Wecome finance letter from head office

[janetb1968]

Hello everyone this is my first thread and also my first posting on here but I've been a long-term lurker I receieved a letter from Welcome finance head office last month as my local branch in Blackburn has now closed. The letter states that my remaining balance may be incorrect and they have frozen the interest on my account as they investigate what the correct balance is. My worry is I know that Welcome are a set of crooks and my account seems to be going on forever and forever, I was an idiot in 2003 and got a loan for £10,000 for some house improvements and I got behind a couple of times but always paid extra until they were satisfied, I am hoping I won't have to pay anymore, I have paid on the dot every month now for a very long time and I am just not sure what the outcome of this is going to be. Does anyone have experience of this or just sit tight until they contact me again?

[IainHL]

Hello Janet, and welcome to CAG!

 

Personally I would just sit tight for now, and continue making your regular payments, while waiting for them to write to you again. If you have not heard anything by 8 weeks from the first letter I would write to them chasing for an update.

 

When they do write to you I would be looking for a fully itemised statement of account from inception to the current time so you can see the full transaction history and how the revised outstanding balance has been calculated. However, if they decide you owe then not much more at all you may not want to push this point, but just get it paid off as quickly as you can!

 

You haven't said what the original loan term was, or how much was showing as still owing on the last statement you received?

[janetb1968]

Hi Iain thanks for replying I'll take your advice and sit tight then hopefully when some info comes back from Welcome I'll sit and scrutinize the letter. The loan was for £10,000 and for 10 years, I got the loan in 2003 but it just seems to be dragging on and on, I did'nt miss a lot of payments was perhaps late with a couple but always made up what I owed and have never missed a payment now for a good few years. I will be very interested in what the letter will tell me but I'm not getting my hopes up I know I will need to pay it off very soon, I got some PPI back last year which was good that went onto paying for a better car. Thank you once again for replying I do think the CAG forum is excellent and I do find a lot of information on here which has been very helpful The last statement I got from the Blackburn branch before it closed earlier this year stated I still owed about £ 6,000 which seems a bit odd

[IainHL]

Hello Janet, I would agree that for there to be £6,000 out of £10,000 outstanding with around a year to run on a 10 year loan seems very odd. I would suspect there must have been a lot of charges added, and then interest on those charges, for it to end up like that. Either that or something far worse by someone in the Blackburn office. Hopefully when Welcome do write to you again it will be far better news as regards the balance outstanding.

[janetb1968]

Hello Iain, thank you for replying I agree I will have to wait and see and hopefully Welcome will contact me soon probably in the New Year I suspect, many thanks for listening

[janetb1968]

Hello just thought I'd update on this if anyone is interested I've since found out that my loan with Welcome will finish at the end of July 2014 which is a relief in a way but still odd for a 10 year loan which started in 2003 but that's Welcome Finance for you. I still have not heard anything about the letter they sent to me in Nov last year, I've written to them and have rung head office on numerous occasions, the only reply I got was " it was not for me to worry about and it's a technical error on there part regarding the interest on my loan". Well if its not for me to worry about then why contact me in the first place its all very odd but nevermind I'll be well rid of them in July 2014 cannot wait Hope everyone is well.

[MrZ]

Hello Janet,

 

I have just read your thread and I have to say you are a first. You are a first in the sense that you have paid these people every penny they [edit] you of for so long without any problem to keep you up at night.

 

Have you read man y of the threads about Welcome here? Given the time you took the loan I would be willing to make a wager that you are due quite a lot of money back.

 

Incidentally, do you recall the month you took the loan and how many months the loan was for? Was it 120 months? If you paid on time, your loan should end in 2013 not a day later. I would like to suggest you invest 11 pounds (cost for your statement of account and subject access request) and see what Welcome have been taking from you.

