Leant money to a friend

steve3502

6 weeks ago I spoke to a friend who told me he owed money to a company I won't go into too much details of the issue but there had been problems that he was unaware of in relation to owing the money. The debt had been passed on to an agency.

Anyway he asked to borrow just over £100 but it needed to be paid on the day otherwise it would go to the next stage, and this would have a direct impact on his job. Due to work requirements I was not able to phone up to pay my self so gave him my card number to pay, the company accepted my card from him. The amount taken was just over £1000, I spoke with him once I realised the amount and he said there had been confusion over the amount. I accepted this as he agreed to pay the next week. 6 weeks later he has not given me the money back. 3 weeks of the time he was on holiday (this was booked long before I leant the money to him). He has promised to put money in my account but I have still not seen it.

I have fraud protection on my cards. It was with my debit card the amount was paid with.

Can I speak to my bank and reclaim the money back if he fails to pay in the next week?

milliemonster

I would doubt you can as you willingly allowed your card to be used to make a payment therefore no fraud has actually taken place. You may be better off seeking legal advice now

steve3502

Can I request the bank to reclaim the money as I did not make the payment and a company should not accept a 3rd party card other than from the card holder?

BASFORDLAD

sorry but more fool you .

steve3502

Maybe however I have known the friend for 10 years and thought I could trust him. He works in a respectable position and earns a reasonible salary. I still believe he will give me the money, and probably shouldn't be asking this but I just wanted to know my options should the worse case scenario happen.

nervousftb_3

The bank will not refund you (and nor should they!). You willingly gave your bank details to someone else to use your card, and you have no way of proving how much you were expecting them to take. Your only chance now is to take your 'friend' to the small claims court and try to get the money back that way. I suggest you write them a letter (send it recorded, keep a copy) stating that if they do not return the money within the next 7 days, you will take them to court.

SavvyMoneySaver

You can't blame the bank or the company he paid the money to for your error of judgement. You authorised him to use your card, which could be against the banks terms and conditions ? and if you try to get the bank to pay for it you could be the one who ends up in trouble.

I hope he is trustworthy and you get your money back from him but it's your responsibility to get it back no one elses. If he will not return the money owed then seek legal advice.

Dave101t

no fraud has taken place.
you can only claim money when your not at fault.
if you read your terms clearly, they may even be able to close your account as your technically not allowed to allow 3rd parties to access your personal account.

AnxiousMum

You may trust your friend wholeheartedly, but this is the perfect scenario that shows us why not to loan money to friends if we can't afford to lose it and consider it a gift. Friendship or money.......I value my friendships too much to do 'loans'. But.....you know that already.

But......there was a 'misunderstanding' about the total amount? Companies ALWAYS say how much they are debiting from the account - they have to. At that point your friend should've taken a step back and called you to confirm/explain the difference in the fee. If I were you I'd be very suspect at the 'misunderstanding'....he knew what the debt was for, and should've known that it was in the 'region' of £100 or £1000. Your friend owes you an apology as well as £1000 I think.

Voyager2002

The advice above is sensible, but there may be more to it than this. Any number of posters have reported using cards to make a small payment off a debt, only to find that the entire amount outstanding has been taken. So it is possible that the "friend" really did give the card number to make the agreed hundred pound payment, and then the thousand pounds were taken without his agreement.

OP, you are on very thin ice, but I think you could contact your bank and say that the payment agreed to the company in question was for one hundred pounds, and that an error has occurred. At the very least your bank will then compel the company to prove the amount that was authorised, so you will know where you stand.

Your next step would be to let your "friend" know that you are willing to let his work know about this problem.

RobertoMoir

steve3502 wrote: »

Can I request the bank to reclaim the money as I did not make the payment and a company should not accept a 3rd party card other than from the card holder?

As the situation came about partly due to your wilfull breaking of the bank's rules and regs on keeping your card details secure you may have a bit of trouble persuading them to go for that one.