Welcome Finance Charges

[joncow75]

Hi,

 

I'm about to go and nail Welcome for the current hassle i'm getting off them and thought i'd document it here for anyone else that might be in the same position.

 

I've had 4-5 loans through them over the years, not really had any issues until now. My current loan is a secured loan (i'm very aware of how unsecured the WF secured loans are). I had a few issues with my job a few years back, and had a couple of payments made a few days late, the worst probably about 2 weeks, but all were paid and before my next payment was due.

 

A couple of years ago Welcome kept suggesting I up my payment to pay the loan off early. My payment was £311 at the time, and I didn't feel to comfortable about doing this. My local office in the North East closed down and my account was transferred to an office in Wales (???). I had a conversation with a new account handler that suggest I up my payment again and mentioned some charges against the account that I should pay off (no mention of the amount). I agreed to pay £350 going forward and left it at that. I'm more comfortable that I was, so was actually quite happy to add a little extra. He then asked when I might be able to look at increasing again, and I said i'd have a think about it. In May this year we had the discussion again and I said i'd see how I was in August. At the start of August I started to be bombarded with calls from their office. Then a letter asking me to call them. I eventually answered a couple of weeks back and spoke to the handler. He asked me to up the amount to £400 "as I had agreed" which i'd done no such thing. He then said I would have to go through an income/outgoing expenditure which I told him I had no intention of. When I said I wouldn't he became aggressive, spoke over me, was practically shouting down the phone. I was disgusted. He told me I obviously earned enough to pay the amount and I had to complete the form. It was then that he told me I had over £300 outstanding and over £240 of this was in charges. When I told him there was no way that could be true and I wanted a statement he was very snotty. I told him to only contact me by letter and not phone again. Anyway, income/outgoing form has arrived that duely went in the bin, and still no statement so a SAR is going in the post tomorrow

 

With loans from 2007 to now there is bound to be a number of naughty things on there. They will wish they never p***ed me off!

 

And just for the record I've never had PPI through them - always insisted that it wasn't added

[joncow75]

Hi all,

 

I'm just after a little bit of advice. I have decided that I will no longer pay the amount per month that I had agreed to, and will revert back to the original payment which is what is on the agreement. Nothing back from my SAR except a letter confirming they have the request, but we haven't reached 40 days yet, so didn't expect anything, but I certainly haven't had a copy of the statement that I requested from the representative. Could someone please cast an eye over the letter I will be sending off tomorrow and let me know if it is ok?

 

 

Dear Sir / Madam,

 

ACCOUNT/REF NUMBER: XXXXX

 

Official Complaint

 

I am writing to complaint about the attitude and behaviour of one of your employee’s in a telephone conversation on 28th August 2013. I was contacted by someone from your Merthyr Tydfil office at 12:03 and frankly I was disgusted by this persons tone. After agreeing to increase my payment in May from £XXXX to £350, in the belief that it was helping me pay off my loan alittle bit earlier, saving me some interest, your representative then insisted that I up the payment again to £400 a month. He told me that I had agreed to this, which I had done no such thing. All I had said in May was I would have a look at this and if possible I would consider another increase on my terms, but was only just getting back on my feet after being made redundant in February – a period of time I paid in full and on time. However he was threatening and went as close to accusing me of lying without actually saying this. I appreciate that WFSL are no longer alending business and have had issues, but I would think basic customer service training would still be a priority. I have had 5 loans since 2008, have no arrears and although I have had a couple of problems with payment in previous jobs, I’ve not been more than 2 week behind at any time, and this was rare. I had an excellent relationship with the XXXXXX branch, was able to communicate with them without any issues, but I will not be dictated to by someone who believes good customer service is shouting over me, not allowing me to speak and demanding I fill in an I&E form, which there is no obligation for me to discuss. He started throwing figures at me, with no back up of information and I asked for a copy of my last statement, and the conversation to end. 4 weeks later I still don’t have this information. In the meantime I have sent a SAR to gain all records from my loan and previous loans and will be reclaiming any unlawful charges against all accounts.

 

For your information I have cancelled my Direct Debit. Iwill still pay each month on time, but will pay the agreed £XXXX going forward rather than the £350 I moved my payment to. I am happy to reset the Direct Debit up, but only at £XXXX. I no longer want anyone from Merthyr Tydfil branch contacting me, and would like a full response to this letter within 14 days and if not satisfied I will be contacting the FOS

Yours faithfully

joncow75

[joncow75]

Hopefully the above is ok and I'll get it sent off in the morning. Amazing how one person's attitude is going to ensure that I go to get the charges taken off my loan. All of them, if there are any on previous loans. I'd never even thought about looking at my WF accounts.

