"I do not understand the fuss? 2 years with Welcome and they have been helpful an"

A review of Welcome Finance by Wes written on Monday 13th of August 2007

Right, I have had a finance agreement with Welcome Finance for approximately 2 years 3 months now and in that entire time I have had a couple of cash-flow hiccups (although a very stable work history) and they have each time been very accomodating and upfront about the interest incurred or alternative methods of bringing my account up to date.

In addition, I asked them to re-finance the agreement to bring the monthly payment figure down by 30% and they did this within 3days with no hassle.

The bad reviews of WCF, in my opinion, are from those individuals who do not read the small print of what they are getting themselves into and additionally have more serious money troubles than the odd CCJ and occasional job hiccup. In this instance, agreed, WCF might appear a bit shark-like... but in my experience, Barclays, HSBC, Halifax and Nationwide have all acted in the same fashion when I had a serious cash-flow problem for 2months inbetween jobs. It was actually a pleasure dealing with my account manager at Welcome given that we had a long-standing PERSONAL relationship (more than I can say for any damn bank I've ever had dealings with!) and we discussed my situation and my options in dealing with it.

For example, if I breached the contract then they could apply a small interest charge (~£120) if I defaulted on two payments, but could then catch up the missed and present payment within 3 months. This was acceptable as I was breaking the terms of the agreement and in the long-run, £120 on a loan of £10,000 is 1 more weekly payment at the end of the agreement?! Big deal!

If you HONESTLY cannot afford it, DO NOT use Welcome car finance. If, however, you have sufficient and reasonable secure means of income but a poor history and refusal from other lenders, then there is no reason in my opinion, why you should not consider Welcome to finance a car either from an outside dealership or their own stocklist.

Just for the record, I have no affiliation with them other than being a pre-existing customer sticking to the rules of the agreement with FULL UNDERSTANDING of what I am committed to! Okay, 26.9% APR is very high, but I had no other option. So I pay the price for my previous poor money handling.

Read the small print, you do not have to sign up for it or agree to it if you don't want to... at the end of the day, you get out what you put in. You don't read and understand before you commit at the front end, you'll get screwed at the back-end..

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