Ex Boyfriend maxed out credit card!

Helpmyfriendplease

All,

My best friend had a boyfriend who was fond of gambling. When they were together he took her credit card and maxed it out. They have since split (Thank God), but she is left with the debt (Approx. £5000), the minimum repayments are crippling her, I've told her to ring the Police but she is reluctant to. What can she do?!
HELP!

Rafter

She has been the victim of fraud. If she can prove that and report her ex to the police, the card company will have to write it off - although they might argue their case if she has given her boyfriend access to her card or pin.

If she doesn't want to report it, then she will have to pay the £5,000.

R.

JayZed

What do you mean when you say he "took" her credit card? Did he steal it from her and use it without her knowledge or permission? Had she told him the PIN for the card? If she had, then it will be difficult for her to argue that the card was used fraudulently.

PROLIANT

Don't need the pin for gambling, just the card no and cvv code.

Merlinexcalibur

Always dubious of posts like this. Friend of a friend.

jonesMUFCforever

I think a time element will come into this as well. If she has tried to make the payments for a number of months she will be very lucky to get the card company to listen to her now about her not knowing what was going on and ''accepting'' it.

sabretoothtigger

Depends if she gave permission or not. If she didnt its theft which then means she must choose between paying it off and being involved in a criminal investigation of her ex

Either way she needs to speak to the company before defaulting on her debt. They are obliged to help with repayment problems afaik

bargains83

If the gambling account was opened in the boyfriends name then the OP should not be liable as they are supposed to check that card details match identically with the details on the card. If this is the case then you could claim it as a fraudulent transaction as the card was not in the same name as the gambling account.

If it was in the same name it would be difficult to prove and the timings of the deposits/gambling would have to match with the card owner not being around to be able to have gambled such as being at work or other appointment that can be backed with evidence.

Either way, the choice is either a possible court case or paying back the £5k. It is quite possible that the friend of the OP said to the boyfriend 'you can use my card as long as you pay it back' and he lost the money then scarpered which is why they are reluctant to call the police. In this case there wouldn't be much of a leg to stand on and they would probably have to pay the money back anyway as she gave authorisation for someone else to use the card. Unless it can be proved with a recorded conversation or witnesses that he promised to pay the money back.