That's really interesting. I do have a statement and a copy of the original agreement. The last statement was from around 18 months ago but I know (or at least I shouldn't have!) accrued further charges since then. Are you claiming the charges back from Welcome on the basis that their are unfair? Would just be interested to know what I should say to them when emailing them. Thanks.

Hi all, I hope you can help me. In Aug 2006, we took out a £2,000 unsecured loan over 3 years with Welcome. About 2 years ago, due to redundancy we ewre in a situation where we would not meet the repayments. After much toing and froing and the amount owed increasing daily due to interest and charges, we managed to come to an agreement whereby we would pay £150 per month. We managed to stick to this payment agreement for the past 18 months, paying by Direct Debit on the 1st of each month. In order for us to agree to this repayment amount, Welcome agreed to put the account at 0% interest meaning we would not accrue further interest on the arrears. My husband was made redundnant in November and despite much job searching has not managed to find anything permament although is doing any ad hoc work that his agency can supply him - around 2 days work a week at the most As a result our monthly income has dropped substantially to the point that we had to evaluate all of our outgoings and cancel non essentials such as Sky, mobile phone contrtacts. I wrote a letter to Welcome at the beginning of January explaining our situation and that we would be unable to meet the £150 payment from the end of January due to our change in circumstances and asked for them to contact me to try and find a solution. The letter did not receive a reponse. Yesterday afternoon I cancelled the direct debit to Welcome due to come out on the 1st Feb. Cue a phone call from them first thing this morning wanting to know why the direct debit had been cancelled. I explained about the letter sent to them and our situation and asked if we could arrange to pay £50 for the next couple of months, or hopefully less than this should my husband find a job. The response was no and that if I do not pay the £150 then they will start adding charges and interest back onto my account, which means it building up all over again. I explained I was not refusing to pay, merely asking for a little leniance considering the circumstances. I was told to find the money basically and there was no room for negotiation as any decisions like that have to be made at 'board level' I said I was unwilling to pay anything in that case as the £50 I would be offering to pay would be eaten up by interest and charges, which they agreed with. I just want to know is there anything I can do? Obviously I do not want to get into any myther with them again, as they were contacting me incessantly last time we defaulted - phone calls, letters and home visits. They made life awful I made it clear I am not refusing to pay and told them I would be sending them a letter to advise this. I also said they are not to ring or come to my door, if they will not acceot what I have offered as there is nothing more I can do. I will also be putting this in the letter. Any help and advise is much appreciated. Additionally, I know our account is made up of a lot of charges and interest - the original loan amount was paid off ages ago, all that is left is us paying for interest and charges - is there any way I could claim any of this back?

Hi all, I have been reading this thread with much interest and surprisingly hadn't had any issues with Welcome until only the past two weeks. My husband and I took a loan out with them in June 2006 for £2,000, paying £105.97 per month. I can't find my original agreement to see what the terms were but will be requesting a copy this week. My husband was made redundant in June 2007 and so we missed around 5 payments but managed to get back on track - as far as I am aware, the agreement was not renewed and so in December 2007 we were back in a position to continue paying. We have been paying religiouisly on the 1st of every month since then. In total I estimate that we have paid well over £2,500. We apparently STILL owe over £3,500. On Friday 27th March 2009 (4 days before our regular monthly payment was due on 1st April) we received a letter saying that 'despite numerous calls and letters' our account was in arrears by £105.97. We have never missed a payment since we commenced paying again in Dec 2007 and the next payment wasn't even due until 1st April. All this combined with the fact that the only number they had for me was one I told them a long time ago wasn't mine anymore and due to the fact that no other letters have been received from them, really got my goat. I rang the number on the letter and after getting through to the biggest numpty in the world who took all my details - DOB, address, agreement number. He then asked for my mobile number - the number I had on file previously was a landline and I told him I didn't have a mobile number. He then said that as I couldn't supply a number then he couldn't speak to me any further. Madness. I then took the action to cancel my direct debit - something didn't fit right and I feel that something fishy has gone on. Last Friday we then received another letter telling us that on 25th March we have been charged £10 for a phonecall (again which was never received as they don't have a number for me!). Apparently if I do not pay this £10 within 14 days then they will charge me interest at 45%!!!!!!!!!! I am now going to take this further - I am going to request a statement and a copy of my original agreement. I have a feeling that the PPI is on there, plus any insurance. I just wanted to know what my first step should be - I am going to attempt to take this all the way. Also, if I say that the account is in dispute, are they required to place the account on hold and stop any further charges? Thanks in advance.

