Welcome finance nightmare!!

em83x

ok so i got a loan with welcome finance in sept 2003 for £1700, i was paying £70 a month for around 18 months, then i lost my job so my payments were reduced to £15 a week. I was contacted by a lady from welcome around a year ago saying if i increased my payments to £20 a week then £500 would be wiped off my balance, which i agreed to, then i was contacted around 6 months ago saying if i changed my payment method to direct debit (it was originally them taking it manually from my card every week) then they would wipe another £500 off my balance, well alarm bells started ringing as surely i didnt even have £1000 left on my balance, so i asked them what my balance was... £2500!!!?????? oh my god, how??? I asked for a breakdown of payments in a statement and they said they did not provide this service?? i was then informed that they had no record of anyone saying my balance was going to be reduced??? what can i do?? this loan is nearly 7 years old!!?? i know there interest rate is ridiculous but what the hell??

dotstar24

they have added charges and interest on top of interest. they did this with my OH's loan. it was getting so out of hand we've stopped taking their calls now.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Your need to write to them requesting a balance/breakdown, by law they have to provide you with the details of your loans including balances. Do not be brushed off by the person you spoke to.

AMD

cheekychco

I have dealt with Welcome a lot and had great advice from people here and now have a complaint with the FOS.

Their interests rates are pretty shocking.

I'm sure there are template letters on this forum (just do a search) you can request, in writing for a SAR's i think its called (Statement of affairs) may cost you around £10. Make sure you state that is is for the statement alone and not to be added to your account. Send a postal order.

They then should provide you with all charges made, payments you've made, dates of calls (i think) basically everything they hold on you.

If you find anything untoward, contact your local CAB office so that it can be looked into. If you have just cause then you'll have to submit a complaint and outline what you want from them.

If they reject that, then contact the FOS. They will also send them a complaint and send you a form to complete. Send FOS copies of everything Welcome has provided and then, fingers crosses, they can uphold your complaint. Just make sure you are clear, to the FOS, what you are trying to achieve, i.e. interest no calulate correctly, unjust interest charges etc.

There are people on here that knwo more than me and will hopefully correct me if I have stated anything wrong or add further info to what I have said.

Good luck

Wickedkitten

em83x wrote: »

ok so i got a loan with welcome finance in sept 2003 for £1700, i was paying £70 a month for around 18 months, then i lost my job so my payments were reduced to £15 a week. I was contacted by a lady from welcome around a year ago saying if i increased my payments to £20 a week then £500 would be wiped off my balance, which i agreed to, then i was contacted around 6 months ago saying if i changed my payment method to direct debit (it was originally them taking it manually from my card every week) then they would wipe another £500 off my balance, well alarm bells started ringing as surely i didnt even have £1000 left on my balance, so i asked them what my balance was... £2500!!!?????? oh my god, how??? I asked for a breakdown of payments in a statement and they said they did not provide this service?? i was then informed that they had no record of anyone saying my balance was going to be reduced??? what can i do?? this loan is nearly 7 years old!!?? i know there interest rate is ridiculous but what the hell??

How long did you take out the loan for and what was the interest rate?