Welcome Finance - This company needs to be banned.

[heidi83]

I don't have any insurance on the personal loan but I do have gap insurance on the car loan, the gap insurance worked out at like an extra £3 a month on payments which isn't bad for the cover you get IMO.

I just have a really crap interest rate, 40% or something like that.

 

The car loan is a hire purchase agreement.

I don't want to refinance with them, I definitely don't want more money off them I just want to try and lower my monthly payments by £50 or so.

[bounty hunter]

welcome finance are trying to charge me for a car i have never had and now want possesion of a car i have never seen or have never had . I have asked for a cca which they can not supply but still sending threatening letters help!!

[Voda]

Well you really don't have anything to worry about.

 

I must admit that Welcome Finance are a very inept company regarding their administration and customer care.When I originally started dealing with my local Citizens Advice Bureau, they said the same and have had dozens of complaints about them down the years.

 

I think that a District Judge would treat any case involving WF with considerable care.

 

 

 

 

 

welcome finance are trying to charge me for a car i have never had and now want possesion of a car i have never seen or have never had . I have asked for a cca which they can not supply but still sending threatening letters help!!

[aTaxiDriver64]

We've been with welcome for a couple of years now. They've been mostly OK, we pay on time so we never really hear from them. The rates are rubbish but then we knew that when we signed up but we were desperate and we just rushed to get the money/car.

 

We are currently paying £195 a month over 5yrs for the car loan and £75 a month for an unsecured loan of £1100 over 3 years.

As it stands it is becoming more of a problem every month to meet the payments. Has anybody here ever successfully negotiated paying them a lower rate every month? We've not asked them yet, we are a bit concerned we'd lose the car which we really need ATM/

 

Hi i found an online loan calculator and according to that the interest rate on that £1100 loan works out at 71 percent is that right?

[Dipply75]

Hi Heidi83, I have came up with the same over the top figure for your loan as ataxidriver64.....are you SURE you do not have any of their insurances?

 

Do you have a copy of your agreement, as many folk have discovered expensive insurances added on after they signed and had no idea about it. It may be worth double checking

 

I think if you have paid a certain amount on your car they cannot take it and would have to start the whole court thing. Can anyone clarify that for Heidi83?

[jcmaxed]

Fantastic reading here, took a while though

 

Think Im the only person here who has not had problems with Welcome finance, not missed any payments yet though, not looking foward to it if i do though!!!

 

To be fair, when I rang about the loan over a year ago, they speeled off the rubbish about the extra 'insurances' (luckily for me I knew it was worthless!!) and I just said no, they then said its a good idea to take it out, again I said no, they then said "no problem sir" and carried on with the car loan which shocked me, in a good way.

 

I did get a nice call off them about 3 months(ish) after I got the loan, something like this "Good evening sir, how are you. Are you happy with your car, is everything ok, and are you happy with how you were dealt.........blah blah for about 4 mins........oh and can we interest you in another loan" lol

[aTaxiDriver64]

Hi glad to hear your not having any probs with WF but have you ever had any statements off them, i mean that nice curtesy call off them may have cost you a tenner and you know nothing about it, thats the way they work

 

ataxidriver

[Sol]

Yep, have to agree with Taxidriver, it might be worth a check.

[Mdr1987]

Hi all,

 

Firstly, very interesting reading regarding WFS. It's nice to feel that I'm not alone in my problems dealing with them.

 

My story is probably quite similar. Basically had some financial problems a number of years ago, resulting in a dodgy credit rating. That was fine and I was managing. Unfortunately, I then separated with my long term partner and had to resort to a loan from WFS to help separate my finances from hers. Out of desperation to get this sorted I took out what I knew to be a silly loan of £15k, over 10 years.

 

The payments were a little steep even then but I foolishly agreed (would probably argue I wasn't of sound mind.....but then could be argued I never am ;P ) and subsequently got into some difficulties pretty quickly. When I approached them for help in sorting this out, they had just the solution....get a bigger loan and clear everything. My salary had increased by this point so again i thought I could afford and pressed ahead. Life was pretty miserable following this. Trying to repay the £20k loan I now had was difficult and they were harassing me constantly, stacking on charges, phoning me daily (several times and at all hours) and quite often phoning my friend who had agreed to be a referee / witness for me even though they were speaking to me. Out of order in my book.

 

I did meet with a decent-ish guy from there in 2007 who has set up a payment plan of interest only to help me get on my feet. Whilst I appreciate the help I'm painfully aware that I am paying £175 a month on a balance that is going nowhere and although this guy was approachable and personally a decent guy, I feel royally hung out to dry by Welcome. Yes I shouldn't have missed payments, yes I shouldn't have upped the loan but as many of you will know, when the desperation of feeling like there is no escape from debt worries kicks in, you don't always react rationally. This is where companies like Welcome profit.

 

My question would be: Given that the original (£20k) secured loan was taken out in april 2006, is there any mileage in going down the unenforceable route or is this one company who despite being charlatans who have their house in order regarding paperwork and T's & C's?

 

For the record, I don't usually like to try and evade debts (FWIW I have subsequently cleared all and any other debts I have - he added smuggly) but I feel I have been taken advantage of and if I have the opportunity to put one over on this shower then I'd like nothing more than to do so. It would also be a life-changing event if I could kiss goodbye to this burden.

 

Any advice / info would be great. Apologies for the massive first post. Further ones will be shorter....promise.

[chrisb333]

Had a phone call from some finance company today, can't remember what they called themselves. Anyway, they stated that Welcome had asked them to call as they were no longer giving out any loans but had given this company permission to contact all their customers and offer them loans if their payment record was good.

 

Seems another strange move to me.