Edited February 28, 2013 by ims21

[janetb1968]

Hi MrZ thanks for replying, I have not been squeaky clean the entire 10 years with Welcome I was late about twice but I always made up what I owed to them. I got 2 visits from an awful girl from my local branch a long time ago who made me feel like I was the biggest s..t in the world for being a day late and also kept ringing me up all day on the hour every hour, I just could'nt stand the harrasment and the abuse you got from them I think thats why I've never missed a payment since. I had a bit of a cock-up with the direct debit last month whick resulted in an horrendous phone call from head office demanding what I was playing at and they would'nt listen to me explaining it was my bank's fault, they charged me £12 default fee which I felt bullied into paying. My bank wrote to them stating it was the banks fault not mine but I got no apology from them but I know the bank wrote to them to explain what happened. I'm sorry I'm just rambling but I really cannot abide them I have never got into the situation where I've been chased for money by them or debt collectors but paying them over the years has not been easy. I've just got the statement I got from them in 2011 from the now closed Blackburn branch, it states loan was commenced on 24th July 2003 and was for 120 months and at 28th June 2012 my remaining balance was £6624.44 and I have since learnt it will finish July 2014. What I do not understand is if its for 10 years then as u say it should finish this year but the guy I spoke to at the head office was adamant its next year. I am really confused with all this and I have read other threads about Welcome and I have'nt got the first clue how to try to get any charges back. I did get some PPI back in 2011 which went onto a better car but in hindsight I should've put it on the loan but hey-ho you live and learn. On the statement the amount I owed on 6th July 2011 was £10089.08 to say I was a bit gobsmacked was an understatement and its was the first statement I'd had from them for a long time. Thanks for listening and for the rambling post but I've just carried on paying basically for a quiet life and the less I have to do with them the better. Take care hope you have a good day and a good weekend

[MrZ]

No worries at all Janet.

 

Now your situation is sounding more like the stories about Welcome I am used to hearing.

 

What they will do is try to explain that your occasional late payment result in penalty fees. Those in turn will attract interest. They will likely have also added fees fro telephone calls and letters chasing payment, as well as any "door step" visits. All of this will a have applied compounded interest over time. Its likely this is part of why the loan wont be settled on time.

 

Aside from that they often have been found to make significant errors in their accounting, usually to their benefit and your detriment.

 

So what do you do now? Well the first thing you need is a full, complete, and up to date statement of account. Use the template found in the library, or your own words to request a copy of your agreement and a statement of account.

 

Once you have that we can pick it apart and you can then decide if you have grounds to claim back the unfair fee and charges applied, hopefully either clearing the loan or at least putting it back on track to end at the specified time of 120 months.

 

The fee for your request is £1.00, and they will have up to 14 days to provide it. If they do not provide you with the requested information in the specified time, then you can decide whether or not to place the account in dispute.

 

The agreement is important because it will list all of the products you are paying for as well as the terms of the loan. The statement of account is essential as it will show every single debit or credit since the start of the account.

 

The above will get you started down a path of disputing the unfair charges and treatment. Meanwhile if you have any other questions, I am happy to help where I can.

[janetb1968]

Hi MrZ

 

Thanks for replying very kind of you, I'll look at the templates on the site on Monday that's when I'm off I'm doing overtime all weekend I'm a staff nurse at my local hospital, so won't have much time till then to look. I'll send off the letter to Welcome and send the £1 aswell and wait for there reply. I will keep you posted, thanks for the advice I really do appreciate it

[renegadeimp]

Just remember, the penalty fees AND interest that was accrued due to those penalty fees, plus various other charges which welcome loved to slap on, AND the interest on all that, can ALL be reclaimed along with interest at THEIR rate that they charged you.

[janetb1968]

Thanks renegadeimp I sure hope so but we will have to see, I'm not getting my hopes up I never do with this bloody shower of s...s but never say never thanks

[renegadeimp]

No need to hope. You CAN reclaim all that. It might be a struggle, but you are entitled to it all back. Going by your info, it will reduce the debt by a substantial amount, or even wipe it completely.

[janetb1968]

Well I hope so but I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to confrontation the thought of facing them in court fills me with horror so baby steps at the moment so bear with me but thanks for listening and I'll do what I can I still have'nt heard from them regarding the frozen interest letter they sent me last November, it was very weird coming so soon after the Blackburn branch closed. I cannot get a straight answer from them regarding the "technical error" regarding my final amount I owe them but they seem to think its "nothing for me to worry about" - yeah right amd I'm the Queen of England

[renegadeimp]

You dont face them in court. You work out how much they owe you using a spreadsheet and then tell them. You might have to SAR them though to get all documents they hold. That costs £10.

