Welcome Finance Settlement??

sarahpowell

Hello There

I am hoping there is someone out there who maybe able to help.

Both me and my hubby had taken out loans with Welcome Finaince - Foolish I know - I am now in the position to pay them off (all be it with a credit card, but much lower interest rate with CC).

I have written to them asking for a settlement figure. I have been paying this since about 2003/4 and was orginally a £2000 loan. The outstanding amounts on them both are 641.06 and 446.60.

My question is are they likly to offer us a reduced amount to complete the payment. Has anyone else done this?

Thanks

Robert_Sterling_3

I do not think they will reduce your payments. Of what benefit to them would it be.

Sol00

I doubt very much they'll offer a reduction.

sarahpowell

Cheers for the advise. I have not heard back from them yet - but there is no harm in trying hey, for the cost of a postage stamp.

I was not the one who mentioned the settlement, when I phoned to get my outstanding balance and I mentioned that I wanted to take this out of the DMP they advised to write in requesting a settlement figure IF I was in the position to clear the debt.

I ma not holding out hope but even if they knocked £50 off or something then its still £50 extra to clear another debt.

Will let you know how I get on - Oh and what they have to gain? Well knowing they are going to get the amount paid, I was hard pushed to pay my debts a year or so ago and missed quite a few payments to them, along with other creditors which have offered me settlement figures to clear them. Seems the economy has made creditors more "flexible" if it going to guarentee them payment. (Well so far this is what I have encountered)

Cheers for the help guys much appreciated.

Sarah

view

Unfortunately I think you'll find that not only will they not 'knock' anything off, the settlement figures will be much higher than the amounts you think. (£641.06 and £446.60.)

Have heard loads of stories about people paying thousands to these loans for years and years and then being in a bit of a better position, asking for settlement and finding out they owe just about the original amount because the interest is so high!

good luck tho, let us know how you get on

sarahpowell

Hi There

Hubby has had his settlement figure back from Welcome Finance this morning and although I hate Welcome I have to prove you guys wrong they have knocked £50 off his so instead of £446.60 for his they are asking for £396.34, although not a massive amount of money its money bettter off in my pocket than theirs!

Hopefully I should have mine back soon as our letters were sent at the same time!

Sarah

ANGSTDATA

Hi - read the thread on FULL and Final settlements !

regards

stu75_07

Im not a big fan of Welcome either but due to my credit rating i had no choice last november , i to have heard many naff reviews on them but i have found them quite helpful i asked two weeks ago to move DD to 13th of month as they set it up for the 7th and within two days my DD mandate turned up and it did indeed go out on the 13th i admit i was worried it would go out on th 7th but it appears if you dont p**s them off then they treat you ok , maybe only my opinion though :-)

never-in-doubt

sarahpowell wrote: »

Hi There

Hubby has had his settlement figure back from Welcome Finance this morning and although I hate Welcome I have to prove you guys wrong they have knocked £50 off his so instead of £446.60 for his they are asking for £396.34, although not a massive amount of money its money bettter off in my pocket than theirs!

Hopefully I should have mine back soon as our letters were sent at the same time!

Sarah

Hi

Yea welcome, as with all high street lenders, will accept a F&F settlement because to them it's better to have one lump payment to re-invest than to get a few pounds a week.

Welcome are actually good for haggling, i'd have been writing asking for a refund on some of the interest APR.

I had a welcome loan for 3 grand a while ago, got it for daughters car, and paid back for a year then went and got bank loan of 5 grand and thought i'd pay welcome off. They wrote with settlement of 2.8 grand and I went mad saying i'd paid 160 quid for a year to have 200 reduction in the same 12 month period.

I thought sod that and took 2 grand out of bank and walked to welcome office and sat down with the boss and he counted it. he said that I was 800 short and I smiled and said take that or i'm going bust tomorrow, i'll use that money to pay the 500 court costs - you decide?

I guess you know what they took...... they just wrote off 800 quid - just like that. Showed on credit file as repaid early. Nothing bad as it wasn't a F&F settlement in debt, it was early repayment agreement.

Make sure you use the correct terms - ask for Early Repayment of Loan, in Full Settlement figure. Deffo worth calling their bluff like I did..... bankruptcy = 0 dosh back and they know this!

Sol00

Well done, Never in Doubt! It's probable that they accepted this due to their financial problems at the moment, I can't see them doing this in the good days.

Cumbrian_Male

Welcome have their backs against the wall, in January they stated they would write 25% of their 2008 volume this year to "preserve liquidity". Now they have deferred the profit announcement as they are revaluing (Deloitte) their impairment provisions, they state that profit will be substantially below expectations. They left it to the branch offices to file the charges with the land registry and many have been missed and some are 5th charge on the property. They have substantial loans due to their lenders in July and are trying to restructure their financing. I can't see them making it past Q2 without a takeover or one of their lenders taking a huge equity stake, administration looks likely.