Just wanted to give a quick update as to my ongoing battle with WFS. I wrote back to them rejecting their PPI offer to offset against an ouststanding balance I have with them. I pointed out to them that they have no contractual agreement under the terms of the loan to do this. They came back to my quoting they use the FSA regulations when offering PPI Compensation and pointed out condition DISP APP3.9 which states they can offset IF they have the Contractual Right to do so and IF the complainant accepts the firm's offer of redress. I got a Solicitor to look into this for me and condtiion DISP APP3.7.2 of the FSA regulations states the firm should put the complainant in the position he would have been if he had not bought any payment protection". I have therefore gone back to WFS on the advice of a Solicitor once again quoting this and asking for payment. I had an interesting conversation with someone at WFS after I sent my letter who acknowledged they had no right to offset unless I signed the offer form, which I have not done and will not do. The CCA 1974 does not give them the right to do this, and they have acknolwedge in their letter they DO NOT have the same rights as say a Bank. They have ensured me I will have a response by Friday this week. I have been advised by a Solicitor to issue a County Court claim (I have stated this in my letter) if they do not agree to repay me on the basis of the condition above regarding putting me back in the position I would have been. WFS have acknowledge they mis-sold me the PPI. Am still waiting the FOS decision on whether they will agree for the charges and interest on the o/s account to be reversed. So the story continues...............Will keep everyone posted. Claire

James I agree, I would happily reduce a balance owed to them, however I dont believe the balance is as they state. I am not trying to get out of paying them what I might owe, I just want to make sure I only pay them what they should be paid. I think though they were happy to take my money for PPI when they shouldnt have, so why shouldnt I get that money back? I have already offered them a repayment plan to clear the balance once the FOS have finished their investigation. With any luck the balance will be reduced to what I believe it should be.

Thats actually really useful to know DX thank you, as that is the whole reason why it has been referred to the FOS. when I had my son April 2007 I contacted welcome for a payment break. They agreed to this (in writing). Since April 2007>date they have not once contacted me regarding the account, to make repayment etc. When I did my FCSC claim i then suddenly received a solicitors letter and the balance had gone up by over £2,000 from the last statement I had. This was due to interest and late charges etc. Now i appreciate once I came back to work I should have re-instated the payment, but I wasnt in a financial position to do so. for 5 years they havent written, sent statements, or anything. No default served. I have therefore requested the interest and charges be reversed and this is why it is with the FOS. I therefore do not believe that these are "notified arrears". The argument I am sure will continue for the PPI as I dont believe it should be offset and I may well end up referring that to the FOS too if they do not agree to pay me. I do not believe any offset should be made in any event while the account is in dispute. Thanks DX I'll let you know how I get on x

I know its a long shot James, but its worth a try because the account which they want to offset the monies to is in dispute with the FOS and they are investigating the balance, its quite a complicated story. I know we all believe they have the right to do this, but where from? If they can show me something which states they do have the right then I wouldnt argue with them at all, I'd accept the decision. However having had a Solicitor at work look into it for me, there is nothing obvious which seems to give them the right. They arent a bank nor are the FSCS involved in these claims. They obviously mis-sold the PPI at the time I took out the loans which I paid in full and which I shouldnt have done. Will see what happens. It may well be they turn down my request, and keep the same stance Claire

This claim is direct with Welcome. I have done the claim through FSCS and that has been completed and settled on the account which is still open (from 2006) and the compensation was deducted from the outstanding balance. The two accounts that I am dealing with direct with Welcome are from 2002/2003 and not governed I dont believe by the same rules as the FSCS. I have checked the T&C's and also the Consumer Credit Act 1974 which the agreement was drawn up under and nowhere in either is there any entitlement for Welcome to offset to any outstanding liabilities. I work in a solicitors office so having spoke to someone who deals with this kind of matter they advised me to ask them to produce a copy of the statute or contractual right for them to do this. I am currently awaiting their response.............I will keep everyone posted. I did also note that in Welcome's offer letter it states "any ppi compensation will be offset against the outstanding balance on your original loan". However, the loan which they want to offset against isnt the "original" loan it was the third and final loan I had with them. The first two were paid up to date and on time without default or late payment. The only reason I was in arrears with my last loan was because I had my son and went on maternity leave and lost 50% of my earnings so couldnt afford to pay it . I am therefore going to try and argue that I should be reimbursed the PPI on these accounts which is around £2,000 altogether. Claire x

I sent my original letter to claim in on 10th February, however they said they sent the claim form out to me on 16th February to complete but it never arrived. I waited nearly 6 weeks before chasing them up, and at end of March they said they had not had the form back. I therefore downloaded and emailed over to them and got my offer letter from them last week, so its taken about 3-4 weeks from me sending it in. I am in dispute with them over the "off-setting" as I have read through all the T&C's of the account and there is no reference to off-setting amounts. Am waiting to hear back from them. I'll keep you posted how I get on. Luckily I have the original loan agreements so have been able to send them the T&C's with my complaint. Hope you manage to get what your entitled to x my thread is here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?346715-PPI-HELP-offsetting

Am not sure how helpful this will be but I have submitted a claim direct with welcome for accounts from 2002/2003 and they have today offered me a figure of £3589.85 in compensation. However I do have an outstanding liability with them and they are therefore offering me this on the basis that they "offset" it against the outstanding account, even though it is from 2006, and I think the money should come to me. Therefore if they can do my claim from 2002/2003 direct then why can they not do yours? I'd go back to them again if you havent already.