[joncow75]

Complaint acknowledgement received from WF, standard 8 weeks to investigate. In the meantime the branch are still ringing me. Also received part of my SAR which is a load of information on telephone conversations etc and some grainy copies of my agreements. However for the first loan which finished in Dec 2007 they tell me they have no agreement as it is past 6 years. I'm pretty sure they have to keep all paperwork involved in a loan until 6 years after that loan finishes, which is Dec this year. Am I wrong? If not I smell something fishy

 

The letter also states that all statements will be sent separately. Trying to get any kind of statement out of WF is a joke. They keep telling me they have been sent, then tell me there is an issue.

Edited October 22, 2013 by joncow75

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

Correct data must be kept for 6 years after the account is closed/paid off.

[joncow75]

Thanks very much Brigadier, just as I thought. I wonder what they have to hide? It was the only Welcome Finance loan done through a broker

[joncow75]

I've finally received some statements today, and noticed on one of my secured loans I have been charged an Acceptance Fee and a Broker Fee. This wasn't done through a broker, but in a WF local office. Is this correct?

 

I then opened a new loan 3 months later (paying off the first secured loan), and was only charged the Acceptance Fee

 

I also seem to have a couple of pounds added at the end of each month for Default Sum Fee Interest. Does this mean I just add up the charges and interest and that is my claim. Or do I add only the charges and claim back at their interest rate, or add all the charges and the default sum fee interest together at their interest?

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated

Edited October 23, 2013 by joncow75

[joncow75]

Had a very interesting chat with a representative at Welcome Head Office who informed me i don't need to answer the phone to the branch as I am not in arrears. Not sure if it will get them to stop ringing or not! Response to my complaint to come back to me on 28th November, so will sit tight until then.

 

I have asked for all my charges back, plus interest at the rate they calculated for the loan (which for my first loan is £60 charges £320 interest!). For all loans that are closed I have asked for the money to be returned to me, and for the open loan, to put the account back to how it should be. From what I can work out I will also have over paid around £195 over for the 5 months I upped my payment

[tamthetaper]

hi can you still claim back charges that were put on your account

i have alot but never asked for them

cheers tam

[joncow75]

Hi Tam. I've put in a claim for all charges, unpaid dd charges, telephone call charges etc and the interest charged. I've said that they are unfair and should not be added to the account. I've even noticed that despite me paying off additional money each month, the interest on the charges hasn't gone down. I've been told I will have a reply by the 28th Nov

 

If you have your statements and know how much you have been charged, if not get a SAR off to Welcome asap

[tamthetaper]

hi

just wondering if you

heard back from welcome

cheers tam

[joncow75]

Hi Tam. I've received a refund of some charges to my account, and a cheque in the post for some old charges on closed accounts. They have only refunded me anything over £12 and some other charges like tel calls where there were no notes on the system. TBH there wasn't a breakdown with the original letter so I asked what that looked like before I proceeded. This arrived last week, but not had a chance to do anything with it. I will of course, be appealing the £12 and see where we go from there.

 

The head office staff have been a million miles better to deal with than the branches. They have apologised for sending my info to the wrong address for nearly 2 years, for the attitude of the branch member of staff and some of the frustrations I have had. Unbelievably despite paying over the monthly payment due, it wasn't going to the charges but reducing the balance. This is ridiculous as I was getting interest charges on the amount of charges, so the extra payments I have been making made no difference!!

[kitkat kay]

Hi Tam. I've put in a claim for all charges, unpaid dd charges, telephone call charges etc and the interest charged. I've said that they are unfair and should not be added to the account. I've even noticed that despite me paying off additional money each month, the interest on the charges hasn't gone down. I've been told I will have a reply by the 28th Nov

 

If you have your statements and know how much you have been charged, if not get a SAR off to Welcome asap

 

Hi i know its been a while but do you have a address you sent the claim for charges too as I am about to start the same process.

[joncow75]

I used the following: Welcome Finance Customer Relations Mere Way Ruddington Fields Business Park Ruddington Nottingham NG11 6NZ Its also the header address where all their correspondence came from Good luck!

[Baba02]

Hi

 

I sent SAR to welcome for all my data in March 2014. They sent all information I had nearly 7 accounts only new of 3. They re wrote some of them without my knowledge. Anyway wrote to them to claim back fees and charges applied to all the accounts. A total of £1456 so wrote to welcome to claim back with detailed lists. I also asked for 8% interest. Well they wrote back basically saying sod off all fees applied were justified. What do I do now??