[janetb1968]

Right that sounds a bit better thanks I'm a bit embarrassed now I thought I'd have to got to court (I'm an idiot) I've heard nothing about the November letter so I've nothing to lose thanks renegadeimp really appreciate it

Edited March 2, 2013 by janetb1968

[renegadeimp]

Oh, and if you ever do have to go to court over a debt, you dont face a judge. After all the defence back and forth before the court date, you sit in a room with the court officer and the creditors representative ( IF they turn up). You both get to put forward your arguments, and you cannot interrupt each other.

[janetb1968]

That's a comforting thought The thing is I've paid on the dot every month now for a very long time and you still get treated like poo by Welcome I sometimes feel like saying to the head office "Your the company thats lost the majority of your branch offices and I'm the one thats gets spoken to like they are crap!" Anyway whinge over.

[renegadeimp]

Welcome were probably the biggest con artists in recent memory. The company only exists now to collect outstanding debts.

[janetb1968]

I know....... I don't know what on earth possessed me to go throught with it all them years ago, must've been insane

[renegadeimp]

I had a loan from them back in 2001 when i was pretty deep in debt. They forced PPI on me and 70%+ interest. I didnt even know i could reclaim until 2010 when i joined CAG, and was told it was too late to do anything

[janetb1968]

Thats horrid renegadeimp thay are the biggest set of crooks I've ever had the misfortune of dealing with they really are

[janetb1968]

Hope everyone is well I've sent off the request to Welcome along with the £1 postal order so we will see what happens, I still have'nt recieved anything about the letter from Nov 2012 regarding the "interest error" and my remaining balance so I've given up on that request so will have to see what they have to say about the letter I've sent them. Many thanks for helping me and I'll update you all again soon

[IainHL]

Hello just thought I'd update on this if anyone is interested I've since found out that my loan with Welcome will finish at the end of July 2014 which is a relief in a way but still odd for a 10 year loan which started in 2003 but that's Welcome Finance for you. I still have not heard anything about the letter they sent to me in Nov last year, I've written to them and have rung head office on numerous occasions, the only reply I got was " it was not for me to worry about and it's a technical error on there part regarding the interest on my loan". Well if its not for me to worry about then why contact me in the first place its all very odd but nevermind I'll be well rid of them in July 2014 cannot wait Hope everyone is well.

Hello Janet. It's very strange for Welcome to tell you "not to worry", the problem is people rightly have concerns when sent statements and letters that don't seem right.

 

The thing is with the CCA s.77 request that you have sent them all they are obliged to send you in return is a copy of the agreement and a statement of the current position with the account (that is balance outstanding, monthly payment, how many more months to run). Now it is possible they may send you a more detailed statement, but they don't have to.

 

Now, since 2008, they should have been sending you fully detailed statements at least annually. It seems as if you haven't been getting these?

 

When they respond to your CCA request I can see two possibilities. The first is that it shows the loan will be paid off in 2014 (rather than 2013 as it seems it should). You may then decide that is acceptable to you, you keep paying (even though you will have paid them more than expected) and it all goes away next year. Or you may decide it isn't acceptable and you want to do something about it. The other possibility is that it shows the loan still has some time to run, which isn't acceptable to you.

 

If you wish to take it further I would suggest you need to make a subject access request (fee £10), specifically stating that you want it to include a full statement of account from inception to the current day. This will then show you what has been going on (and the computer notes can make interesting reading too!).

[janetb1968]

Hi Iain thanks for replying I think I will send off a SAR, they are absolutely infuriating me with the attitude its nothing for me to worry about and its all beyond my "little brain" that was there attitude in January when I asked about it - they probably think I'm an idiot well I'm not! I will keep you posted about the outcome thanks a lot for helping me in all this and thats for everyone who has replied in this thread And they definitely have not been sending me annual statements either when I got a statement in 2011 that was the first one I had received in a long time, it just doesn't add up and they are just so arrogant and basically quite dismissive of me - well not anymore

Edited March 12, 2013 by janetb1968
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