Credit Agreement gone wrong

crawli1

A couple of years ago I took my friend to DFS and sorted it out so that she could get some sofas for her house. The credit agreement was all in my name and the sofas were delivered to her house. Hitachi Capital gave the finance for the credit agreement and they wrote to me about 11 months later to remind me that payments were due to start the month after of £50.12. I contacted them and gave them my friends bank details as she would be repaying the finance company. In the first year there were a couple of hiccups but nothing major. In December my friend lost her job but didn't tell me until I received a letter in February saying that months direct debit hadn't been collected due to insufficient funds. They put charges on the arrears making a total of £114.12 to pay. The next step would be court. I have tried to keep constant contact with my "friend" and I told her that I would pay the £114.12 as long as she gave me a date that she would pay me back. That date has now passed and I have not received anything from my "friend" and she will not answer the phone or reply to my texts. I have also received another letter from Hitachi to say that this months payment couldn't be collected. I'm in a right pickle. I wrote to Hitachi in summer last year when they couldn't get payment off her and they said I couldn't do anything because I signed the agreement. I'm really desperate to get some help with this and wonder if anyone could give me some advice on the matter. I know I was stupid in the first place for just being a friend that wanted to help out a friend in need and it has all back-fired on me. I'm struggling financially and have my own debts to pay which I have no problem with each month. I'm also pregnant and the stress of this is really getting me down. I can't help her with anymore payments and want to make sure I get the finance paid off and what she owes me. How can I go about this? Any help would be very much appreciated.:mad:

missile

You need legal advice. Your credit rating will be affected by these missed payments. It seems your friend will most likely continue to default and this could get very expensive for you.

I would guess these sofas were purchased in your name? If so they actually belong to you and you could threaten to start proceedings to recover same?

tom188

The liability is unfortunately all with you because you signed the agreement, so you are responsible.

Some sort of action against "friend" may be your only option, but unless you have a written agreement may not get very far.

crawli1

missile wrote: »

You need legal advice. Your credit rating will be affected by these missed payments. It seems your friend will most likely continue to default and this could get very expensive for you.

I would guess these sofas were purchased in your name? If so they actually belong to you and you could threaten to start proceedings to recover same?

I think I will have to pay off the whole credit agreement to save my credit rating any further punishment and then take her to the small claims court for the whole lot. I wouldn't want to claim the sofas off her, she hasn't kept them in very good condition. They were cream, but now are quite dirty. How likely is it that I would win at a small claims court? I have the original letter from Hitachi showing all her bank details on it and only last months payment is showing as coming out of my bank account. Would this be enough to go to court with? The worst thing is, I even offered to help her to find work last month by taking her to another town to sign up with Employment Agencies. She just never got back in touch with me. I feel like everything I try to do to help her is being thrown back in my face.

richt71

crawli1 wrote: »

I think I will have to pay off the whole credit agreement to save my credit rating any further punishment and then take her to the small claims court for the whole lot. I wouldn't want to claim the sofas off her, she hasn't kept them in very good condition. They were cream, but now are quite dirty. How likely is it that I would win at a small claims court? I have the original letter from Hitachi showing all her bank details on it and only last months payment is showing as coming out of my bank account. Would this be enough to go to court with? The worst thing is, I even offered to help her to find work last month by taking her to another town to sign up with Employment Agencies. She just never got back in touch with me. I feel like everything I try to do to help her is being thrown back in my face.

I'd go to the cab or a solicitors as it's complex as stated and even if you win if she has no money then it'll just cost you more to enforce any court order via bailiffs etc.

frugalpam

richt71 wrote: »

I'd go to the cab or a solicitors as it's complex as stated and even if you win if she has no money then it'll just cost you more to enforce any court order via bailiffs etc.

I'd agree - you need to get some legal advice about all this. In the meantime, I wouldn't bother trying to make direct contact with her about it. Let a solicitor handle it from now on.
She was very selfish to take advantage of a friend who tried to help her out - maybe she should have settled for a 2nd hand suite out of the paper, or from her local Freecycle group, instead of tying up her friend to a financial agreement which she probably realised was out of her budget.

Pam

dexters_mum_2

Sorry to hear this.
As has already been said, it agreement is in your name so you are responsible for the payments. Seek legal advice but I think they may tell you the same.
I would personally, write to her by recorded delivery or go to her house and ask for the money or the sofas within 5 days and threaten to go all the way to court to get the resolution you want.

Good luck, sorry it doesn't seem so rosey after all your efforts to be a good and kind friend.

crawli1

Thanks for all this information. I have had to pay £82.12 again this month for her as I had received another letter from Hitachi that the account has gone into arrears. I have cancelled the direct debit going from her account and they are sending me a new mandate to complete for it to go out of my account. There are only four payments left to make.

I was just wondering how I would go about removing the sofas from her house? I was told that if I went and knocked on the door and told her I am collecting the sofas and I then forced my way in, that would be classed as breaking and entering. I'm never going to get my money back and this would seem the best option because I can clean them up and sell them on.

blue_monkey_2

Hmmm, I HAD a 'friend' like this as well - no longer though and it sure makes you realise that true friendships are not like this at all.

What I would personally do is write to her sending the letter by Special Delivery, outline the problems and payments and tell her that she has 28 days to repay this money to you - along with the future payments that will now be coming from your bank account. How she gets the money is not your problem and don't let her give you all the grief and guilt that goes with it, you have your own problems, hers are no longer yours and I would not consider this person a friend any longer, they have well overstepped this mark.

Tell her she has 28 days to repay you the money - if she does not then you will persue the matter through the small claims court and the court will get the money from her instead along with the court costs. I would personally say you have a good chance with small claims court, they can see that the money came from her account, the sofas were delivered to her and you'll have to explain that you was trying to help her out but she defaulted on the payments - make sure you keep all the letter. I am sure they will find in your favour.

There is just one however, it might be worth popping to the CAB - if she is not working she could be entitled to Legal Aid and she might fight it just because she can, if you can't afford legal aid then it might get messy - maybe someone else can advise on this and on whether she will get legal aid to fight something in the small claims court. good luck, and good luck with your pregnancy I am sure that you don't need all this when you need to be stress free. Consider yourself well rid of friends like this and don't help anyone else this way in the future - it is an expensive way to learn a lesson and I do understand - friends like you are hard to come by these days that will do anything to help out a friend - everyone is more concerned with looking out for themselves, I hope the person concerned is totally ashamed and disgusted with themselves for taking advantage of you in this way.

crawli1

Writing a letter to her will show the court that I have been trying to sort it out with her direct, I suppose.

I just need to find the original agreement now. This shows that the sofas were delivered to her. If I can't find it could I write to the DFS store and ask if I can have a copy?

Kathy12345

I had the exact same problem this year, I did manage to get the money back but I covered the payments in the meantime as I didn't want my credit rating affected.

If you can get some kind of response from her (a letter, text msg, record your phone call if she answers) then you'll have a much better position in the small claims court. I was going to go down this route but she paid up at the last minute before I filed my claim.

(Not wanting to sound cruel or vindictive but knowing that she has her bf living with her and it isn't declared to the council or HMRC - she's on income support and pays no rent did help in my situation......) I think paying me the remaining amount of what was a £500 loan was a more attractive option to her than facing benefit fraud.