An unwelcome message from Welcome finance

gwdhld

Please can anyone offer me any advice.

I received a letter from Welcome advising that I was to receive £2571.00 refund to my account as a result of being wrongly sold PPI. I am currently paying an additional sum to this company each week to try and pay off some arrears so I contacted them to ask if this could be stopped as the payment refund was more than enough to pay off the arrears in the account and actually leave me well over paid. They advised that yes the arrears were paid off but that i have had charges levied to the account as a result of defaulting and that these were incurring charges. I said that i felt that this was unfair as I was in arrears as a direct result of being overcharged for a product that I didn't need. They advised that it was legal practice. I asked therefore that I stop paying anything off my loan for a few months as the PPI return has meant that I am ahead with my schedule of payment but I was advised that this was not possible and that I should continue to make additional payments. I advised that I would be complaining as I feel that this is bad practice but would like to know am I wrong to be getting upset by this and should I be mentioning anything in particular when I write to them.

Audster68

Dear gwdhld,

This, I am afraid, is typical Welcome Financial Services practice - anything that sounds vaguely reasonable isn't, to them. I am in the middle of complaining/disputing with them a similar situation; what I have to remember is that WFS are a company who were happy to lend to people such as ourselves when others wouldn't. To a certain extent, I understand that they have had to employ certain measures to ensure that money is re-paid, but what I have experienced is their lack of common sense. You are right to feel upset. I took the them to the FOS and lost, but it's still worth complaining if you feel it's wrong. Keep us posted!

gwdhld

Good luck with your complaint. They initially turned my claim down and then a few weeks later i received a letter from them asking if i would like to try and claim,so i did and i received a payout. I hate this company as i feel that they are like loan sharks. I also understand that they need to recoup their monies and agree that they show very little common sense. I will discouage everyone i can from becoming involved with this company. Thanks for your encouragement.

roonaldo

They can apply redress to any arrears owed, not even FOS would disagree or change this decision.

magpiecottage

Audster68 wrote: »

I took the them to the FOS and lost, but it's still worth complaining if you feel it's wrong.

No it is not.

Welcome Financial Services Limited has been declared in default by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

This means that the FSCS, rather than FOS will consider complaints against it and it has already stated that any redress will be used to reduce debts claimants owe to Welcome Finance in order to release funds for other creditors. Only if your redress exceeds what you owe Welcome Finance will you get cash, otherwise you simply end up paying less back.

di3004

Details of WF - Financial compensation scheme (FSCS)

If your account was sold Jan 2005 onwards you can make a claim through the FSCS.

http://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/questions-and-answers/qas-for-welcome-financial-hn0qripj/