Welcome are now officially dead and buried

[martski]

Just read it..........hillarious!!!!!!!!

All like rats off a sinking ship. Thats made my bloody year already!

Cant wait till 10am tomorrow...

 

I myself had some good calls to some very "understanding" female staff a few months back. But i quickly turned after i was slowly led a merry dance.... think the ploy was keep me thinking ive had a favour done while busilly shafting me on the sly!

 

One thing i cant get a handle on though is, what potentially would happen to existing loans and customers?

[beyondhope]

I guess they could 'try' and sell to some ****** DCA who would be willing to give it a shot (there plenty out there who even try for SB debts after all) or we all just sit tight and wait for the good old SB rule to kick in i guess...just my take on things of course

[jackst01]

Tomorrow all the LMB's and LCA's will be told they are shutting down, they will be losing about 2,000 jobs. The remaining branches will be left open for about another month. I have this info from a reliable source

Edited February 5, 2010 by jackst01

[beyondhope]

Does this source know which ones by any chance?? Im busting for my local office to disappear I have had little to moan about communicating with compliance but the LBM is a pain in my ...!

[jackst01]

Looks like they will all be gone within a month!

[beyondhope]

Hmm given the letters I had today lets hope mine is tomorrow I wonder how they think they will collect adequately with no 'local' offices

[jackst01]

Apparently bad debts will be collected by a DCA that are WORSE than Welcome RAFLMAO!

Edited February 5, 2010 by jackst01

[beyondhope]

OMG im actually sat here LOL worse you say well god help us all surely there cant be another company with such low morals and idiotic tendancies Ah well they can have an N1 too if they like

[Gram1]

Just noticed that the phone number has been removed from the contact us section of the Welcome Finance website.....

[beyondhope]

Thats ok Gram I have plenty of letters from compliance posted here with their 'complaints dept' number

[jackst01]

Well they can't charge us for letters and phone calls if we can't contact them!

[beyondhope]

Why isnt it 10am already *crosses arms pulls a face huffs and puffs*

[jackst01]

Not long now.

[beyondhope]

Little Miss Impatient thats me Plus im so sad im not going shopping until I get the gossip - Typical woman I know

[jackst01]

I think it will be a few hours before we get the goss!

[beyondhope]

Im not really that bad im stuck here for a few hrs anyway joys of ill children

[jackst01]

RNS Number : 7456G Cattles PLC 05 February 2010

Moscow plc

Potential Staff Reductions at Welcome Financial Services

The Board of Moscow plc ("Moscow") today announces proposed changes in the organisation of its subsidiary Welcome Financial Services Limited.

The Board of Moscow announced recently that, following an extensive strategic review of its business and subsequent discussions with its financial creditors, it was unable to recommend a business plan which would allow Welcome Finance ("Welcome") to continue lending and it would therefore focus on collecting out Welcome's existing customer loans. It is envisaged that this process could take two to three years and, during that period, the Group's cost base will contract to reflect the reducing size of the book.

As part of an ongoing comprehensive review of the Welcome business, Moscow has announced today that it proposes the closure of circa 70 Local Management Branches and Local Collections Units nationwide. Moscow will now enter into a consultation process with staff affected by the proposals, of whom approximately 450 will today receive notice that they are at risk of redundancy.

Commenting on the plans, Margaret Young, Executive Chairman of Moscow, said:

"These proposals to further streamline the Welcome organisational structure have been put forward after an extensive review and careful consideration. We believe they are essential to Moscow achieving a more cost efficient business model which mirrors the reducing size of the Group's loan book."

 

END - For further information:

Margaret Young, Executive Chairman, Moscow plc

Paul Marriott, Financial Dynamics

Tel: 020 7269 7252

This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

[beyondhope]

Does anyone know how many local offices they have in total before closures?

[Dan Ras Ting]

Does anyone know how many local offices they have in total before closures?

 

 

"EMBATTLED specialist lender Cattles has warned that another 500 jobs could go as it continues to battle for survival.

The Birstall-based group, which is labouring under debts of £2.4bn and has been hit by accounting irregularities, plans to close 30 of its 180 Welcome Finance consumer loans branches and cut the number of sales and support teams."

[Dan Ras Ting]

So that's 100 so far then

[jackst01]

I thought LMB's and LCU's were where your debt went after you were in bad arrears.

 

With WFS the procedure is as follows - delinquent accounts are transferred after 120 days in arrears to the LMB. The staff at the LMB have the power to renegotiate the agreement and are heavily targeted on collections to hit bonus. They also have the power to reduce the balance by 35%. All accounts are reviewed monthly and if it goes another 120 days without satisfactory result it is then transferred either to legal for court action, or if there is little chance of the legal avenue working i.e. customer has 2 or more CCJ's already it goes to the LCU (Local Collections Unit). They can reduce the balance by a total of 65% and will also renegotiate payments, term etc. If the LCU gets no joy either the debt is then passed on to a DCA.

[MICHFERGIE]

Wow thats made my day

 

As long as they back the 2500 ppi they owe me

 

Thats great good luck to them

[beyondhope]

Ive had dealings with LCU straight from local office they werent very helpful

 

70 out of 180 is a pretty good starting block

[Major Player]

Hi all, good news on the closures front, Jack is right that the LMBs and LCUs are arrears collecting arms and have been shut for central collections teams to pick up the mantle initially.

 

On the arrears levels though its operational branches (Those muppets who alter legal agreements etc!) until the first payment is missed (This is a 30 day arrears account, it then goes to LMBs who look to collect and can negotiate a bit, at 120 days arrears it goes to an LCU if it hasn't qualified for legal action (Who will accept 35% of payments and vastly reduced settlements).

 

The thought process seems to be that they will sell Welcomes accounts to the Lewis Group in the long term so keep the debts in house but out of Welcome they are equally hard line collectors though so lets enjoy the short term and not worry about the future too much

[lawrence147]

RNS| Discussion| CTT| CTT.L| GB0001803666 | Cattles PLC - Interactive Investor

 

Just thought you'd like a look

 

Who's Moscow plc??