Welcome - I'm more confused than ever...

[Magpie878]

Hello all, bit of a long post but would be grateful if anyone could offer some advice....

I applied for a Welcome Finance loan of £4500.00 in October 2006 to pay for costs of divorce.

I was accepted and payments continued on schedule.

In December 2007 a payment break of 1 month was agreed by Welcome Finance, and the missed payment was subsequently paid back in over January and February 2008 (in addition to those months’ regular installments).

In July 2008 I moved to a new address and notified Welcome in writing (I have no proof of this as I didn’t keep a copy of the letter, nor use recorded delivery).

In April 2009 I found that I could no longer make payments due to the fact my car broke down and had to borrow some money from family members. This money is to be paid back at £400 per month, and would cause real hardship for my family if I didn’t pay)

 

Direct Debit was cancelled to prevent bank charges and a letter, explaining this and offering £94 per month, sent to Welcome along with a cheque, Cheque was not cashed and no contact received from Welcome. Again, I did not use recorded delivery.

After one month of no reply, I sent another letter repeating the offer (again by normal 1st class post), with a copy to their registered office as well as my local branch. Again a cheque was enclosed but not cashed.

May 2009 – a third letter and cheque was written and sent (not by recorded delivery).

I received on 4th June, an offer of settlement at 65%.

I responded that I could in no way produce the £2309.41 and so could not accept their offer.

I received a letter dated 17th June from a different representative offering settlement at 50%.I replied that I could not produce £1776.47 , but could make monthly payments of £94.33 until November 2009 and payments of £250.00 per month after that until November 2010 – which would have closed the account in full on the original due date. A cheque was enclosed.

In the meantime they attempted to cash my cheque from May, but after getting the letter of 4th June I had assumed they would not cash this, and failed to leave sufficient funds in my account. I received notification of this on the 18th June.

And finally got a “Notice of Default Sums” dated 30th June detailing 2 x £10 letter charges and a £25 returned cheque fee.

The cheque from my letter of 23rd June has been cashed on 1st July and payment cleared.

I’ve started to think I’m now in a little over my head and am confused by the number of different addresses I need to write to. I don’t want to avoid paying this debt, as I have had the benefit of the money lent -

Please could someone give me some advice on what to do from here? So far I’ve drafted another letter but have just read the huge thread on Welcome and their current position as a functioning company (explains the sudden cessation of their phone calls I suppose...) and am now more confused than ever.

Thanks for your time, and thanks for a great site - have been reading the threads and have learnt a hell of a lot in just a few days.

(PS – Will scan and post copies of letters at first opportunity)

[evancosmo]

You could consider a Subject Access Request or a s.78 CCA request (templates in library) to put this account into dispute while you work out which way is best for you to move forward. This may be particularly useful if they're starting to get awkward. If it turns out that they have an improperly executed CCA it puts you firmly in the driving seat as they cannot enforce the agreement.