Welcome car finance

[kitkat kay]

Hi this is my first post so here is a brief outline:

 

In 2005 I had a car from welcome car finance the repayments were £216pm,

the total cost of the finance with interest was approx £10k.

 

After paying approx £5000 I had to finish work due to my bipolar,

I phoned WELCOME and informed them that I had finished work and that I could no longer afford the £216pm,

they offered to drop the payments to £100pm which I accepted.

 

About a year ago I asked WELCOME what my balance was and they told me I still owed £6000,

this sounded like to much to owe so I asked them on 4 separate occasions for a statement of payments made,

nothing ever came from them so I stopped the payments for a few months which i now know was not the right thing to do.

 

On Thursday a account manager from WELCOME phoned me to see why I has stopped the payments,

when I told him the reason he asked me if I had sent the £10 fee for the statement,

i explained that no-one had told me i needed to pay £10,

 

he also asked me on which of my accounts i wanted the statement,

i told him i only had one account and he informed me that when i dropped the payments

the original account was closed and a new one opened to clear the original debt and account for the reduced payments.

 

Now i'm not the brightest of people but this sounds like re-financing to me for which they would surely have needed me to sign a new agreement,

which i haven't by the way,

 

hopefully someone can help forward with this matter.

[kitkat kay]

An update on this:

 

I sent the SAR of last week with the £10 PO by recorded delivery,

 

I made my payment of £120 to welcome on saturday of last week,

 

today i get home to a letter from WELCOME saying that my Agreement has now been terminated

and action to recover the goods/outstanding balance can now commence.

 

WELCOME then go on to say

"There are facillities that we can offer to provide you with significant benefits in reducing your debt,

such as interest rate reduction on the basis that you resume mutally acceptable payment arrangement"

[postggj]

if welcome have closed down the old agreement and set up a new one with reduced payments, then yes, you would have to sign a new agreement to vary the original agreement

 

you mention bi-polar

 

why did you not claim on the micky mouse ppi welcome con you into

 

welcome have to send you a full statement of account at least once a year or any charges etc are void

[kitkat kay]

I have never received any statements from WELCOME and i never even knew they had closed the old account and set up a new one till last week.

 

The bipolar was the reason i had to finish work which in turn was the reason i had to reduce my payments.

 

I'm not sure about PPI or any other insurances until i receive the credit agreements but the account manager from Welcome did tell me that there was considerable charges applied to my account, to be fair to him he was really nice and told me what i needed to do and send to WELCOME.

[kitkat kay]

hi i was just wondering, do i reply to the letter that states my account has been terminated or just wait for the SAR to come through.

[kitkat kay]

UPDATE

 

Received a letter from WELCOME today saying as follows:

 

Dear sirs (even though it is addressed to Me a female!)

RE: subject access request

 

Thanks you for your letter received on 21st February requesting a subject access request under the data protection act 1998.

 

We acknowledge receipt of the £10 statutory processing fee.

 

Furthermore I am unable to verify your clients identity based on the information that you have provided. As this is the case I will need copies of one of the following:

 

Passport (photo page)

Driving license (both parts)

Birth certificate

Marriage certificate

Firearms certificate

 

Do not send original documentation as we will not be able to return these to you.

 

Please provide the required information and on receipt, we will open this case and respond to you within the appropriate regulatory time frame.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Customer relations.

 

 

So do i send them what they required and if so which would be best to send as i dont trust WELCOME one bit.

[kitkat kay]

i sent a letter recorded delivery, with a photocopy of birth certificate as WELCOME requested a

nd a £1 postal order to cover the cost of the CCA,

 

i have now received another letter from WELCOME:

 

Thank you for your letter requesting a credit agreement and statement of account.

 

I am unable to verify the identity based on the information that you have provided,

as this is the case i will need a copy of one of the following:

 

Passport (photo page and visa page if non uk)

Driving licence (photo card and paper part)

firearms certificate

 

unfortunately at this time due to the above we are not able to process your request,

please find enclosed your payment. please return your payment with the information we have requested,

we will open this case and respond within the appropriate time frame.

 

could someone please help as i am getting to my wits end with this company, they just seem to be delaying all the time.

[kitkat kay]

here is copy of the letter that i have drafted to send back to welcome:

 

Dear Sir / Madame

 

In response to your letter dated 13th march,

may I point out that you have communicated with me previously at the above address without the need for proof of identification

and that I have provided a copy of my birth certificate to verify my identity,

as you yourselves stated in your previous letter was a acceptable proof of identification,

 

however as a gesture of goodwill, I have enclosed a photocopy of my passport,

 

I have blanked out the picture and signature as all the details you need are printed onto the passport itself,

 

I now believe that I have complied with all your requests and as such I request a true copy of any agreements

that are held in my name as required under section 77 of the Consumer credit act.

 

I also require an up-to date statement of account as required under section 77a of the Consumer credit act, I enclose the statutory fee of £1.

 

May I also remind you that I sent a formal subject access request for information under section 7 of the Data Protection Act, including the maximum fee of £10 on 26/02/2013.

 

You will be aware that under the Data Protection Act 1998 you have an obligation to comply fully with my request within 40 days.

 

May I please remind you that all communication from your company should be via letters as I am not prepared to discuss this matter over the phone.

 

Thank you

[meandbex]

Thats correct in what you are doing. Keep us updated with the response you next get back from them please.

 

Also, read my link in case it applies to you

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?385602-MASS-legal-action-for-PPI-claims-BEFORE-2005-interested

[ims21]

If the 40 days for SAR compliance are up then you should be lodging a formal complaint with the ICO.

 

You should also be considering your option to sue for non compliance.

 

Funny how they are happy with your ID when they want to pester you for money but have an issue with it when you want information from them which you are legally entitled to.

