My underage son in debt

piglet6

Sorry, but I agree with everybody else - he should be made to pay back the £10, and also be reminded to "spellcheck" his address carefully the next time he signs up for something...!!:o

Getting him off the hook may be possible this time, but I'm fairly sure a 15 year old can come by £10 pretty easily in this day and age (if nothing else, maybe a few extra "household chores" will help him earn it from you, and having to work to get his money is also a valuable lesson for life!;)). Much as this may seem harsh, I think a quick lesson about "facing up to your own actions" is much better when the bill is £10 and attainable, than helping him get off on a technicality this time and then 5 years down the road discovering that he has run up much bigger bills that you may not be able to help him get out of paying...:eek:

I think its a little bit of "being cruel to be kind" - you never know, if in 10 years time he's putting a deposit on his first home paid for out of his savings account because he learned the lesson when very young that credit and getting into debt hurts when the big guys finally catch up with you, you can be very proud of him (and yourself!:p) for a valuable lesson learned young...:D :T

Piglet

jen30_2

I agree totally with everyone else. Get him to pay the money back. I would also make sure he changes the address as soon as possible. If it were my address someone else was using - I'd report them to the police especially
if Dca's were involved. I wouldn't want my credit rating affected by someone elses irresponsibility.

CFC

I agree with all the other posters. £10 is a very cheap lesson.

If I were you, and he hadn't told me that he was selling, and possibly buying on Ebay, I'd want a few words about that as well. Ebay is also a place where people can deceive and young people can be vulnerable there, same as in chat rooms. It's not any safer for young people than the rest of the internet is. He may be quite a young 15, given that he has got himself into this pickle.

You might want to consider fitting some logging software to his pc or getting it moved to where you wander past from time to time and see what he's up to.

Grumpysally

I agree with all the above. My son ran up a £400 phone bill. He jolly well paid it all back to me, and he didn't get a birthay present that year. I didn't try and shift the blame onto anyone else. Instead of looking for loop holes to get him out of paying the £10 you should be giving him a darn good b****king for all the trouble it is causing everyone else. And hope your neighbour doesn't decide to take legal action.

msmicawber

Hi aj, have you decided how you're going to deal with this? It would be a shame to let him think he can slide out of his responsibilities.

Decadent_Fool

He's acted fraudulently hasn't he ? I know you can get prosecuted for that easily enough at 15.

severussnape

bearing in mind that you are now legally responsible for your own actions at 10 i know this because i have had the police out to warn my own son about his behaviour being 15 will not get a lot of sympathy especially if the police get involved. make him pay the tenner and pray to god that your neighbours don't know or do anything as he could well end up with a criminal record.

CFC

Well legally speaking, a contract for debt is legally unenforceable against minors except when entered into for the necessities of life. (food etc) But that doesn't mean it's illegal to write him nasty letters or make phone calls about it, it just means they're wasting their time taking him to court.

As for acting fraudulently, it seems to me that he hasn't understood what he was entering into and what would happen. The neighbours address being an 'accident' - I have to say it seems rather unlikely to me to be an accident.

Rather than fraudulent behaviour, I think it is more likely is that he was trying to be a bit cautious in not putting his own address onto the web, but not understanding he was attempting to enter into a contract therefore needed to put his own address. (re dangers on the web). Either way, I think the OP needs to have a chat with him about the activities he is undertaking on the internet, and about what he can and can't do in general without discussing with mum and dad.

He sounds rather confused, and it's not surprising. 15 is still a child (even though they think they are worldly wise and world weary at that age) and he needs a bit of parental intervention I think.

Bloke_with_a_simple_life

aj3001 wrote:

My son has recieved this morning a letter from the debt collectors, apparently he had been selling on eBay then not paid fees, he had recieved a letter requesting £29, his ebay fees were £19 so he paid those via eBay now this debt collection agency still wants £10

My question is, as he is 15, does he have to pay? He was using his own eBay account and as he isn't over 18, he surely cannot run up a debt, so can we write a letter off saying due to his age the debt isn't valid.

Also, he accidently (apparently) put my neighbours address when he signed up for eBay, so they believe for him to be residing at an address he doesn't, will this help any further in him not paying for this?

AJ... intrigued... looking at this other post from you (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=2898725#post2898725) it appears that you are 18 and have a son of 15!

Can only think that:
1. There is a typo somewhere,
2. Someone is unknowlingly using your profile name
3. There is actually only one person... you!

CFC

LOL well spotted Mr Bloke!!