Family owes you money

Gateman_1981

Hi guys,

I'm looking for some advice please. I lent my cousin some money and she is not paying me back, in fact, she is ignoring all of my calls and texts and has vanished. She was booking some flights when some of the airlines had gone under so asked if she could borrow my credit card. She said she was £100 short but would pay the rest into my account that weekend. I said yes as she has no surviving parents to help her out. After all, I wasn't lending her the money. She booked the flights but then never paid me back. This has now been on going for nearly 2 years. I need advice as to how to move forward with this as it was £1000 and I need it back. At one point, after about 6 months she said she was now getting married which was her priority and not paying me my money... I was fuming! Is there anything I can do as I am at my wits end here.

Thank you

FattyBettyBoo

Have you seen this weeks Moral Money Dilema? Its very similar and may help

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/49283405#Comment_49283405

sassyblue

Gateman_1981 wrote: »

Hi guys,

She said she was £100 short but would pay the rest into my account that weekend. I said yes as she has no surviving parents to help her out. After all, I wasn't lending her the money.

I need advice as to how to move forward with this as it was £1000 and I need it back.

At one point, after about 6 months she said she was now getting married which was her priority and not paying me my money... I was fuming! Is there anything I can do as I am at my wits end here.

Thank you

What makes you think you weren't lending her the money?? Course you were!

Was it £100 or £1000?

In any case it's highly unlikely you'll get the money back. If you knew where she was then l'd take steps with the small claims court to get the money back but someone as nasty as her wouldn't pay you a penny without causing alot of trouble l bet.

It's a hard lesson to learn, never ever lend anyone anything unless you know you can trust them to pay it back. And don't ever feel sorry for your cousin again, seems like she's doing alright on her own.

Oldernotwiser

Do you have anything in writing?

j.e.j.

Gateman_1981 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I'm looking for some advice please. I lent my cousin some money and she is not paying me back, in fact, she is ignoring all of my calls and texts and has vanished. She was booking some flights when some of the airlines had gone under so asked if she could borrow my credit card. She said she was £100 short but would pay the rest into my account that weekend. I said yes as she has no surviving parents to help her out. After all, I wasn't lending her the money. She booked the flights but then never paid me back. This has now been on going for nearly 2 years. I need advice as to how to move forward with this as it was £1000 and I need it back. At one point, after about 6 months she said she was now getting married which was her priority and not paying me my money... I was fuming! Is there anything I can do as I am at my wits end here.

Thank you

Can you clarify the amount she owes you? It reads like she asked you to loan her £100 but she took £1000?

If you know where she lives you may be able to pursue it through the small claims court but I'm not sure how much this would cost you. If she owes £100 it may not be worth your while..

You could try asking on the loans board, but unfortunately a quick peruse of the threads on there will turn up many situations like yours where someone has lent money to a 'friend' or a family member, never to see them or the money again.:(

BitterAndTwisted

She was £100 short of what she needed to pay for the flights. She said that she'd pay the money she did have into the OP's account and then booked a grand's-worth of flights. She didn't make good her promise to pay the money in but since then has now decided that she's got other more important priorities.

Everything depends on the paper-trail and whether she has ever acknowledged in writing that she would pay the whole amount back.

Sounds to me like this will need to be written off to experience. Have you read the heartbreaking stories on the Debt-Free Wannabe part of the forum about lending money to friends and family? A very sobering read indeed.

Cara79

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I read it as th cousin borrowed £1,000 on the credit card to book the flight, but had £900 (i.e. £100 short) & would pay it into the op's account that weekend.

So I read it that the op lent £1,000.

Either way, I'm not sure how to proceed. Like another poster said, is there anything in writing? Ypucould gp thru the small claims court?

lesalanos

It looks like you will never see the money again I'm afraid. As above, 1 to put to experience

dzug1

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Everything depends on the paper-trail and whether she has ever acknowledged in writing that she would pay the whole amount back.

.

Legally it does NOT depend on a paper trail, though without one it can be difficult.

Verbal contracts (for most things) are perfectly valid. Problem is if there is a dispute the existence and nature of the contract are open to question.

georgiesmum

If it's on your credit card then it is your bill I'm afraid. She needn't pay you back at all. Had the same experience with 2 grandsons and have had to put it down to experience. Mine was £500, not megabucks maybe but a lot for a pensioner to lose. Ah well we live and learn.

BitterAndTwisted

dzug1 wrote: »

Legally it does NOT depend on a paper trail, though without one it can be difficult.

Verbal contracts (for most things) are perfectly valid. Problem is if there is a dispute the existence and nature of the contract are open to question.

I agree with you but in this particular circumstance the payment for the flights was made with the OP's own credit-card and could quite reasonably be interpreted as the OP's own purchase. If I was absolutely determined to defend any action to recover the money that would be my own stance.

Which is why it's necessary to have some other acknowledgement that the money was borrowed, is still owed and an undertaking was made to pay it back. Unless there's anything like that it could be quite reasonably interpreted as a gift. This transaction was between family members, so even more likely to have been a gift, especially for a transaction of that size.