Do Not Lend Money To Friends - Help Now In A Pickle

maz1964

hiya all

the martins weekly emails do make sense and i got out of bed this morning thinking, what about section 75 on credit cards for a refund back

my scenario is that i foolishly now realise what i have done but im having to deal with all the consequences

i paid my friends mortgage arrears with my credit cards so that they didnt get evicted and also so that their taxi could nt be taken away taking away their livlehood

however, im now left with the debts as they cannot afford the full payments and my credit file is very bad now

ive requested cca's from the credit card companies but i wonder if you knowledgeable people have come across this - the mortgage company happily accepted my credit card payments but do i have any redress as the owner of the property ive paid to hasnt paid me back my money??

i know its a dark shot in the mess but im really at my wits end now, getting threats of my sale of my home due to helping others out

im so scared this could affect my marriage now pls pls help, its a been a bad day so far today, otherwise what other options can anyone think of

what a very hard lesson to learn, also they now could be repossessed again if they dont get a new mortgage, ive thought of a charging order but doesent help me in the short term, any legal bods on what i could do to show my interest in the property as until my credit cards are paid off>?

would really appreciate anyones help thank you cheers maz

spam.jam

hi im sorry i dont know the answer for you, someone will come along im sure who does. i just wanted to say you how awful for you and i hope you find a solution in your favour x

PasturesNew

Oh dear, it is SO hard to say no to a friend. They're so desperate and there's so much pressure on you to just do it. It just seems so hard to say "no" to their face.

Did you have anything in writing from them?
How much is it? What interest rates are you paying on the cards?

When did you do this? How much did they say they'd pay you/when? How have their repayments to you been to date?

ElizabethJH

Just wanted to let you know I've been in a similar situation were I lent a friend £2K, thought it was a life or death kind of scenario... turned out to be a con.. I took pay day loans and handed over my wages for 2 months to this guy to help him out and it's taken the last year just to get myself back up and running and out of arrears because of the damage done afterwards.....

Have no real advice for you just wanted to wish you luck in getting sorted

rog2

Sorry that I can't offer any advice - I can remember 'bailing out' my daughter in the same way a few years ago, but, as a parent, I really never expected to be paid back, but she did repay me and was of immense help to me with my own financial problems later.

I feel sorry for both you and your friend - without your help your friend would have lost not only his home but also his livelihood.

Have you explained your situation to him/her?

GeorgeUK

Hi maz

I doubt you'll be getting any good news from this i'm afraid. As you made the payment for their mortgage arrears, the bank will just say that you are responsible for the debt as you basically transferred it to your name. If you did not have any kind of written agreement with your friends, you will probably not have any way of getting the money back.

Are they able to make part payments on the debt? Can you talk to the bank about a repayment plan? This will seriously affect your credit rating, but if you are unable to meet the payments i don't think you will have much choice.

Are they cutting back on everything? Have they done a SOA? Is their mortgage interest only? Have they reclaimed bank and credit card charges?

I take it no-one is able to transfer the balance to another credit card (preferably Virgin with its £25 min payment)

climbgirl

I'm really sorry but GeorgeUK is correct - you agreed willingly to pay the mortgage payments on your credit-card, therefore the debt is legally yours. It is on your credit card and therefore, in your name (which you agreed to). The banks (both your credit card provider and the bank that holds your friends' mortgage) aren't going to get involved at all unless your card was used fradulently (which it clearly wasn't).

I'm sorry, but you're wasting your time chasing the banks. From a legal standpoint you agreed to pay this debt and you are the only person responsible for repaying it.

Sorry to be blunt but there's no point in beating round the bush here.

The only thing you can do is chase your friends for the money. I'm not sure how good the friendship is - can you come to some arrangement (they make repayments regularly etc)? I'd suggest you draw up some legal documents and try and get them to sign to say that they do owe you the money and will repay in whatever amounts you agree.

If worst comes to the worst and you do feel that you want to take this step, you could try taking them to the small claims court. A friend of mine was in a similar position and took this path and she had a repayments programme agreed and eventually got the money back. Her friend agreed that she did owe the money though, if your friends won't agree to that, there's very little you can do.

The lesson from this is be very, very careful who you lend money to / take out loans for / make credit card payments for. Legally the responsibility to repay any debt in your name is all yours. The law (and the banks) aren't interested in who you've taken out the loan / credit cards for.

climbgirl

maz1964 wrote: »

what about section 75 on credit cards for a refund back

Section 75 doesn't apply here I'm sorry. What section 75 means is that the credit card company is equally liable for the provision of goods and services as the company you're buying from. Say for example, you order something from a shop, the goods never arrive and they refuse to refund you. You could then ask the credit card company to refund you as they are equally liable. Say you booked flights and the company collapsed and you couldn't fly (or get your money back). Again, the credit card company has to refund you because you never got the flights and they're equally liable.

Your situation is different - the goods (ie. the mortgage money) were provided by the bank (when the friends bought the house originally) so they have fulfilled their part of the deal under section 75.

As I said, legally you are responsible for this debt as you agreed that it could be put on your credit card. The only recourse you have in this situation is to chase your friends and hope they will try and repay.

maz1964

hello everyone

sorry for not getting back until now to respond i do really appreciate your replies thank you all

i knew it was a bit of a long shot but when you get to the point of snatching at straws anything might be worth a shot,,,

im trying to get all my credit card agreements now to see how i stand with them all

i dont have anything in writing from the couple, the husband has shunned me the wife is saying she will pay me back, with a remortgage but im not so sure now, as house is only in hubbys name and she wants to buy him out as such,

however, they are on verge of being repossessed if mortgage doesnt get approved,

what a total mess, i cant think straight anymore, i can only hope she is as good as she says and starts to pay me back, has paid a little in dribs and drabs over the past 6 months but my creditfile has now been hit with all these defaults im at a loss to clear this all myself, we are talking about 12,000 min

off to bed will come back tomorrow sorry cant type no more

thanks again maz

tallyhoh

How much was it, how about taking them to small claims court, They cant say they didnt have the money off you as it was paid against their house.

They have not really treated you as a friend so do what you would do if it was a tradesman or something.

Merlinexcalibur

Can't offer much help except I can empathize with all this. I loaned 'friends' money. For almost the same thing(s). It was a large amount, borrowed over time. I thought I was helping them, but in the end I paid very dearly for it. And I still am. It's because of them I am in such a serious debt situation.

Everyone I knew urged me frantically to go to the police because of what they'd done. I was too scared, so they got away with it. I have nothing to do with them anymore. Trouble is, they will continue scamming other people like me and get away with it.