Welcome Finance Car Termination

[goldplating1]

Hi,

 

We have had a car from welcome finance for the last 2years 4months. We have decided to send the car back after this period now and have run into major problems. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

We missed a payment a couple of months ago due to the wife having some time off work. We made an oral agreement with one of welcomes colleagues to make extra payments on the monthly terms. The following month this was taken out on top of our usual monthly payment. Then it came to July's payment and we decided to send the car back as a voluntary termination. We thought we was well within the terms as we could send the car back after 2 years and had paid well more than the 2years required to voluntary terminate.

Anyway, we suddenly received a red mark on our credit file 2 days ago and are now being told that we are voluntarily surrendering the vehicle due to a default notice being made back in may. We did receive a letter to say a default for payment needed to be paid and we immediately rang and was told to pay extra each month to clear this. Obviously that was rubbish.

The car in now being taken tomorrow by welcome and we have been told it will go to auction and we will probably end up still paying a lot more for the vehicle. We offered yesterday to keep the car and clear the arrears and julys payment if needed to avoid any hassle for us and was refused and they will accept no payment from us just the car.

Someone from welcome turned up at our door when we said we wanted to send the car back and we signed a typed piece of paper saying we was voluntarily surrendering the vehicle. We thought that was what we was doing. Apparently not, we are voluntarily surrendering the vehicle due to the default they said.

We just don't know where we stand and thought all was well until yesterday when we noticed the default on both mine and my wife's credit files.

[cyril1982]

sounds as though you have been tricked into signing a "collection by consent" form.

 

Collection by consent and VT are very different, collection by consent forms basically state that you agree to let them repo you as opposed to you instructing them to take the vehicle back in accordance with your rights under the consumer credit act.

 

collection by consent forms are designed to dissolved the company of any legal obligations, such as getting a court order, and enable them to defend any action on the grounds that you "agreed" to let them repo the car.

 

i'd reccomend you get some professional advice as this will be complicated to fight, but do fight it and we wil all help as much as we can.

 

your in the right, you have been tricked, we now just have to prove you were tricked.

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

The lying, cheating, theiving barstewards!!!

Hide that car!! If you let them take it they will hound you day and night for the remaining balance on the agreement. They have tricked you into signing something you would not have signed had you given INFORMED consent.

 

The default notice in May is absolute nonsense and has NO bearing on them taking the car! What they have got you to do is 'voluntarily' give them the car back AND agree to pay the remaining balance!!

 

If you have made ANY payments since the last default notice they HAVE to issue a new default notice in order to terminate the agreement.

 

Voluntary Surrender has absolutely nothing to do with defaults, it can be done at any time and it is YOUR choice.

 

It's up to you what you want to do next, you can let them take it if it is what you want but beware they will chase you for the outstanding amount.

 

You say they've put a red mark on your credit file, is it actually a default or just a late payment marker?

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

7 guests?? That's the entire Compliance Dept. lol!!

[goldplating1]

Thank you for your reply.

I would say we have been well and truly tricked and I'm not normally one for falling for stuff like that.

 

I just hope somehow it can turn out OK for us in some way.

I am going to the CAB tomorrow with the agreement and the info that has happened and will let you know tomorrow what they say about it.

 

When they come to pick the car up tomorrow, one thing I definitely won't be doing is, signing NOTHING no matter what.

The CAB today on the phone advised to go down tomorrow and will do that.

[goldplating1]

@wannabedebtfreesoon

 

I will look at my credit file now and get back to you in 5 minutes and let you know about the red marker. lol@the guests being the entire welcome department.

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

Do you have a copy of the document you signed??

[goldplating1]

Company name: WELCOME FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD

Account type: Hire purchase/Conditional sale

Started: 21/03/2008

Default Balance: £5,678

Current Balance: £4,598

Repayment Period: Monthly Payment: £243 over 49 months

Defaulted On: 09/06/2010

File Updated for the Period to: 01/08/2010

Status history:

[] brackets indicate most recent months status [8] What's this?

[goldplating1]

Sad to say we do not have a copy as it was a couple of lines of typed up writing saying voluntarily surrendering car which is what we thought we was doing. Voluntarily terminating.

 

Update to Credit report

 

WELCOME FINANCIAL ... Hire purchase/C... Default £4,598 01/08/2010

Edited August 5, 2010 by goldplating1
addition

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

Have you made any payments since the default date??