Thank you all for the advice. I rang the council today who have refused to deal with me and referred me back to Rossendales. He hasn't been in the house and when he called I kept him outside at the front door. I panicked and paid them £400 using their online system which has pretty much left without anything for the rest of the month and this is all i can give them. He is coming back on Friday to remove goods - can he do this even though he hasn't been in yet? I'm not going to let him in but he also said he would get my car towed off the drive, which is what I use to get to work and take my little boy to the childminders. It's only a cheap thing but not on finance. I don't have a tenancy agreement or a list of items as my Landlord is my auntie, only a record of what I pay her each month direct to her bank. I can't help thinking I am pretty much stuffed

Hi all, I hope someone can help me. I received a visit from Rossendales today with regards to unpaid council tax from a previous address. This is the second vosit they have done. Immediately after the first one, I wrote to them offering them £100 per month, but also asked for a breakdown of the debt as it is substantially higher than I believe it should be I (although I realise they have added their costs on). I also stated that i am unable to pay the whole amount immediately as I just cannot afford it. Debt was as a result of my husband leaving and I was unable to afford paying it all on my own. This is only the second contact from them, have not had any letters previously. The doorstep collector said that unless the whole amount was paid by next Friday then they would be coming back to remove goods. I explained that I live in a rented, fully furnished house - only personal possesions are clothes, etc. He said that in that case he I would face a 90 day prison sentence when it went to court. I am a single mum and although I realise the debt was my fault partly, I cannot go to prison but on the same hand i cannot pay all at once. His answer was for me to get a loan, which I can't afford either. I don;t know what to do - what if he comes and takes the furniture, etc, which is my landlords, and even worse than that, what if I go to prison? I haven't received a reply from them to my letter and I asked him if that was standard practice - he said it takes weeks for them to reply by which time it will be too late. Is there anything I can do? Thanks in advance.

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Thanks for your reply Sea-sidelady. I have been through the process of reclaiming charges before so am pretty au fait with that - once they recieve the initial letter, does this mean that they essentially place that account 'on hold?'. The most concerning thing is that contrary to what the branch manager told me, they do charge on charges, if you know what I mean? The longer the account stays overdrawn, will they continue to add charges? TIA x

hello all, Please bear with me, this could be a long one..! My Nana has an account with lllyds that is very rarely used. No money goes in, was used a few years ago but payments stopped going in when my grandad died. Always been in credit, never gone overdrawn and didn't have an overdraft facility. June 2008 we purchased some items for her off the internet - she gave us the money and we put it into this account (said transaction was for a company that would only post to the registered card address). One of the transactions took her account overdrawn by £40. We didn't find out until the beginning of August - Nana is 83 and although has all her faculties, she didn't understand her statement. She received a letter and a further phonecall to say that as a result of her account going overdrawn she had acrussed charges - £40 overdrawn turned into £204.66 due to charges. She was told she had to pay this within 2 days or they would take further action. She was understandably distressed and so I personally went to the bank myself and paid the money in. End of matter....or so we thought! She then received a letter in September saying that she owed £160. I spoke to the Branch manager to query this and he said it was charges relating to the fact that she had gone overdrawn. I took issue with this has the money had been paid back in within the stated time even though it was Lloyds who allowed the account to go overdrawn on an account that had no overdraft facility. I told the manager that we were going to persue the matter as it was Lloyds actions that have resulted in the excessive charges. I asked for the account the be placed on hold to prevent any further charges. No need, he said - they don't charge on charges.....apparently!!! Sent various letters to the complaints dept, useless, standard replies received telling us basically to bog off. Nana got another letter today telling her she now owes over £300 of charges and this HAS to be paid within 2 days. I am absolutely furious. Lloyds allowed her account to go overdrawn, charged her for it and have contonued to charge again and again. I have been lied to by the Branch manager and received standard replies to my letters. I am going to contact the Ombudsman but in the meantime each day the money is not paid back, more charges are added. It's a never ending circle and even when the charges are paid back in, they reappear as we have already found out. What can we do? many thanks in advance for any replies. Hayley

Hi all, Hope you can help re a recent gas bill we have received from Powergen....for £587.00!!! After getting over the initial shock, I emailed Powergen to ask what was going on (in cases like this I prefer to have all correspondance written down just in case). I told them that I had paid all my bills on time, and I couldn't understand why my bill was so high for just 3 months. I was told that after receiving my recent meter reading, there were some previous estimated bills they felt they had underestimated and therefore were simply 'making up the difference'. I lodged an official complaint and got £100 taken off the bill but I'm still reluctant to pay it. I asked why I was being punished for their poor service - we have been at our current address for nearly 4 years and in that time, they have asked for meter readings on 2 occasions. Other times, I have submitted accurate meter readings online through their website but to be honest, their website is a load of tosh and lets me log in as and when it decides - I give up using it in the end. I asked why if they thought they had not had enough accurate meter readings, why they persisted in using estimated readings. Why did they not contact me to arrange accurate readings. I was told they did not have to do this. is there anything I can do? I want to content this but don't really know if I have grounds to do so. Thanks in advance.