Posie v Welcome

[posiepain]

Hi guys. Just wanted some advice re the wonderful welcome company. I am probably the only person ever in this country to not actually be sold a PPI with my car finance I think! However, I purchased a vauxhall corsa in 2004 on HP with Welcome, I had to voluntarily surrender the vehicle due to a change in circumstances, despite attempts to negotiate with them. I've just dug the agreement out and cannot believe how stupid I was to agree to this! Amount of credit £5055 + £150 acceptance fee + £4372.44 finance charge bringing the amount payable to £9577.44!!! at an APR of 42.3%!!!

 

Since the 28 April 2006 I have been paying them £20 per month off the o/s balance but at this rate it is going to take me years to clear this debt. Does anyone have any advice as to what (if anything) I can do with it? Also I have not received any statements whatsoever from them since I made this agreement?

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Posie

[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

[posiepain]

Am considering now challenging this so called "new agreement" that I have with Welcome. Any advice would be "welcomed" !

[rory32]

We could do with a little more info on this "new agreement". What is it for and what is the background to the agreement.

[posiepain]

Sorry Rory, didn't have time earlier as the dog was munching my best boots! I had an HP agreement with Welcome in 2004 for a Vauxhall Corsa, just over 12 months later I had to voluntarily surrender it due to a change in circumstances (I had tried to liaise with Welcome but it came to nothing). The car was subsequently auctioned by them but I'm still left with £2700 ish left to pay on it. I currently have a verbal agreement with them of £20 per month via direct debit to which I have received no written confirmation, nor have I signed any new agreement. Someone one here suggested that this could mean that this isn't legally binding and perhaps I may be able to challenge it. I'd initially checked my original agreement to see if I had been paying for a PPI but discovered that I hadn't (guessing I'm probably the only person who hasn't judging by the stories on here!). So that's what I'm looking into. Hope that helps.

 

Posie

[yaffsimone1]

I currently have a verbal agreement with them of £20 per month via direct debit to which I have received no written confirmation, nor have I signed any new agreement. Someone one here suggested that this could mean that this isn't legally binding and perhaps I may be able to challenge it.

 

It depends how far you want to push it with Welcome. Just because the agreement is verbal it does not necessarily mean it is not legally binding!

 

Under Contract Law most contracts do not HAVE to be in writing.

The agreement between the parties is the contract.

The contract documents are the evidence of the contract

 

The agreement can be evidenced by:-

 

Verbal agreement (subject to memory + evidence)

 

You will be amazed at how little these creditors know about Contract Law so i wouldnt worry too much about them pursuing under this law at the moment.

 

The reason i mentioned it is because i feel it should be made aware that just because it is verbal it does not mean it is not legally binding

[powelll]

By the sound of it you haven't actually got a new credit agreement with them anyway so the contract law stuff won't apply ( but I see where your thinking comes from Yaffsimone! ). It sounds as if you have an informal arrangement to pay back what was left after you voluntarily terminated the original HP.

 

Under CCA regs, when you vol. term on HP you are liable to pay up to 50% of the original agreement, minus what you have paid already. There should be a box titled 'termination - your rights' on the original agreement which gives this 50% figure. It may be worth double checking their figures.

 

If you do accept that you owe the money you are not legally bound by the informal arrangement you have ( if I have understood you correctly ). You could in theory offer them £1 or zero per month if that's all you have spare. It's then up to themwhether they accept this or pursue you using DCAs or via county court.

 

Below link may be useful

 

National Debtline England & Wales | Debt Advice | Factsheet 16 How To Deal With Hire Purchase Debt

[yaffsimone1]

( but I see where your thinking comes from Yaffsimone! ).

 

 

Something i remembered from Uni!

[powelll]

Something i remembered from Uni!

 

I remember very little from uni so you are up on me there...that Sociology degree has come in SO useful!!

[yaffsimone1]

I remember very little from uni so you are up on me there...that Sociology degree has come in SO useful!!

 

Sociology....got to be more interesting than Quantity Surveying!

[Janet-M]

My apologies Janet-M, I read through and saw quite a few different cases being quoted on here so assumed it was a general welcome thread. Certainly wasn't my intention to hijack. New thread started as requested.

 

No problem Posiepain

It is in everyones best interest to have their own thread as any advice you ask for in the future can be given much more easily if people can see at a glance what you have done so far .

[posiepain]

Not if you do Sociology in Cardiff yaffsimone - I'm about to embark on 2nd year, yawn! Hopefully now other threads are there you can see what prompted me to query this issue! I may not be able to do anything at all but rue my own gullibility but its worth asking I think.

[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

[posiepain]

Oh cripes I didn't even think to check what they were doing with interest on the account, lord only knows what I owe in that case. Just tried that link for credit check but they don't accept my debit card . Anyone else I can use for free one? Funds very low at moment! For a change! lol

[posiepain]

Just tried that link for credit check but they don't accept my debit card . Anyone else I can use for free one? Funds very low at moment! For a change! lol

 

Found this which looks quite good, as long as you subscribe to their annual newsletter you get a yearly credit report for free. annualcreditreport.co.uk – a free credit report every year, no credit card details required There's an option to obtain one instantly online for £1.71 but the authentication doesn't work for everyone in which case they don't charge your card and send a password to your home address.

[powelll]

Oh cripes I didn't even think to check what they were doing with interest on the account, lord only knows what I owe in that case. Just tried that link for credit check but they don't accept my debit card . Anyone else I can use for free one? Funds very low at moment! For a change! lol

 

FREE CRED REF FILE.pdf

[posiepain]

Thanks for that

[posiepain]

Adienotts, is there any chance that whilst i'm paying this off, they're adding interest to it each month, thus making any payments I make completely useless? Couldn't get hold of my local office to check today and I'm panicking a little. Did they do that to you?

[adienotts]

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

[rory32]

The rule of 78 (as the front loading of interest is known as) was abolished for all loans taken out after 31st May 2005.

[posiepain]

Thanks for the info, letter on its way. I have no nails left!

[adienotts]

The rule of 78 (as the front loading of interest is known as) was abolished for all loans taken out after 31st May 2005.

 

Cheers Rory.

[adienotts]

Thanks for the info, letter on its way. I have no nails left!

 

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