[goldplating1]

Defaulted On: 09/06/2010

 

We paid £320 at the end of June which was the £243 usual payments due and the other was for part of the missed payment that they had agreed for us to do ( over the phone- not in writing)

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

That's very bad You made an arrangement to rectify the breach as stated in the DN and they registered a default against you anyway Have you received another default since then??

[goldplating1]

no just that one

[goldplating1]

when i last checked my credit files a couple of weeks ago i had lots of green ticks, well [0] in green and they have all disappeared now and been replaced with this red default notice and that is the only record held for credit.

Edited August 5, 2010 by goldplating1
spelling

[cyril1982]

the key word above is "surrender" it should have read "termination"

 

you have definately been tricked into signing a collection by consent form.

 

the key to proving your case is likely to hinge on you being able to prove that

1. you had paid over half
   
2. you had asked to effect a VTbefore they turned up asking for you to surrender the vehicle
   

i'm just not sure how you'll do this, i'd probably suggest doing a SAR because if you could obtain notes from your account that you called in on x date asking to vt then you'll have struck gold, also if you can obtain your phone call where you asked to vt you'll have some proof to suggest that you had, at the time welcome turned up asking you to sign form, requested a vt and therefore it is reasonable to suggest you were lead to believe that the forms were vt forms and not collection by consent forms.

[beyondhope]

I agree get an SAR in heres a fab template SAR

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

That's exactly why it is so bad, once a default has been issued you lose your right to voluntary terminate without penalty They have deliberately misled you into thinking you could still VT in order to get you to VS

[goldplating1]

Thank you so much guys.

 

Would you do the request form now and keep the car, or do we need to let them take it tomorrow?

[goldplating1]

thank you @beyondhope form the form and i will be filling that out now to send. I may even go into the office and hand it over.

[wannabedebtfreesoon]

when i last checked my credit files a couple of weeks ago i had lots of green ticks, well [0] in green and they have all disappeared now and been replaced with this red default notice and that is the only record held for credit.

That's disgusting!

[beyondhope]

thank you @beyondhope form the form and i will be filling that out now to send. I may even go into the office and hand it over.

 

 

Dont hand it over send it to nottingham compliance as shown on the link send it recorded as proof they have done enough with you already without denying all knowledge of anything further always send recorded and never speak to them on the phone ive read your thread twice now and i feel abit like who do they think they are!! They can look out coz I can assure you this will send wannabe onto the warpath!

[beyondhope]

7 guests?? That's the entire Compliance Dept. lol!!

 

 

Who had better start job hunting after this little performance!

[beyondhope]

Dont be disheartened if CAB dont offer much advice, its a specialised area of consumer law and there arent all that many 'experts' they are very good at fighting balances but dont assume they know the consumer credit act as the majority dont, definitely go and see if they can help just dont be disheartened if they cant we will all help in any way we can

[goldplating1]

Heres the couple of days story with them:

 

We was told we had to pay the payments before the 5th of every month, We was thinking of terminating towards the end of July. For some silly reason welcome started harrassing us on the 28th of the month to make payment. I was out in the car and my wifes card was in the car. She said she couldn't make the payment yet and said it wasn't due till the 5th anyhow.

So she gave my wife so much grief on the phone, saying"I WANT your details for payment NOW".

So we then decided we wasn't being spoken to in that way and was going to ring them to terminate.

They told her payment needed to be made that day. I was out all day and my wife needed to go to work at 4-15pm. I arrived home at 3-45 ish and off she went to work. About 4-50pm someone from welcome turned and and said to me " wheres our payment, i want your card details" I was livid, OMG was I.....So i said my wife would ring in the morning as her job doesn't allow her to use her phone and they closed at 5-30pm anyhow. So he said make the payment in the morning this was saturday just gone between 10-12. So i rang him up and said we are not being treated in this way for no reason and we want to voluntarily give the car back as we had paid over the 2 years and read the contract and saw we could do this. So he said ok we will do that and I will be straight up with the form for us both to sign and the car would be then picked up by arrangement.

Then we got a default on our credit files (both of us) and all the lovely green marks we had have all gone. And now they said the car has been voluntarily surrendered and will be sold at auction and we will have more money to pay.

[goldplating1]

@beyondhope, thank you for your advice and i will send it recorded delivery tomorrow morning without a doubt. I am totally mad with them. Well I have calmed down a bit now, but yesterday I was a bad tempered swine.