Is Welcome Finance going bust?

lynn74uk

Hi i have a secured loan with wf stupid i know now i was strugglin to pay it back and after months of letters phone calls and charges i eventually had to rewrite it to be able to make lower payments. The secured loan is in mine and my partners name but my partner is not on my mortgage details nor has any other property of his own his name was only on it as i wouldn't have been able to get it on my own as i didn't work when i took it out so does that mean seen as he has no property that they would only chase me for the money if we ever split seen as i have a property

Buster_the_Dog

My boyfriend and I took out a joint finance with Welcome in early 2007 for a car. He wanted the finance in his name really, but when we went to the showroom, I was persuaded to go on the deal as well so we could borrow more. (More fool us). I was told by the sales advisor that as the second borrower, it would have no other effects on me in terms of my credit rating and that it was solely so my boyfriend could get a higher finance. However, we fell into difficulties when my boyfriend was made redundant last year. I tried to get a relatively small (£1,500) loan to help pay bills. However, when a credit check was done on me, I was turned down and further investigations showed I apparently had a £15,000 loan with Welcome Finance. When I said I was the second borrower - so at worst I owed only £7,500 - I was told this was not the case. I didn't know, but if anything happened to my boyfriend and he was unable to pay, I became solely responsible for the loan's repayment - therefore in terms of credit checks, it was all coming up under my name. I felt I was somewhat misled by Welcome - but my own fault for agreeing to go on the deal almost on impulse (because we saw a great car that we liked) and for not checking up first and calling back another day. Anyway, at Christmas, I lost my job too and now both my boyfriend and I are doing 'temping' work only because we cannot find permanent jobs. Welcome agreed we could refinance to cut the monthly repayments. But this month, we have been unable to make a payment at all due to very low income. In the past, Welcome let us pay off an arrear over a period of six months, just increasing the monthly rate by a small amount. On this occasion, however, I have been told unless we make the payment by 30 April, they will be coming round right away to repossess the car. No agreements, nothing. This has come as a real shock. Are they allowed to do this? I have never been in this situation before.

helnag

Hi,

Poor you, they are not the most understanding of lenders are they. I am by no means an expert but am sure someone will come along soon that knows for sure. I think that as long as you have paid a certain amount of the amount owed they have to get a court order before they can remove the car. When I first started claiming back my PPI last Jan I witheld the PPI portion off that monthly payment and had a very unpleasant conversation with a staff member at welcome who told me that unless I paid the £60 or whatever it was they would come and get my car, I told her she would need a court order first and she tried to continue arguing but eventually gave up. I'm at work so don't have my credit agreement but there is something on there that tells you exactly what proportion it is. Sorry I can't be more helpful, hope this helps and as I say I'm sure someone else will be along soon to help. Chin up.

xx

Sol00

lynn74uk wrote: »

Hi i have a secured loan with wf stupid i know now i was strugglin to pay it back and after months of letters phone calls and charges i eventually had to rewrite it to be able to make lower payments. The secured loan is in mine and my partners name but my partner is not on my mortgage details nor has any other property of his own his name was only on it as i wouldn't have been able to get it on my own as i didn't work when i took it out so does that mean seen as he has no property that they would only chase me for the money if we ever split seen as i have a property

I'm not sure lynn. If you don't get any advice from here you should contact the CAB to find out, as it's a secured loan you have, you don't want to take any chances.

Sol00

As longs as you've paid 2 quarters towards it, they can't just take the car.

Welcome are worse than usual at the moment due to their financial problems - their bark is really worse than their bite.

madmackhunter

Your correct sol.
on 2 occasions i had a call from one of welscums 50 sub-contractors they use.
"were picking your car up today"
my usual awnser is "better bring set of wheels, then thanks for warning me"
on those 2 occasions no one has turned up,no defaults on my account,no warnings,nothing in writing!!:rotfl::rotfl:

sammie22_2

just had welcome on the phone askin me if i could up my monthly payments to cover the 3 months of arrears...... er no thanx i can just manage to pay my monthly payments now! they really wind me up!!!

i got a loan for 12000 in 2006 nrly had it for 3yrs now and nearly paid 9000 of it but my balance is like 14000 how is that possible????

i just wish they would go away!!!

madmackhunter

Never mind sammi they will blow away with the wind soon-patience is a virtue.
What goes around comes around,this lot will get there comuppance no doubt!!:cool::cool:

kittiej

So what's this conference call about and what do you have to do to be part of it?

I would like them to explain how they can charge £25 in late charges for an account that's actually in credit.

My bf has a car loan, his mothly payments would be £396. He asked at the start if he could pay weekly as he is weekly paid so they said OK £100 per week.

nine months later and £100 per week totals more than £396 per month or are my maths wrong?

Well he was late making a payment so they charged him, he said to the person from WCF but I'm in credit and she said Oh well the computer doesn't see it like that.

What a load of shinola.

Buster_the_Dog

Thank you to those who posted a response to my earlier question re car finance with Welcome. Things have taken an odd turn, however. It was my "personal account manager" who told me (on Tuesday 21st April) that "someone will be coming for the car straight away" if this month's payment of £137, due on 17th April, wasn't made by 30th April. Unfortunately, this account manager lives five minutes from me (really unfortunate) and she just turned up on my doorstep at 6.30pm, banging on the front door, with this news! I was fuming at her uninvited visit. :mad: I'm sure it's unethical popping round to a client like that just because she happens to live in my neighbourhood. I said I would try and get some money together and pay it. (Don't know how yet, but I'm selling stuff on Ebay to try and get at least some money together). Anyway, after this frosty doorstep conversation with my account manager, I later received a call from someone at the Welcome call centre, who was actually very helpful. My account manager hadn't left any note on the account at all that she had visited/spoken to me. When I told the guy at the call centre what'd been said, he responded that there were certainly no plans to repossess our car at the moment. He said he was sure we could work out a payment plan if we were struggling and he gave me a local office number to ring if I had any problems in making the payment by 30th April. So I felt much happier. Then, however, my so-called account manager started bombarding me with calls and texts on my mobile yesterday (I had left the phone at home, so only got them today). First, she sent texts saying she needed the payment "as soon as possible" and "urgently". Then, the final text said that if I did not call her immediately, her manager was "sending Welcome representatives to our house to discuss the future of the car finance" (???). My other half got on the phone to her today (he was fuming) but it was on voicemail. So I again rang what I think is a call centre number. Again, I got a very nice guy, who said there were still not any notes on my account that my account manager had been in touch with me! He reiterated there was no plan to repossess the car; nor were we marked down for a home visit by anyone from Welcome. He said as long as the payment was made by 30th April, certainly no-one should be coming anywhere near our home! He was also concerned that the account manager was apparently calling at random, issuing these threats, but not making any official note of it. He told me he would note our conversation and my concerns on the account and leave a message for my account manager that she would receive on Monday. I feel it has become a bit of a personal vendetta by my account manager, for what ever reason. She seems to be trying to ''turn the screw'' and scare me into making a payment (with money I genuinely don't have) by threatening repossession ... when this is not even the official Welcome line. Anyone else had experience of one vindictive Welcome staff member who is like a dog worrying a bone?? I am intending asking for my account manager to be changed when I call back on Monday.