[kitkat kay]

Hello, I received another reply from WELCOME today, the letter is dated 26th March:

 

Dear Sirs,

 

Thank you for your letter received on 12th March requesting a copy of the credit agreement and statement of account under consumer credit act 1974.

 

We acknowledge receipt of the £1.00 statutory fee and are pleased to inform you that your request is being processed.

 

Please note that the £1.00 fee will provide you with your most recent loan agreement, should you require copies of any other loan agreements, please provide the necessary fee to the above address and we will process your request within 12 days of receipt.

 

If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us on the above address.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Customer relations.

 

 

 

Am i wrong in thinking that if i make a CCA request and pay the £1.00 WELCOME should provide me with ALL agreements held in my name.

Also there is no mention of the SAR request I sent on the 26th February.

[kitkat kay]

Update:

 

The 40 days are now up on the SAR request so I will be sending a letter before action giving them 7 days to comply with the SAR request.

 

My question is, when do i need to put the account into dispute ?

[MrZ]

They are playing games. Write to the address on their letters. You can find the non-compliance template in the library.

 

If you have £80.00 for the application, you may want to seriously consider asking the Court for an order. You will get it. If after they see you have issued the application, they then decide to comply, you can ask for your wasted costs.

 

I did this and got the Order plus £200.00 in damages. I suspect I would have gotten more if I had asked, but 200.00 is what I asked for and what the Court awarded.

 

Don't play their games. This is a recent tactic by the way, they never required this proof of identity before, but now they are getting hit hard and trying every trick they can think of.

[kitkat kay]

Thanks Mr Z,

 

I have written to WELCOME informing them that due to their failure to comply with the SAR request in the alloted time I am now putting the account into dispute until such time that i receive everything that i have asked for.

 

My one question is this, with the account now in dispute, do i continue with the payments as my next one is due next week.

[dx100uk]

failure to comply with an sar does not place the account in dispute sadly.

[MrZ]

Placing the account in dispute would be due to their failure to send you the statement of account and a copy of the agreement within the allotted time (12 days +2 for postage) as obliged under the CCA.

 

The course of action regarding the SAR non-compliance would be a complaint to the ICO (useless in my opinion and wont get you far after a long wait) or an application with the Court for an Order (can take a couple of months as well and cost £80.00 which you get back if you win).

 

As for what to do now that you have placed the account in dispute (if the time under the CCA has passed)...You can make a token payment (say £1.00) if you like, to show good faith, or none at all. Also just to note - if you didn't know already, you can make the payments by phone using the automated system and never have to deal with their very pleasant and helpful representatives.

 

If the time under the CCA has past, but you stated the reason was non compliance with the SAR, just send another letter. I highly doubt they are bright enough to know the difference, but another letter wouldnt hurt to cover yourself. Cost nothing more than postage.

Edited April 6, 2013 by MrZ

[kitkat kay]

Hi... update:

 

Received a copy of the second agreement today along with a letter from welcome, in the letter they admit that they received my request on the 12th March however i am still waiting for the statement off account, also there is still no mention of the SAR request i sent on the 15th February.

Edited April 8, 2013 by kitkat kay

[MrZ]

Hi... update:

 

Received a copy of the second agreement today along with a letter from welcome, in the letter they admit that they received my request on the 12th March however i am still waiting for the statement off account, also there is still no mention of the SAR request i sent on the 15th February.[ATTACH=CONFIG]42984[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]42985[/ATTACH]

 

No statement means not yet complied.

 

Your attachments are small...can you save them as PDF?

[MrZ]

Ok. I have had a look at your papers. First things first. I see that someone signed the statement of needs papers, but the agreement shows only the WFS rep's signature. Did you remove it or did you not sign it? I see your first post says you didn't sign a modification agreement, but I just want to be sure.

 

As for the statement: Is this account still live? Was it paid off, sold on? or are you still dealing with WFS regarding payments and arrears etc?

[dx100uk]

if you did not sign this second agreement at all in anyway shape or form

 

then you should be demanding ALL you payments back + 8% stat int

from the date of each payment made

 

it is FRAUD on behalf of welcome staff

and they are well known for doing this.

 

dx

[kitkat kay]

Hi,

looking through everything it appears my wife has signed everything as should be,

 

she may not be able to remember signing due to suffering from depression

 

which is the reason she had to finish work

 

( welcome noted at the time that she was off work due to suffering from depression,

 

which can be seen on the uploaded paperwork),

 

i dont know about the original agreement as we can not find that and WeLCOME admit that they dont have a copy either.

 

with regard the statement, that is for the original loan that was paid off with the re-write that is displayed,

I am still waiting for Welcome to send a statement for the active account.

[MrZ]

OK, that's clear. On first sight you have some fees you can re-claim. However it might be best to wait until you have the rest of your statements to get the full picture.

 

I wouldn't trust that WFS are working on it. They aren't that efficient. It may be worth sending a letter chasing it.

Edited April 30, 2013 by MrZ

[kitkat kay]

Thanks MR Z,

 

I have sent a letter chasing the statement up, also when i looked through the paperwork it states 13.1% interest but in 2 other parts it states 7%, should these be the same figures ?

[kitkat kay]

Hi,

 

I was talking to someone about this and they said i should look into irresponsible lending,

 

as WELCOME were fully aware that my wife was suffering from depression

 

and that she was off work at the time due to depression,

 

Welcome on their eligibility and suitability sheet state that my wife suffers with depression,

 

they also state on their income and expenditure sheet that my wife is off work due to depression,

 

my wife never returned to work and the depression was later diagnosed as rapid cycle bi-polar.

 

Any advise welcome ( no pun intended )

[dx100uk]

well even if it is enforceable which I doubt pers.

 

the penalty charges will kill the balance.

 

dx