16 year old in £2000 debt

killer_cam

hi,

im posting today for a close friend, he used sevral of these sites such as quick quid and wonga.com to borrow a total of £2000 in which you have to be 18 years of age he filled out everything correct apart from his age, making him self two years older, now he hasnt be able to keep up with paying it back and there are people calling him up over the money speaking about repersestion of goods, as he is only 16 am i right in beleaving the debt should just be written off? is he liable to pay it back despite not being 18?

thanks

Gordon_Hose

No it shouldn't be written off. He's committed fraud, so I'm guessing criminal charges could be brought against him.

Silly boy.

Tixy

He may find he can get the debts written off - but despite being only 16 he could be prosecuted for fraud for lying on the applications.

preciousillusions

I'm not certain but I would think he isn't liable since these companies should check out details of the people they are lending to. BUT I am not sure if they could possibly go after him for fraud. I am sure someone else will know for sure but that is what I'd assume. He probably needs some help to make sure he gets over this and to make sure it doesn't lead to a continued cycle of poor financial choices in the future as well.

Malky

Taken from Wonga

You need to be over 18 and living in the UK and have a UK bank account with an active debit card, plus your own email address and mobile phone. You also need to be able to repay us on the date you promise to, so please don't use Wonga if you have any concerns about your ability to do that. Finally, we include a credit check as part of our sophisticated instant decision system, as we're only interested in lending to people whom we believe can repay a cash advance without undue financial stress.

How did your friend manage to bypass these requirements? Who's ID did he use because it certainly couldn't have been his own.
As mentioned already, he has committed fraud and deserves to be prosecuted.

ILW

Your friend is a thieving criminal. Dump him.

killer_cam

so i see he is able to be charged for fraud, would the debtors allow him to pay off a small amount weekly ?

cgk1

There are two different issues - the first is criminal, the second is civil - while an under-18 *can* sign a contract (contrary to popular myth), they are unenforceable - so if he doesn't want to pay, Wonga can't force him to do so. They could take him to court but they know that the Judge would simply say it was unenforceable.

However that leaves the separate issue of if his fraud would lead to criminal charges, I actually doubt this would happen because Wonga would leave themselves open to difficult questions of how a 16 year old managed to get past their credit checks with so little difficulty and how that fits with their credit license.

Tixy

They might allow him to pay back in installments - but be very careful that they might look into his situation and find out that he is under 18.

What did he spend the money on? thats quite some cash for a 16yo? what does he own he could sell? I'd recommend he sells every gadget/toy etc that he has to try to pull the money together? What position are his parents in? would they repay the debts for him or help him repay them quicker and then make him pay them back?

sickasachip13

Not much point in judging him folks - if I'd found an easy way to access ready cash at 16 I'd have probably done it as well (unless it involved ripping off someone else's identity).

Hope it can be sorted out and he has learned from his mistakes - part of the lesson may well be just keeping his mouth shut on the whole situation and paying it off.

Gordon_Hose

Doing stuff like this makes it convoluted and difficult for those that really need it.