About a year ago I took out HP to buy a car from a company called Welcome Financial Services. As I had at the time a bad credit rating, they were the only comapny that would take me on - at a staggering APR of 42.1%! I set up a direct debit to come off my bank account on the
1st of each month as I get paid by cheque on the last day of each month so funds aren't available until the 1st. I got a copy of the agreement and acknowledgement that the first payment would be taken by DD on 1st April 2003.First problem came on 31st March discovered that the DD had been presented for payment that day. As I hadn't been paid the DD was bounced by the bank. Ding! £30 bank charge. I phoned up Welcome to complain and they claimed that I had agreed to the date being changed. I hadn't, of course. Why would I? That would have meant a bounced DD nearly every month. I told them to change the date back to the 1st and sent a cheque to cover the payment. A few days later I received a letter from them stating that as the DD had failed, they were imposing a £20 fee on my account.
Lo and behold *exactly* the same thing happened the following month. Again I phoned to complain. Something must have been done because future payments were made as agreed.
I managed to get myself back on track financially during the following months and a couple of months ago took out a loan from Cahoot ( at a far more reasonable APR!) to pay off the HP on the car. I wrote to Welcome to obtain a settlement figure. This duly arrived and included in their calculations were "collection fees" of £40 - the fees for the two bounced DD's.
I wrote to them enlosing a cheque for the settlement figure less £40 and told them that as the DD's had bounced due to their actions, I wasn't prepared to pay these fees. No response, no receipt, and no sign of the cheque being cashed. After a week I wrote requesting a response. No response to that. In the meantime I cancelled the DD.
A couple of days later I got a phone call from the local Welcome manager to find out why the DD had been cancelled. I told him that I had sent a cheque in settlement. He claimed they hadn't received it. I therefore went to my bank, stopped the original cheque and sent another by Recorded Delivery.
Nothing happened. No cheque cashed, no receipt. Tonight I checked with Royal Mail. My letter had been delivered and signed for. I phoned the Welcome manager. He claims they hadn't received anything from me and demanded payment of the February payment.
Where do I stand? I do not accept that Royal Mail have lost 3 letters or delivered them to the wrong address. I suspect that Welcome may have received my cheques but have not cashed them in some sort of attempt to get more money out of me - maybe by cashing my cheque for the settlement figure less £40 they could be deemed to have accepted that my stance is justified?
Any comments?
Alan
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