Welcome Loans UK - witholding refund

Marie123

I applied for a loan with Welcome Loans back in June and decided that I didn't want to use them after all.

Their T&C's stated that I had to write to them to obtain the £69.95 broker fee back from them. They debited this from my account and sent a very aggressive/threatening letter stating that they would take me to court/fine me blah blah if I contested the payment.

I wrote to these clowns within the 14 days cool off period and heard nothing. I sent numerous emails and was eventually told I had to write to their "Legal Compliance Auditor" (whatever!) to obtain my refund.
I have still heard NOTHING.

The FOS have written to them on my behalf and still there has been no reply.

I just want to warn anyone who reads this to steer well clear of these loosers. I will continue to persue them for my money but I suspect many people just get fed up of being ignored and cut their losses so the company wins every time!

[text removed by MSE Forum Team]

27col

I am not sure why you call them losers. They are the ones with your money. Sounds to me as if you are the loser at the moment.

AnnieMcDougal

First of all, 27col - how is that helpful? You may have never fallen for a con like this and therefore you feel very smug but in what world is that reply helpful only to feed your ego of how worldly wise you think you are? Please have some empathy.

Marie123, I really feel for you, I am in the same position, I have been struggling for ages with my finances and willingly gave over 69.95, it was only when my bank, Barclays, alerted me to the fact that Welcome Loans took the money from a bank a/c in Maurititius, I became suspicious, did some googling and found out to my dismay I had been conned. I got rid of the card I had given them and got onto them straight away, phone calls & emails and also alerted the Financial Ombudsman. It is now in their hands as I was just getting too upset/annoyed emailing & phoning them.

I'm fully aware of the fact I may never get my money back due to my naivety but it has been a lesson learned and I hope others will see our posts and steer clear. Anyway, don't be too hard on yourself, there are thousands of us that have been taken in and it sure taught me a lesson. Chin up.

malkyh

AnnieMcDougal wrote: »

First of all, 27col - how is that helpful? You may have never fallen for a con like this and therefore you feel very smug but in what world is that reply helpful only to feed your ego of how worldly wise you think you are? Please have some empathy.

Marie123, I really feel for you, I am in the same position, I have been struggling for ages with my finances and willingly gave over 69.95, it was only when my bank, Barclays, alerted me to the fact that Welcome Loans took the money from a bank a/c in Maurititius, I became suspicious, did some googling and found out to my dismay I had been conned. I got rid of the card I had given them and got onto them straight away, phone calls & emails and also alerted the Financial Ombudsman. It is now in their hands as I was just getting too upset/annoyed emailing & phoning them.

If you willingly gave them the £69.95, how do you then come to the conclusion you were conned? Did you read their T&C's?

DCFC79

AnnieMcDougal wrote: »

First of all, 27col - how is that helpful? You may have never fallen for a con like this and therefore you feel very smug but in what world is that reply helpful only to feed your ego of how worldly wise you think you are? Please have some empathy.

Marie123, I really feel for you, I am in the same position, I have been struggling for ages with my finances and willingly gave over 69.95, it was only when my bank, Barclays, alerted me to the fact that Welcome Loans took the money from a bank a/c in Maurititius, I became suspicious, did some googling and found out to my dismay I had been conned. I got rid of the card I had given them and got onto them straight away, phone calls & emails and also alerted the Financial Ombudsman. It is now in their hands as I was just getting too upset/annoyed emailing & phoning them.

I'm fully aware of the fact I may never get my money back due to my naivety but it has been a lesson learned and I hope others will see our posts and steer clear. Anyway, don't be too hard on yourself, there are thousands of us that have been taken in and it sure taught me a lesson. Chin up.

So what attracted you to welcome loans then ?
Did you honestly think you were going to get a loan once you handed over £70 of your cash ?

You cna search for loans yourself and it can be done for free.

AnnieMcDougal

I was attracted to Welcome Loans as I have bad credit and tried everywhere else. I know I was conned because after parting with my 70 quid, not one lender contacted me. I know I was conned because when I checked on google and saw they were a con artist, I wrote to them to cancel (in accordance with their t&c's) and no refund. I have phoned and emailed and nothing. I'm struggling to understand how any of these replies I have received are helpful? Asking me "did I honestly think I was going to get a loan after handing over 70 quid" - when you're desperate, you will believe and hope for anything. Thanks for pointing out what I already know, I was naive and under pressure. People are hilarious. Here's me posting to tell someone my story and I'm pounced on. I wasn't even ASKING for advice or help. Remind me in future, if I make a mistake, NOT to post it on here.

Homeagain

AnnieMcDougal wrote: »

I was attracted to Welcome Loans as I have bad credit and tried everywhere else. I know I was conned because after parting with my 70 quid, not one lender contacted me. I know I was conned because when I checked on google and saw they were a con artist, I wrote to them to cancel (in accordance with their t&c's) and no refund. I have phoned and emailed and nothing. I'm struggling to understand how any of these replies I have received are helpful? Asking me "did I honestly think I was going to get a loan after handing over 70 quid" - when you're desperate, you will believe and hope for anything. Thanks for pointing out what I already know, I was naive and under pressure. People are hilarious. Here's me posting to tell someone my story and I'm pounced on. I wasn't even ASKING for advice or help. Remind me in future, if I make a mistake, NOT to post it on here.

Yes you were conned. You read the terms and conditions and cancelled during the cancellation period. Don't worry too much about some of the smug lot on this forum, others appreciate your advice, believe me. Thank you for the warning. In any event, keep on hounding them, you never know.

AnnieMcDougal

Thanks Nicolafine, I'm well aware I was conned and no-one feels as daft as I do, believe me! But I was hoping if I put my post up, it might serve as a warning to others. Its all in the hands of the Financial Ombudsman now so you never know! And for the smug posters, may it always stay fine for them!

redsaxon

im in the exact same position as the OP except i stupidly had never heard of a "broker" before getting fleeced by welcomeloansuk. FOS is also handling my case and as of yet....nothing ,not a penny.
I was also bombarded with insults and put downs when i asked for advice on here but luckily there was a few good people willing to advise and help.
ignore the idiots who clearly have never made a mistake in their lives and good luck getting your money back!
At this rate welcomeloansuk will have there own sticky thread on here.

meer53

OP, you paid someone to find a loan for you. You then cancelled within the 14 day cancellation period, was that because you did some research and discovered you could have done the research yourself ? Or because you didn't like what you read about them ?

Cancelling within 14 days doesn't give them much time to come up with a loan for you so you haven't really given them time to provide ehat you paid for.

How do you know that they weren't going to come back to you with a loan ?

Apples2

You can rest assured every applicant will be offered a loan.

It won't be the £8k at 6% APR they feel they deserve, more like £500 at 6,453% APR or a £3k Guarantor loan.

They are never going to play ball and dish out refunds, which is why it is important to follow the specified procedure for a refund.
They know what they are doing but eventually, you will see a return, even if you have to take it to Court.

If you follow the proper mechanism, they have no defence, but nobody said it would be a walk in the park.