Loan of £7000 to family member

shirleys_2

Hi

I loaned my brother £7000 3 years ago and in September 2010 have asked him to start paying back (£50 per week). He was paying by cheque for a while then last month it stopped. I spoke to him and he paid £100 cheque and now has stopped again. Can anyone tell me if I can take him to court please?

I paid by cheque and put the money into his bank account 3 years ago and have photocopied most of the cheques he has paid so far. So If I got copy of my bank statement from 3 years ago and knew which bank he used is that sufficient proof of the loan to enable me to take him to court?

Any replies would be very much appreciated. Thanks

Tixy

You are pretty unlikely to get a court judgement in your favour without a written loan agreement or something written from him that agrees that it was a loan (not a gift) and that you both intended that he would repay the full amount. And detailing when it was supposed to be repaid by.

I would try to come to an agreement with him without having to attempt taking him to court. Do you know why he isn't paying? is it because he cannot afford it? Have you tried talking to him about how much he can afford and perhaps asking him to set up a standing order?

Have you kept a full record of all his repayments and do you know the balance outstanding now? Is it more or less than £5k? If you did decide to try court action then if its under £5k you can use the small claims court route.

JA1000

Nice to help him out but talking of court between families is not good, if you are not careful you can say goodbye to your brother, there must be an amicable way to resolve.

At £50 per month you are looking at over 11 years payback without interest so I am guessing it is a principle matter and not a monetary. Why are you using cheques surely you can get him to set up a standing order to come out on his payday. This way he will learn to adjust to amount he has to live on.

Or get him to take out a loan and let him deal with those consequences if you are not bothered.

Unfortunately without a written agreement you don't have a chance.

Tiddlywinks

How important is your family to you? Think of the reaction you'd get from taking your brother to court.... from him, your parents, wider family members etc. Could you live with it?

Really think about the implications of your actions and then decide........

toolazy

was anyone in your family present while there was this talk of lending/taking money buisness 3 years back.
iff so try to talk about this matter in front of the family who were present(maybe brothers wife,partner).
i would not suggest going to court. your relationship with your brother wont be the same again .

JasX

As per the sticky on making loans to friends and family the usual case is you need to choose to between never again seeing your money or never again seeing your brother..... your case seems no exception to the usual outcome, more so when larger amounts are involved and the loanee is less than organised with money.

Apples2

Just to kick you in the teeth a bit more....

It seems to be the norm that it is the Lender who the whole family are annoyed with, you lent out of kindness, got robbed, then have the wrath of the extended family to deal with for being so spiteful whilst they all sympathise with the crook.

[Deleted User]

families+money=misery