Welcome delays

[dogtired]

Like a lot of people we applied to the FOS . We had a closing date of 28th of July so I telphoned them last week to find out why there was a delay.
They tell me that Welcome will not "settle" unless we sign an aggeement (up to now they have been unable to come up with a true and signed copy of the aggreement and maintain that an unsigned one they supplied last year is valid under the consumer credit act)
We do not wish to sign anything from them at all.
And if what we read in the press and elswhere is correct it appers they are going to the wall, what happens then?

[maruvian]

Re: Welcome delays

What date did you take the agreement out..??

[LuggerBugs]

Re: Welcome delays

Depends. It is very likely that the Welcome part will be put into administration. With little chance of anybody buying into the business I would have thought.

Cattles may then be able to carry on trading with their Lewis Group and Shopacheck brands.

But even then I'd be dubious, as surely a huge amount of Lewis's business was Welcome related. Not sure. So, if Welcome end up broke, a big chunk of Lewis's income will likely go too.

Too many variables to consider for my feeble mind.

[maruvian]

Re: Welcome delays

If it does go into administration all the accounts will probably be brought up by DCA's so if this is pre 2007 there is a good chance that it is unenforceable. Only you can decide what to do but that is probably what will happen.

[LuggerBugs]

Re: Welcome delays

Even post April 2007 agreements will be dodgy. Enforcable only with a court order, in many cases.

And it will be a brave and/or foolish debt purchaser who will pay anything for a portfolio where it may cost more to attempt collection than they realistically might hope to recoup.

All this could well be disasterous for those of us with PPI claims outstanding, of course. There will probably be no cash left to pay out. If there is antything, we'd be at the bottom of a very long list of creditors.

All of which will pale into insignificance compared to the massive losses that investors in Cattles will be facing. A shame, but as they invested in a company with no morals whatsoever, I cannot say I have much sympathy for them.

[Amethyst]

Re: Welcome delays

Can Welcome do this with FOS ? We'll only pay up if you sign a new agreement ? I know FOS won't handle unenforceables but surely that should set some alarm bells ringing at FOS ? If the unsigned one is so valid why do they need a new one ?

[Turboman]

Re: Welcome delays

Can Welcome do this with FOS ? We'll only pay up if you sign a new agreement ? I know FOS won't handle unenforceables but surely that should set some alarm bells ringing at FOS ? If the unsigned one is so valid why do they need a new one ?

I may be wrong-but think Dogtired is referring to the procedure whereby FOS get you to sign "acceptance" of the offer-without knowing what it is going to actually be.

Enclosed attachment is from an FOS letter page 1 and the enclosed "acceptance form"

[LuggerBugs]

Re: Welcome delays

Basically, where the FOS agree that PPI needs to be refunded on a live account, that means the earlier agreement is now invalid.

Welcome say, and the FOS agree for some strange reason, that this means since the payments need to be restructured as if PPI had never been included in the first place a new agreement needs to be signed. Backdated to the original date.

Now, I have no idea whether backdating an agreement in this way is even lawful. But, since the agreement is to replace the original agreement, and the FOS has endorsed this, I'm guessing Welcome cannot at a later date say that the agreement was signed post April 2007. Although no doubt, the new agreement will be watertight anyway.

On the face of it, it seems a fairly safe thing to do, and probably fair. But as always, I wonder what the implications might be further down the line.

[Amethyst]

Re: Welcome delays

Thanks guys that makes more sense. We just have to remember FOS have no requirement to deal with cases legally just 'fairly'.

[dogtired]

Re: Welcome delays

Like a lot of people we applied to the FOS . We had a closing date of 28th of July so I telphoned them last week to find out why there was a delay.
They tell me that Welcome will not "settle" unless we sign an aggeement (up to now they have been unable to come up with a true and signed copy of the aggreement and maintain that an unsigned one they supplied last year is valid under the consumer credit act)
We do not wish to sign anything from them at all.
And if what we read in the press and elswhere is correct it appers they are going to the wall, what happens then?

Many thanks to you all for all the usefull information.
Still unclear what is going on as we have yet to received anything from Welcome.
The origanal loan (which by the way we do not deny0)was at another address and documents recevied as part of a SAS bore this out. There was nothing for our currant address or account number. The other list of "contacts" did not mention any letters that I had sent and stopped in March of last year.
At least I have managed to stop phone calls!
Looking through all the forems on your excellent site Catles (aka Welcome arr mentioed on a regualr basis)
We await devlopemtns, will keep you informed.
Thanks again
:beagle:

[dogtired]

Re: Welcome delays

2003 but at another address and another number
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
yes we did get the standard form back in July no mention of sums or anything so we,reluctently, agreed

[dogtired]

Re: Welcome delays

Still no word. Any truth in the story I saw recetly about Cattles and Welcome in court about money they ow to the banks?!:tinysmile_grin_t: