Nightmare with Welcome Finance!!

Maxnana

moneymoan wrote: »

Please could anyone advise me what I can do in my situation.
1) I have a mortgage with Northern Rock - no equity I owe more than the property is worth.
2) I have a secured loand with Welcome Finance ( I believe they should never have offered me it (It was not affordable to me and would have failed any basic affordability check)
3) Having failed at trying to keep up the debts on the remaining unsecured debt which Welcome Finance did not cover. I now have an IVA.
Obviously I realise now that I'd have been better off taking an IVA for the whole of the unsecured debt instead of taking the secured loan with Welcome, but in my defence, I had been ill advised by Citizens Advice Bureau (they told me if I wanted apply for an IVA that I need £5k to pay upfront fees) so I should apply for Bankruptcy.
I would not consider Bankruptcy as an option for me because I did not want to lose my job and because despite the fact that most of my unsecured debt was due to my head being in the sand and me using credit cards to pay may way and paying unreasonable costs and interest rates to keep going, I wanted to be responsible and pay off my debts if I could.
I am now in a position since my husbands income has reduced that I cannot make ends meet. If I were able to choose what not to pay it would be Welcome Finance since their payments are so high and because I would be in a very different position if the debt they supplied the loan for had been included in the IVA.
When I started to struggle with Welcome payments, they temporarily reduced they payments allowing me to pay interest only for a while and stopped interest being applied to my loan, but after time they said they would have to start adding interest back on to the account. I still pay interest only...I can't manage to pay the full amount.
I am currently being allowed to pay interest only on my mortgage with northern rock for a 1 yr period and when I asked if Welcome would be willing to reduce my payments any further they responded with "Ah well if you are paying less to Rock you could pay more to us!!!!"
I don't suppose anyone out there has any advice to offer me??? I don't know what to do next eg
If I sold my home I would owe more to the Northern Rock, and still owe Welcome Finance and still have the IVA and would find it difficult to rent.
If I stay and go bankrupt for the unsecured debt I'd only be £250 per mont better off and so would still struggle with Welcome Finance
.........what other options do I have.........at the moment I survive by borrowing money from my mum for food and repaying her when I can then borrowing again and again. Life is a bit sad to say the least and truthfully I have never had a lavish lifestyle..........this is honestly all just down to bad money management!

Hi Moneymoan,

I know your post is from a while back, but we are in virtually the same situation as you (if you swap Welcome Finance for First Plus).

Mortgage, 2nd charge, IVA etc, check!

We would be fine if it wasn't for the 2nd charge repayments (now nearly £1000 a month!), and a severe drop in husband's salary.

I'm just interested to know what you decided to do in the end, and how it's working out?

We are looking at (and have been advised of) the 'handing keys back followed by bankruptcy' route, but just wondered what solution (if any) you have found?

Thank you.

Mark1982

Hi I'm new to this forum from today but have the same problem you all have ..... Welcome finance !!!!!.... Cut a very long story short got a loan 2008 of £2000 really didn't no nothing of them till now !!!.. Had family problems after I took it out which lead to job lost , so I couldn't afford payments !! Had ppi that didn't help... So I tried to pay something back which which I thought was reasonable !!.. Until interest was 180.00 or so a mth !!! So my point is I've paid just over 3 grand of my loan but there still looking another 3!!!!!..... Grand !!... Can anyone help me !!!! Please

cerica72

Mark1982 wrote: »

Hi I'm new to this forum from today but have the same problem you all have ..... Welcome finance !!!!!.... Cut a very long story short got a loan 2008 of £2000 really didn't no nothing of them till now !!!.. Had family problems after I took it out which lead to job lost , so I couldn't afford payments !! Had ppi that didn't help... So I tried to pay something back which which I thought was reasonable !!.. Until interest was 180.00 or so a mth !!! So my point is I've paid just over 3 grand of my loan but there still looking another 3!!!!!..... Grand !!... Can anyone help me !!!! Please

Hi Mark

Unless you try to claim back the PPI that will reduce the balance and then try and offer them payment. Hope this helps. I too got a loan from them back in 2008 and they payments were £168.33 a month over the last 3 years, its been a struggle believe me!!! Got a PPI claim with them at the moment through FSCS.

