ask for a settlement figure in writing and that they had 4 weeks to send it!

Welcome a pure jokers!!

Sol · February 24, 2009

I think they make their own rules up in the branches; I was told my settlement figure over the phone over a year ago.

Ignore the branch altogether and send a recorded letter to the head office instead asking for a statement.

prudent · March 6, 2009

Hi,

Were do i start......

I wonder if anyone can help. I took out a loan with welcome in April 07. Want an early settlement in August, received a statement and sent off the cheque. Only to learn 3months down the line, that they hadn't cashed the cheque due to the payment been made as two cheques (from two of my current account), that they can only accept a whole ''one'' payment.

Somehow no one bothered to let me know this, someone just turned up at my door 8pm at night to say that i was in arears and wanted payment. Well told the person to leave my house or be met with the police. Called the branch next day, and was told a load of crap by the manager about the two cheque issue and how the settlement figure has now changed due to arears and charges as a result of the areas. As i couldn't afford the new settlement amount, i continued with monthly payment. Being quite young, no much knowlede of my rights and gullible at the time, i took their word for it.

Well here i am again, after saving up for a while, i was hoping to settle early again (trying clear as much debt as possible before going on maternity, to limit my outgoings as much as possible while on maternity pay), but problems with welcome again. I just get the feeling they give people a run around from settling early.

Actual loan on April 07 - 2500

Monthly payment - 131.51

Loan taken over 36months

Asked for an early settlement figure, received a figure of 2,380.06 partly hand written crapy letter, with no explaination of how the figure came about.

I was quite taken aback by the amount left, as the inital loan was for 2500, paid 2893.22 to date. Called the branch to ask how the figure came about and was told it could be down to charges or missed payments. Told the man i have never missed a payment apart from three months arears issued mentioned aboved.

Asked for a statement on 15.01.09 and no response to date.

Sent off an SAR on 04.02.09 and no response to date.

Issues in summary:

Need to claim back the charges supposedly applied on my account noted above (still waiting for the statement to see how much this is.
Aparantely the ridiculous interest (APR 59.39%, annual interest rate of 55.55%) monthly interest 3.75%) on the loan (i know i should have know better) is also applied on the charges. Can they do this? Can i claim this back too?
What do i do in the event of no response to statement request and SAR?
And finally, upon reading up on first early settlement statement docs... I just realised that although in my agreement the Acceptance Fee is listed separately from the total charge for credit as it should be, on the statement supplied it is shown as added to initial ‘total amount of credit’ to make the higher amount, which interest is then calculated on. I learnt this might render the contract the contract unenforeceable, how true is it? (s.61 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and has been proved in court through Wilson V First County Trust)???

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Edited March 6, 2009 by prudent

prudent · March 6, 2009

Also appreciate it, if anyone can have a look at letter i am hoping to send off tomorrow to welcome with regards to the issues above. Thanks in advance....:

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to you with regard to the above account. I have come across what I believe and can prove to be a breach of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 hence rendering the above account unenforceable.

I have discovered from your companies paperwork that whilst my agreement shows an acceptance fee of £75 that is calculated into the overall loan total your company has failed to disclose on this document that the £75 has had an interest rate applied. This contravenes s.61 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and has been proved in court through Wilson V First County Trust.

I would also say that I feel your company has deliberately mislead their representations as the acceptance fee is clearly shown as a separate figure on the credit agreement I will be referring this matter to the Financial Services Authority as I deem this to be a direct attempt to mislead the customer.

Therefore as this account is now unenforceable I will be canceling my future direct debits to your company with immediate effect and request a refund of all payments made to your company before this date.

Furthermore, despite sending you a formal Subject Access Request on the 05.02.09, I still have not have received the necessary documents.

I would like to remind you that the 40 days for supplying information after our Subject Access Request ends on the 17.03.09.

In addition, if you fail to meet your obligation under the act a report will be sent to the information commissioner and you will face investigation.

