welcome stopping my house sale

[henrib]

I took a secured loan in 2004 with Welcome Finance. In 2007 I took another one, this one paid off the 2004 one and gave me some money left over. I am about to exchange contracts on my house and Welcome are saying I am not allowed to sell as there is not enough form the equity to cover what they say I still owe.
I have checked the land registry and only found the 2004 loan listed on it (as their sister company progressive finance who went into liquidation in 2012). Therefore Welcome did not update the 2nd charge. I have found the agreement I signed in 2007 and have noticed some alarming discrepencies between that and my latest statement from them.
These are:
The date of the loan agreement is 04/04/2007, the date on the statement of 'first movement' is 09/11/2007.
The credit agreement signed in 2007 states a total credit amount of £20,449.29 (of which £3485 was PPI), the statement states 'credit provided' as £26,489.99.
The interest rate on the agreement states 20.4%, on the statement it is 19.5%.
Monthly repayments on the agreement set at £378.65, I have been paying £465 for the last three years at least to clear it quicker.
the customer reference number on the statement is different from that on the signed agreement.
I claimed back my PPI about 18 months ago and was awarded just over £10k on this loan which Welcome said they would deduct off the balance owing. I was also told that no further PPI would be claimed.
They are trying to stop the sale of my house going through stating that I still owe them money. They have not realised the current loan is not registered on the property. By rights, taking everything into account they owe me I think.
My issue is I have to let the solicitor know tomorrow about the 2nd charge, where he has to go to find out the redemption figure. It is clear Welcome have completely messed this up so I am fearful it swill stop the sale whilst it is being sorted out - what can I do?

[dogtired]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

Subscribe, had a similar experience with them, still battling them as when I did a SDAR they sent very bad copies of documents with our old address and original loan number on them.
Never come up with anything for this address and as far as I can make out are not on land registry documents as this house was not registered when we moved in.
Went for PPI through FOS but they wanted us to sign a new agreement which we refused to do.
So far they have got two DCA involved both have not come up with anything.
Not paid for five years, now depending if the origanal loan is now classed as personal we only have a year until it is statute barred.
Or eight if they carry on.
CAB say agreement is unenforeable in any event.
Did you do a CCA or SDAR?
There is lots of help here think I would have given up if not for LB

[henrib]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

Thanks 'dog tired'. I am due to exchange contracts in a week's time. I have explained this to the muppets at Welcome but they dont want to know. I asked 'how is this good business sense' and they didn't have an answer. I explained that if they let the sale go through i would continue to pay until the debt was settled. I even offered to u the payments to pay off earlier. they phoned me back and said no, the sale cant go through. I said that if it didnt I would ot be able to afford to pay them anything, or the mortgage and the house would be re-possessed , they said the 'it didnt matter'. I dont know what to do now.

[Mr $quanda£ot]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

I know it's a bit late now but I have never understood why people take out secured loans in the first place.

Before I sold my flat in 2007 I had someone ringing me, trying to sell a secured loan. He said the interest rate was 10.9%. I said Northern Rock had unsecured loans for 6%. He became quite agitated and angry. I said that I was registered with TPS and would report him. He was quick to hang up.

The interest rates you mentioned sound extortionate.

Anyone reading this: don't ever go for a secured loan as it's one of the easiest ways to lose your home!

[MIKE770]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

This one needs proper advice anybody?

[Mr $quanda£ot]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

As repossession should only take place when all other options have failed, I think the OP has grounds to make a formal complaint to Welcome, followed by FOS if necessary. If they are seen to be blocking the sale - as seems to be the case - surely no judge should grant a posession order. They may well grant a suspended possession order which should give more time to sell the property. Unfortunately, Welcome's behaviour is delaying the sale.

As we don't appear to have a housing specialist on LB, perhaps Amethyst could look at different options. She's an excellent all-rounder but unfortunately time's running out.

My advice: keep all correspondence and record the phone calls with Welcome if possible.

