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Hi
I bought a used car through a HP agreement with Welcome in April 2005.
The amount to be repaid was £6,843.92 over four years, l missed a couple of payments, so that by June 2007 £5,048.50 remained outstanding on the account.
It was a joint agreement made by my wife and myself.
Welcome rewrote the loan in June 2007, the new loan extended the term of agreement and added interest and fees of £2,745.11 to the balance of £4,824 - the June balance of £5,048.50 less " an interest rebate ". This "new" loan of £7,478.52 was payable at £89.03 per month over seven years.
In October 2010 l queried the outstanding balance on the loan with Welcome, who basically acted with complete arrogance and ignorance and did not give me what l felt was a reasonable argument as to why they felt obliged to re-finance the original loan agreement.
I pointed out to them that l felt that they did not act accordingly on a number of issues, the two most predominant flaws were that as the original agreement was based on a joint agreement, the rewritten agreement was only signed by me and not by me and my wife, as was the case with the original loan.
I also felt that Welcome did not fully explain the terms of the new agreement as it was my understanding that Welcome had an obligation and a duty to fully explain the new terms.
This new agreement was done in about five minutes and at that time all the salesperson wanted me to do was to sign the new agreement, at the time l thought that they were doing me a favour refinancing the loan, how wrong l was.
I also questioned the extra charges that Welcome were adding to the account, they were charging me for letters that were never sent and for calls that were never made as they were claiming, these were excessive charges and daylight robbery in my opinion.
When Welcome refused to accept and act on my concerns l decided to contact the Financial Ombudsman to investigate my concerns, l contacted them in 2010.
After their investigation they adjudged that my complaint be upheld in part, the adjudicator did not consider that Welcome had acted unreasonably in re-writing the loan but concluded that Welcomes offer to remove all charges to the "new loan" agreement, totaling £442, was reasonable.
I did not accept that conclusion so my complaint was referred on for a review and determination.
Whilst l was happy that Welcome had agreed to remove £442 in charges, not that they had much choice, l was still unhappy about this new loan created by Welcome Finance.
The Financial Ombudsman have now adjudged in my favour and the Ombudsman do not feel or consider it fair or reasonable in the manner Welcome revised the new loan agreement in the way they achieved this loan.
Welcome did not accept the Ombudsmen findings and further asked the Ombudsman to reconsider their findings, and provided further evidence, but the Ombudsman have upheld their decision and have told Welcome that they have now got to cancel the HP agreement and write off the outstanding balance, £3178.55 and ensure the credit file shows the agreement has been settled in full.
It has now been established that l have paid in more that was agreed on the original loan, the Ombudsman has made comment to this significant fact.
This has been a long hard battle but l was determined to see it through, even when the Ombudsman only gave part judgement, in the first instance.
I would be obliged if anyone can tell me if l can make a claim against Welcome, l will take this Company to Court if there are grounds on which l can rely on.
Any advice on my rights would be greatly appreciated.
I bought a used car through a HP agreement with Welcome in April 2005.
The amount to be repaid was £6,843.92 over four years, l missed a couple of payments, so that by June 2007 £5,048.50 remained outstanding on the account.
It was a joint agreement made by my wife and myself.
Welcome rewrote the loan in June 2007, the new loan extended the term of agreement and added interest and fees of £2,745.11 to the balance of £4,824 - the June balance of £5,048.50 less " an interest rebate ". This "new" loan of £7,478.52 was payable at £89.03 per month over seven years.
In October 2010 l queried the outstanding balance on the loan with Welcome, who basically acted with complete arrogance and ignorance and did not give me what l felt was a reasonable argument as to why they felt obliged to re-finance the original loan agreement.
I pointed out to them that l felt that they did not act accordingly on a number of issues, the two most predominant flaws were that as the original agreement was based on a joint agreement, the rewritten agreement was only signed by me and not by me and my wife, as was the case with the original loan.
I also felt that Welcome did not fully explain the terms of the new agreement as it was my understanding that Welcome had an obligation and a duty to fully explain the new terms.
This new agreement was done in about five minutes and at that time all the salesperson wanted me to do was to sign the new agreement, at the time l thought that they were doing me a favour refinancing the loan, how wrong l was.
I also questioned the extra charges that Welcome were adding to the account, they were charging me for letters that were never sent and for calls that were never made as they were claiming, these were excessive charges and daylight robbery in my opinion.
When Welcome refused to accept and act on my concerns l decided to contact the Financial Ombudsman to investigate my concerns, l contacted them in 2010.
After their investigation they adjudged that my complaint be upheld in part, the adjudicator did not consider that Welcome had acted unreasonably in re-writing the loan but concluded that Welcomes offer to remove all charges to the "new loan" agreement, totaling £442, was reasonable.
I did not accept that conclusion so my complaint was referred on for a review and determination.
Whilst l was happy that Welcome had agreed to remove £442 in charges, not that they had much choice, l was still unhappy about this new loan created by Welcome Finance.
The Financial Ombudsman have now adjudged in my favour and the Ombudsman do not feel or consider it fair or reasonable in the manner Welcome revised the new loan agreement in the way they achieved this loan.
Welcome did not accept the Ombudsmen findings and further asked the Ombudsman to reconsider their findings, and provided further evidence, but the Ombudsman have upheld their decision and have told Welcome that they have now got to cancel the HP agreement and write off the outstanding balance, £3178.55 and ensure the credit file shows the agreement has been settled in full.
It has now been established that l have paid in more that was agreed on the original loan, the Ombudsman has made comment to this significant fact.
This has been a long hard battle but l was determined to see it through, even when the Ombudsman only gave part judgement, in the first instance.
I would be obliged if anyone can tell me if l can make a claim against Welcome, l will take this Company to Court if there are grounds on which l can rely on.
Any advice on my rights would be greatly appreciated.
