Help Please **Welcome Finance** Selling the car

[missyv2]

Hi I have a car with Welcome Finance, it is the biggest regret I ever have, as the payments are high but I needed a car, I was paying £241 a month for a year, then I got made redundant, I called them and they extended my loan to like 8 YEARS!!!!! But then it was only £158. Now As the car is getting older I want to sell it and buy a more economical car. I am not sure whether I can sell the car or not without authorisation, I work in the motortrade and I did a HPI check, my car has no outstanding finance registered , does this sound like I have a personal loan? When they amended my payments I was under the impression they changed it to a loan to make my payments less, however my branch are not very helpful and very very rude, whenever I call them they get defensive so I've given up.

 

If there is no outstanding finance on the HPI, do you think I can sell it?

 

Please help

 

Thanks Zoe

[chesham]

You need to contact the creditor and ask them for a copy of the agreement which is currently in force. You're legally entitled to this under the Consumer Credit Act, so end them a Cheque for £1 and write:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Re:- Account/Reference Number XXXXXXX

 

With reference to the above agreement, I would be grateful if you would send me a copy of this credit agreement. I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (Sections 77-79), I am entitled to receive a copy of my credit agreement on request. I enclose a payment of £1.00 which represents the fee payable under

the Consumer Credit Act.

 

I understand a copy of are credit agreement should be supplied within 12 working days.

 

I understand that under the Consumer Credit Act creditors are unable to enforce an agreement if they fail to comply with a request for a copy of the agreement under these sections of the Act.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Yours faithfully

 

Mr J Blogs

 

Once you have this, then you will be able to see what type of agreement you have and whether it is secured (HP) or not (personal loan). You really need to find this out first before you go and sell the vehicle!

[breadline]

Hiya Missy

 

Record all your calls to them from now on, make sure you tell them you are recording the call and to be safe advise it at teh change of any employee while you are on the call or you can't use it in court.

 

Once they know you have started to discover your rights they won't have much choice but to respect you.

 

If you do tape someone being rude send it to head Office, the company is a waste of space but if an Area manager even gets pulled in to be advised of the call, the kick will be passed down the line. Sadly not for the right reasons more for his own embarresment, but hey a kicks a kick:D

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/50480-recorded-phone-calls.html?highlight=record+my+call

[JonCris]

As I recall Welcome don't use regulated agreements & their loans are personal loans. This means the car is yours from the outset & no matter what you do with it the debt remains yours.

 

However be careful because if you DO work in the motor industry/sales then you can't later claim ignorance like most of us can. Make absolutely sure as to what your doing.

[Tavmania]

When you have a change of circamstances welcome can do what is called a modified HP agreement. This is one form that then stands along side your original agreement. On their system though it is treated as a new HP agreement and it pays off the old one. They then need to reset up the HPI, but always forget. If you had paid enough to VT before you modified your agreement then you will still have this option. You could start being difficult and ask for a short settlement, You can get as low as 25% of the outstanding balance (just tell them you have sold the car or that you will VT) then sell the car to cover the cost.

[missyv2]

Thank you so much for all of your help. Looks like I'm going to have to call them. I hate it as they are so rude. Appreciate all your comments, thanks

[demon_x_slash]

You don't need to call them - in fact, it's better if you write and send Special Delivery, and request answers in writing only. People tend to 'forget' what they say on the phone, which is terribly convenient for some companies...

[hedgehog0045]

This happened to me on my old car, I was paying £297 a month over three years, after 2 and a half years I found myself struggling with the payments and they 'restructured' my car finance and gave me a new agreement of £199 over 5 years extra. This means that for a £6000 original loan I will have paid back over £18000.

Out of curiosity, when I applied to log book loans for a loan they said the car was not on hp. Obviously Welcome had not bothered to inform hpi or they had turned the loan into a personal loan.