[henrib]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

Thank you $quanda£ot. I really don't want to go the repossession route. I think with all of the discrepancies between the signed agreement and the latest statement it is not even the same loan any more.
I have read so many threads on here from people saying they stopped paying them years ago and nothing has happened, etc. I have paid them on time religiously every month of the agreement and they still act this way. This was from staff at one of their regional offices though and I think they make things up as they go along anyway.

[dogtired]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

Really think you need specilist advice here,.
What does your soliciter have to say?
Welcome nearly lost us this house because of delays and documents being sent to the wrong offices.
Could you try CAB helpline?

[henrib]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

I have paid for legal advice, albeit perliminary. i was told that if the solicitor contacts them for a settlement figure on the land registry pertaining to the original loan, this will probably alert Welcome to the fact that the current loan is not listed and they will list it/update the records - this is legally their right.
He said that if they can prove there is money owing they can stop the sale and there is not anything I can do about it. He said I would be better off 'getting hold' of the outstanding amount to pay them off and in doing so the sale can proceed. If I don't then the sale falls through. Very helpful.
I have never tried to get out of paying what I owe, I just want to live somewhere else.

[Mr $quanda£ot]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

Further options could be a call to Shelter. They specialise in housing issues so should have good resources.

Contact your MP. Not many companies like people complaining about them to their MPs as the parliament, at least in theory, has power to make their life difficult.

Who owns Welcome Finance? Threatened to report those people who refuse the sale go through to the parent company. Write to the CEO. Again, not many companies like it and it often works (has worked with me twice last year!!!).

[henrib]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

Whatever happens with the house sale, I am not going to let this drop. The largest amount being £19k for payback 3/4 into the agreement. I will be sending a SAR request to them, reporting them to every consumer organisation known to man, writing to their local MP and mine, OFT, etc, etc. Bitter? Me? Never!
Another thing I have noticed is that the signed agreement has a minimum duration time of 180 months, if that is the case, how can it all be settled next year if I keep up payments?

[dogtired]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

Cattles " own" welcome but they them selves have been trouble.
Welcome only " exist" in order to try and collect what they can.
Check your documents, I had some success last year via Aviva ( down as Norwich Union) as they were the named underwriters, it took a while and only covered the premiums on the loan we did have documents for.
If you telephone the FSCS they will only act on loans post 2005.
What I have learnt from here, check out some of the threads on here alone.
Still seems dodgy to me.

[IanM]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

Ask Welcome for a complete statement of account from the very beginning of your loan showing all transactions including fees and charges, inc. legal fees, and tell them you are disputing the amount claimed as owed until such time they provide the statement and you have had time to have it checked by a forensic accountant.

Tell them you are also considering the possibility that the loan agreement is fraudulent as there are discrepancies that need properly investigating and if they persist in blocking the current sale of the property, and it is proved they have got their figures wrong, you will be suing them for any loss you make when you are eventually allowed to sell the property if the value drops from the current valuation and sale price and you lose money.

If Welcome do not have a 2nd charge registered at the land registry the solicitor can proceed with the sale regardless, the solicitor only has to pay what is actually secured at the land registry unless you instruct them to pay off any other specific debts you owe and want to pay.

Welcome cannot block the sale if no charge is registered.

[Crazy council]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

Ask Welcome for a complete statement of account from the very beginning of your loan showing all transactions including fees and charges, inc. legal fees,

Do that immediately, if memory serves me correctly welc0me were known for way over charging fees/charges when rolling loans into another.

If i have read above correctly, and they havent took the first loan charge off your property, and have both on. and if the first is paid, there is enough equitry in the sale if its corrected.

If thats the case. Send them a letter, saying that there errors are causing you distress and making you unwell, and you demand it is sorted within 3 days and you have a full account statement of both your loans, detailing all charges and interest. If not you consider any cost you face to be there costs and you would expect a payment for the distress. Email it to them in the moring, then after an hour, ring them and demand acknowledgment of the email to your email.

If they have made mistakes, that should get it sorted in a few days

[wales01man]

Re: welcome stopping my house sale

Do they have a charge on the property?bit confusing here ?
If the OP wants all this info from welcome is a SAR the correct way to do this problem they are allowed 40 days to comply.
Without a legal charge over the property do they have the right to stop the sale the Solicitor must know this