Furthermore, I am sure you are now aware due to the sheer amount of these letters you receive plus the massive media attention, that every time you receive one of these letters it will be followed up by a request for a full refund of any disproportionate penalty charges and associated charges, this will give you 14 days to do so before court action. Please note if I have to take court action to reclaim these charges then I will do so. Therefore, to save yourselves some time and money, if you could just refund all these charges dating back six years immediately you will not incur the court fees or your solicitors fees and the 8% interest I am entitled to claim.As this account is now in dispute you may not demand any payment on the account, nor am I obliged to offer any payment. You may not add further interest or charges to the above account nor are you to pass this account to a third party.Lastly you may not register any information in respect of this account with a credit reference agency nor are you allowed to issue a default with regards to this account.

If my request is not complied with within 14 days I will have no further option to file this matter in the courts.

I expect a swift response to this matter

Yours Faithfully

prudent · March 6, 2009

Sincerely sorry to jump in please...... Would anyone have an email address for welcome head office, cattle or even Cattles MD. They keep ignoring my letter, so i'm hoping to try other options....

Thanks

prudent · March 6, 2009

Would anyone have an email address for welcome head office, cattles or even Cattles MD please? They keep ignoring my letter, so i'm hoping to try other options....

Thanks

postggj · March 6, 2009

hi prudent

i can give you the welcome compliance details

the buck stops there

may i ask whats your beef with welcome

and welcome, excuse the pun, to the forum

prudent · March 6, 2009

Is this an open thread for welcome issues, slightly new to posting, so mistakenly opened new thread.... some help on my long issue below would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Were do i start......

I wonder if anyone can help. I took out a loan with welcome in April 07. Wanted an early settlement in August, received a statement and sent off the cheque. Only to learn 3months down the line, that they hadn't cashed the cheque due to the payment been made as two cheques (from two of my current account), that they can only accept a whole ''one'' payment.

Somehow no one bothered to let me know this, someone just turned up at my door 8pm at night to say that i was in arears and wanted payment. Well told the person to leave my house or be met with the police. Called the branch next day, and was told a load of crap by the manager about the two cheque issue and how the settlement figure has now changed due to arears and charges as a result of the areas. As i couldn't afford the new settlement amount, i continued with monthly payment. Being quite young, no much knowlede of my rights and gullible at the time, i took their word for it.

Well here i am again, after saving up for a while, i was hoping to settle early again (trying clear as much debt as possible before going on maternity, to limit my outgoings as much as possible while on maternity pay), but problems with welcome again. I just get the feeling they give people a run around from settling early.

Actual loan on April 07 - 2500

Monthly payment - 131.51

Loan taken over 36months

Asked for an early settlement figure, received a figure of 2,380.06 partly hand written crapy letter, with no explaination of how the figure came about.

I was quite taken aback by the amount left, as the inital loan was for 2500, paid 2893.22 to date. Called the branch to ask how the figure came about and was told it could be down to charges or missed payments. Told the man i have never missed a payment apart from three months arears issued mentioned aboved.

Asked for a statement on 15.01.09 and no response to date.

Sent off an SAR on 04.02.09 and no response to date.

Issues in summary:

Need to claim back the charges supposedly applied on my account noted above (still waiting for the statement to see how much this is.
Aparantely the ridiculous interest (APR 59.39%, annual interest rate of 55.55%) monthly interest 3.75%) on the loan (i know i should have know better) is also applied on the charges. Can they do this? Can i claim this back too?
What do i do in the event of no response to statement request and SAR?
And finally, upon reading up on first early settlement statement docs... I just realised that although in my agreement the Acceptance Fee is listed separately from the total charge for credit as it should be, on the statement supplied it is shown as added to initial ‘total amount of credit’ to make the higher amount, which interest is then calculated on. I learnt this might render the contract the contract unenforeceable, how true is it? (s.61 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and has been proved in court through Wilson V First County Trust)???