Good luck

Mark1982

cerica72 wrote: »

Hi Mark

Unless you try to claim back the PPI that will reduce the balance and then try and offer them payment. Hope this helps. I too got a loan from them back in 2008 and they payments were £168.33 a month over the last 3 years, its been a struggle believe me!!! Got a PPI claim with them at the moment through FSCS.

Good luck

Very same boat as you !!.. Waiting on word from ppi wit them too... An goin by my loan agreement I paid very hi ppi a month ..... At the moment they are refusing my photo copy of my license saying that they think it's not me !!! Lol.... Even tho it has been stamped by the post office !! So that tells u they owe me money !... To be the government should b stepping in to places like this an stop them putting on such a very high risk interest !!

cerica72

Mark1982 wrote: »

Very same boat as you !!.. Waiting on word from ppi wit them too... An goin by my loan agreement I paid very hi ppi a month ..... At the moment they are refusing my photo copy of my license saying that they think it's not me !!! Lol.... Even tho it has been stamped by the post office !! So that tells u they owe me money !... To be the government should b stepping in to places like this an stop them putting on such a very high risk interest !!

Hi Mark

Financial companies like Welcome Finance will always target people like myself!!! thats why I have now decided to save which I guess I should of done in the first place. I sent them my driving licence original through the post but recorded, got it back only when I requested it though!!! I think they are just using a delaying tactic with you!!! I did send them some other paperwork and they have lost it!! they said that they had sent it back with my driving licence which is a LIE!!!

BBTHREE

I need someone with skills calculating annual interest rate to check what we are paying Welcome Finance please.

We were with G E Money previously, and to get away from G E Money, we refinanced with Welcome (Out of the frying etc.....)

We borrowed 25K, and knew they were higher than average percentage rate etc but they accepted us so we were grateful.

We have been trying to pay more attention to our finances and so have just had a good look at the secured loan statement we have just received.

This shows that we have paid since Feb 2007 and amount of credit provided was £29939.94!!! (I assume they have stuck PPI etc in this) and still owe £25408.78.

What we are not understanding (sorry if I look dumb here) but the way both my hubby and I have calculated this it looks like we are on about 35% interest, but we are supposed to be on 20.40%

For instance £735.00 is credited, but then capitalisation of £477.69 and Default Sum fee interest of 0.76 is debited. Can someone confirm if this looks like the right interest rate.

I am considering an SAR to see if what we actually signed up for because we most definately feel ripped off.

Another question (if any ex-Welcome employees can answer this I would be grateful) if they charge you £10 for a phone call should it show on the secured loan statement?

My local branch has rang me a couple of times, for basically no real reason (I am making my monthly payments and they are almost ringing me just for a chat) and I have never really questioned it.

But having read other threads on here I am worried Welcome are charging me £10 each time. There are no £10 charges on my latest secured loan statement but I wanted to make sure that these aren't recorded elsewhere.

thecapaccino

I took out a secured loan on my mortgage with Welcome Finance in the amount of 15,000.

It has been about 7 years and I have paid 18,000. BUT they informed me I still owe 25,000! This is because I took it out over 118months.

I had NO idea what I was signing or the amount of repayment.

What can I do? Can I let the payment go and wait for a charge if I sell my flat?

Can I get another loan to cover this?

Any advice would be "welcome"!!!!

:-)

Apples2

thecapaccino wrote: »

Can I get another loan to cover this?

Welcome were lending to people who had a poor history at the best of times (which is why they went under as their customers stopped repaying).

If your credit files have been perfect for the last 7 years and your Salary/Debt ratio can support it, you could try a £25k loan but things would have to be quite rosy in the capaccino house to be accepted.

Do not stop paying, you could lose your house.