 

If someone is struggling why ask other companies to make the situation even worse.

They are doomed!!

 

I have a upto date payment record yet they phone me every month cause I haven't got a D/D set up asking me when I am paying. One month they phoned me 3 times prior to payment date.

And I have never missed or been late with a payment.

 

I hate em and hope they go down.................Sorry to be nasty, but they are a real pain. I can imagine what they are like to late/non payers.

[andie_303]

Chris B 333

 

Cattles are dumping the lending arm of Welcome Finance to new customers - it was in the Times on Tuesday they can no longer afford to lend to new customers - possibly this is the first sign of Welcome going down the pan - hopefully not before March when my court case is though - I need the money

[shazzyp]

Hi new to this site and really interested in what everyone is saying about this company. Hubby got a car loan from welcome car finance and we had no problems until last month. I had to cancel the direct debit last year as I had been the victim of an internet [problem] which meant having to change bank details. I rang every month and made the payments with my card. I asked them for another debit mandate and completed and sent this back. They set this up but did not give me a payment date and could not help when I rang them tof ind out, so I cancelled the mandate and made payments using their telephone payment service. I got a letter from them last week to say they had charged me £20 for cancelling the debit mandate and also 2 charges of £10 each for letters they sent which I did not receive. I wrote back to them to request how they can justify cahrging for ME cancelling the mandate and to let them know the payments were being made through their other service. I am still waiting to hear back from them and will let you know what happens when I do

[MarkieMark]

Hi.... I have managed to get a firm of solicitors who are going to take on my case against Welcome Finance.

 

They advised me adding PPI to the loan together with acceptance feee was breach of Consumer Credit Act 1974.

 

We not just getting are PPI back but issuing proceedings against then to scrap the loan.

 

I will let you know how I get on.....

[90DC]

These idiots keep ringing me up. I never gave them my phone number, just applied for a loan online with Abbey and Capital One.

[Rabbi Burns]

Hi Voda - apologies for taking so long! There are some very good templates - try these and just amend to suit.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/letter-templates/131334-dca-response-threats-home.html

 

 

Hi Dipply, I only found this site last night and have spent hours trawling through all the posts

 

Have just found the excellent letter above, but notice you quote English law. Do you know if there is anything similiar in Scots law about doorstep visits?

[Loubyloux]

Not sure how relevant this is but Welcome are currently trying to move my existing loan to another provider supposedly on a lower interest rate as I am such a wonderful customer.

 

My thinking - surely if I am such a great customer they would want to keep making money out of me.

 

Do you think they are trying to free up money by selling their existing loans or is it more likely a sign they are going under?

 

Bit wary of transferring the loan to another company so not quite sure what to do about it...any advice?

[90DC]

Think they are just selling loans on really. They may be going under, can't see how a rip-off company like that can keep afloat anyway, dispite no CC loans etc.

[andie_303]

louby Welcome have already stopped lending to new customers and now moving existing customers to someone else I think reading between the lines it probably means there is trouble aboard the welcome ship

[sandysue103]

I'm sorry to crash this thread but can someone help me please? I stupidly applied for a loan with Welcome in October. I sent them all of my details in November and haven't heard anything back, let alone had any letters, despite numerous phone calls to them chasing up my documents. I phoned them in January and told them that I didn't need the loan anymore because I had paid off the things I needed to pay off myself in the intervening period and that I didn't want to proceed. With hindsight I should have put that in writing. However, yesterday £2000 appeared in my bank account. I phoned them and asked about the cooling off period because I don't want it anymore but all they would tell me is that it is "very tight" so to go their nearest branch and pay it back. I can't do that because it's only open during working hours and is nowhere near where I work and I can't get a day off. Does anyone know what the cooling off period is please?

[andie_303]

it's 14 days - just ask you bank to send it back to the originators account - if for some reason they can't do that (which i'm sure they can) request a bank acc number and sort code off Welcome (ring head office at nottingham not just the local branch). Also make sure you get in writing that the money has gone back to their account and keep your proof. Not that we don't trust Welcome round here or anything lol

[jamiethemac]

I know it's a little off-topic, but is there a forum for the latest on the bank charges court case?

[Dipply75]

Apply for a loan in Nov and the money suddenly appears in your account middle of Feb?! Weird, I thought they usually sent cheques out. Andie is right, get your bank to send the money to the same place it came from, then it is completely traceable. I would also tell your bank that Welcome have no access to your account, under any circumstances. Just in case they decide to start taking direct debits or something for your 'loan payments' - they are about as organised as I am rich:p

 

Wonder if there is some sort of time limit on applying for them to agree and pay out, shame you can't accept that money as an unsolicited gift lol!

[082stewie]

Oooops Cattles/Welcome on the wrong side of things!! 59% drop today alone. What goes around certainly comes around!!

 

Current Market Information

CATTLES PLC

Time: 08:49

Bid5.50

Ask5.25

Price5.38

Previous13.25

Change-7.86 (-59.2981%)

[eeeezzzyy]

What a shame !!! Just to let you guys know im doing my bit from March 1st by refusing to pay Welcome any more money until i get a copy of my original Credit Agreement and statements of all the payments made on my account...Ive been onto them since Dec 08 asking for a settlement figure on a personnel loan i took out June 07 (yes i know i wish id never set eyes on Welscum) my wife and myself have just come into (very fortunatly) an inheritance that will sort us out no end financially. Ive missed just one payment since Jun 07 but now for some reason they dont want to play ball and give me a settlement figure nor no paperwork....So time to play them at their own game !!!

[Sol]

Yep, it looks like Cattles years of taking people for a ride hve finally caught up with them. Share price currently 6.40