Lending money to girlfriend

essextaylor

Hello,
This time last year my girlfriend at the time was having some serious money issues, with her student loan not coming in, she was being threatened to being thrown out of uni because of this. I had quite a lot of money saved up from working since i was 15 so i (stupidly) decided to loan her the money to help her out. The amount is near to 3 grand in total, call me stupid but at the time i was madly in love with the girl, had the money spare and thought i'd get it back.

Since then we have broken up, in a pretty nasty way (down to her not me) and getting the money back is causing a problem. She's said that she will pay me back in full, but we've been broken up almost 6 months and no money has been given back.

I never actually gave her the money, i paid off her fees directly using my card, so i can show these payments going through. We've got nothing written or signed, but i have verious emails between us talking about the money she owes me, and about her paying me back, as well as my house mates can vouch for me lending the money as witnesses. Is there any legal action i can take/what are the chances of this working/what should i do?

Thanks guys

GAH

You could always try making a claim through the small claims court, its easy to do, cheap and you don't need a solicitor.

You could end up getting a judgement against her, but enforcing the judgement is the difficult thing if she does not have the money. So while you could potentially destroy her credit rating, there is also a pretty good chance you won't see your money unfortunately.

chesky369

I'm sorry but the chances of your being able to get this money back are pretty much nil. If you look on the threads above, you will see one labelled something like 'lending money to family and friends'. The bottom line is always - if you can't afford to lose the money, then don't lend it.

It's a tough life lesson to learn but I think you'll have to draw a line, and move on.

Venusflytrap

You have nothing written to say that she owes you 'x' amount and will repay you 'y' amount by whatever method until paid off. I think it may well be difficult to prove that she owes you money with the intent to repay in a timely manner.

Have you sought independent (legal) advice from reputable support orgs? I suggest you do.

When my then boyfriend (now husband) lent me 1k to repay my CC debt I verbally promised to repay him a set amount per month until all was cleared. Trust played a major part but I can appreciate that some people need more than this!

dealer_wins

One good thing is that the £3000 has provided learning for both of you

oldhand

have to agree with others, without something in writing its going to be virtually impossible to get your money back.I realise its no help to you now but your not the first person to lose out big time for love and im quite sure wont be the last.:(

tell_it_how_it_is

I think you've just got to go and approach her gently (with gritted teeth) i.e. ask her politely if she can set up a standing order each month to pay you something back, even if it's £50 or less a time.

Being nice and getting something back is better than a major fallout and seeing nothing.

renegade

essextaylor wrote: »

Hello,
This time last year my girlfriend at the time was having some serious money issues, with her student loan not coming in, she was being threatened to being thrown out of uni because of this. I had quite a lot of money saved up from working since i was 15 so i (stupidly) decided to loan her the money to help her out. The amount is near to 3 grand in total, call me stupid but at the time i was madly in love with the girl, had the money spare and thought i'd get it back.

Since then we have broken up, in a pretty nasty way (down to her not me) and getting the money back is causing a problem. She's said that she will pay me back in full, but we've been broken up almost 6 months and no money has been given back.

I never actually gave her the money, i paid off her fees directly using my card, so i can show these payments going through. We've got nothing written or signed, but i have verious emails between us talking about the money she owes me, and about her paying me back, as well as my house mates can vouch for me lending the money as witnesses. Is there any legal action i can take/what are the chances of this working/what should i do?

Thanks guys

Print off the e mails and take her to the small claims court, or use a solicitor, this is a lot of money you are talking about. She can't deny it, how else could her debts have been cleared ,you have prove of that.

fracturedsun

If you have emails from her acknowledging the debt then you can certainly make a case at small claims court. However this isn't a guaruntee of the money being returned (if she doesn't have it then she won't be able to repay it). I would try again to work out some sort of payment schedule with her, tell her that if you can't work something out you will have to take her to court and she may come back with a reasonable offer of repayment.

RadoJo

Are her parents in the picture at all? It might be worth contacting them to let them know what's been happening as they might be inclined to pay you back on her behalf and sort it out amongst themselves. Apart from anything, if you really don't think there's much chance of seeing the money from her as things stand, the thought of you telling her parents might just light a fire under her and make her face up to her responsibilities.

Curr946

So was she not making payments to you while you were sleeping together? If not then you gave her the money. A loan as set conditions. A court would argue that you only want the funds back as it didn't work out.