Hi I just wondered if anyone can help please. I made a claim through the FSCS for PPI with Welcome Finance. A compensation figure was awarded of £4600 pounds and was offset against two outstanding liabilities which I have with them. The claims had related to the accounts witht the balances outstanding. I then made a further claim direct with Welcome for two accounts which I had prior to the two accounts mentioned above from 2002/2003 which had been paid up to date and settled in time without late payment etc. I have heard from them today that a compensation figure of £3589.85 is due to me on these accounts but that they will offset it against the two accounts above which still have balances outstanding. My question is can they do this? I did not dispute the first compensation being offset as it related to those particular accounts and that was the FSCS rules. However the balances are in dispute anyway with the FOS as despite the accounts being defaulted in July 2007 when I was on maternity leave, they have added 5 years interest and charges to the accounts increasing them by approximately £4,000! They have not once chased me for payment or advise of any charges or asked me to make any payments. I think that the sum of £3589 should come to me as these accounts were closed way before the other two accounts begun. Welcome have stated I have to accept or reject their offer. Anyone any tips on what basis I could reject? Thanks

Just to let you all know I have successfully claimed back charges of £2910 inclusive of Court fees from Birmingham Midshires. It has taken since April when I first requsted by statements via SAR, but from issuing my Court claim it has only taken 4 weeks. Am very pleased with the result, and will of course be making a donation to the site once the funds have cleared. Dont give up if you are making a claim............ Take care Claire

Tony, sorry for the delay not been on my computer. I obtained by statements vis SAR. I went through them and did a schedule of the costs showing as "assess fees". These were normally £35, £40, £50 pound charges. The ones showing as capitalisation arent charges. I am pleased to report I have won my claim against BM and they paid me £2910 on Monday I had issued Court Claim and they did lodge acknolwedgement of service saying they would defend. They then contacted me 4 days before the deadline asking me would I settle and going through the figures. We agreed via email correspondence the amount, and they confirmed settlement. They wanted to fob me off by saying it would take 10 working days to pay, however I said if they wanted me to lodge the documents at Court to say they have settled prior to the deadline I would want receipt of the money. A cheque arrived yesterday which was the last day. Just waiting for it to clear. Good luck with your claim, if I can help at all, get in touch. Claire

I answered your questions and replied to your comments. You are entitled to your opinion. I simply tried to help..............i would hope that people can see for themselves that this was only ever the case.

My job title on my Contract at work is "property lawyer", as it is on my business cards - as explained above not everybody knows what a conveyancer is. It was not a deliberate attempt to mislead the person who had asked the question.

DISCLAIMER "I AM NOT A LAWYER I AM A CONVEYANCER" Ha ha in future i will, maybe you should put "I am not here to help, I am here to interrogate"

Lea do you have nothing better to do? Thought this site was here to try and help people?

Am not sure I dare reply in case am interrogated some more..............however shall risk it. Maybe I should put a disclaimer .........? Basically the land registry hold an electronic register, it details the property, the owner, any legal charge (mortgage/loan) secured amongst a host of other things, ie rights of way, covenants effecting the property etc if these are applicable. The " register of title" as they call it can also refer to the previous deed documents. Every property is different so i wont go into the list of other things it can refer to, but these are the most common ones. They will only hold a record of these details however if the property has been registered with them. In the 1980/1990's different areas gradually became subject to compulsory registration, whereby any dealing with the property, ie sale purchase transfer remortgage mortgage would trigger for the prooperty to be registered at the Land Registry. This was when the record was created with them. There are obviously some properties which are still unregistered and would remain so until there was a dealing with the property which would now trigger registration or until the owner applied for first registration. Some people have opted to do a voluntary first registration whereby they submit the deeds to land regsitry so there is a record of their ownership. Obviously if the deeds were lost and the property was unregistered you get into a situation whereby you have to provide declarations as to the deeds and your claim of ownership, and you may even get into an adverse possesion situation. This can be complicated so I wont go into detail. I hope i have answered your question............in brief yes there would be a record at land registry (if your property has been regsiterd) and if you lost the deeds this record would still be there.