Welcome Finance

strictly-limited1

I took a loan out with Welcome Finance three years ago. All payments were up to date until this year when I was made redundant.
I called and wrote to my local office (each letter sent by Recorded Delivery) Explaining my situation and to ask for a reduced payment schedule until I was back to work. I was told they could not help by phone and none of my letters were answered.
A default has appeared on my credit file and a debt collection agency has been writing to me with "Special Offers" on repaying.
The Financial Ombudsman was contacted after my initial call and letters. I have had one reply saying they will accept a reduced payment. I have replied asking WHY this was not agreed in the first place and to remove the default ( I am waiting for a reply ).

My question is...who does the car belong to? can it be sold?
I was told by Welcome Finance that they would take the car and sell it at auction, but as I have paid a large portion of the finance they can not do this.

All advice welcome....Thankyou in advance.

di3004

Hi there


Hope someone gives advice on this for you soon, good luck.

PNPSUKNET

You will have to go through with the fos, or the reduced payments. Even if you owed 98% of the car, they can still stake it but have to have a court order. Until paid 100% its their car

NeverEnough

It depends on whether your "loan" is simply a loan or in fact a Hire Purchase Agreement as to what their rights are with the car (I'm assuming you took the loan out to buy a car). If its an HP agreement, they will need to get a Court Order to repossess the car if you have paid more than 50% (or at any time, in Scotland). If its just a plain loan, then they don't have specific rights against your car as its an unsecured credit agreement, but bailiffs can take possession of any of your possessions including the car - its a good idea, if bailiffs are expected, a) not to let them into your property, ever. They have no right in law to enter - just say no. and b) Park the car a long way from your house or keep it at friends until the matter is sorted.

The other answer to your question of can the car be sold - if its been purchased on a loan, yes it can, at any time, and hopefully you will then pay the loan back right away.
If its on HP, technically it doesn't belong to you, but most places would allow a sale and repayment of the balance of the HP within a 5 day period.

Good luck in getting it sorted, its always a worry when companies are so unreasonable, but Welcome are very well known for these tactics!

NeverEnough

PNPSUKNET wrote: »

You will have to go through with the fos, or the reduced payments. Even if you owed 98% of the car, they can still stake it but have to have a court order. Until paid 100% its their car

I am pretty sure that this only applies to Hire Purchase Agreements, not to plain unsecured loans in which you were loaned money and then bought a car with it. The OP states he has a "loan", but of course it could be a HP.

Apples2

OP- Why do you feel they should remove the default??

It seems quite apparent you failed to make the repayment.

Without you giving the full details, it just leads to confusion (as above). Nobody will be able to help you unless you give more details.

toffe

well, some people nearly got this right others are way off the mark.

the point at which a lender needs a court order to repossess a vehicle under a regulated consumer credit agreement is when one third of the total amount payable under the agreement has been paid, not 50%, this includes any deposit or trade in value for your old car.

50% is the point at which you can return the vehicle without having to pay anything else towards the remainder of the finance without getting defaulted this is called Voluntary termination.

Also, if the vehicle is on private property, i.e a driveway, then the lender would need a court order to repossess even if 1/3rd had not been paid.

so there is an acurate outline of your rights.

with regards the default thats going to be more complicated, you did stop making payments and so in effect did default your only chance of removing this would probably be if they did not issue the correct default notices, this would be a long shot with most lenders but i have read on other forum that welcome have a record of sending incorrect default notices or not sending them at all, again proving this would be time consuming and complicated, it depends if you want to spend the next 6 to 12 months fighting the default.

i'd suggest you post on the welcome finance board over on the consumer action group as mse doesn't have such a dedicated forum for welcome.