Lending money

Jaymat

It was a letter from him to her, not the letter from the solicitor. She has not replied to the solicitor yet.
She has no issue paying back the money, she is scared of the interest making the £4000 into £10,000.

DevCoder

So do "he" (the lender) have a credit lending license?

I'm guessing not.

Jaymat

no he doesnt

DCFC79

Maybe the friend should chnage her number to prevent these threatening messages, if they are upsetting her then chnage the number andkeep the messages.

McKneff

He cant, as I said, just unilaterally decide to add interest

It takes two people to agree to anything like this.

Tell your friend not to worry. She is paying it back, which is exactly what a court would tell her to do so there is no point in that. He is just putting the frighteners on.

And its costing him for any solicitors letters, which again will just be a frightener.

Tell her to keep any correspondence. And a paper trail so she can track any money being paid to him ie a reference on a bacs payment, a cheque no. or such

Clive_Woody

McKneff wrote: »

He cannot just add interest and tax (lol, what kind of tax)

This makes me wonder what sort of solicitor is writing letters that are so ridiculous.

Mara69

Jaymat wrote: »

A friend was offered £6000 as a gift to sort out some issues and was told there was no rush to pay it back.

That's not a gift, that's a loan and should have been repaid.

bargainbetty

If she has every intention of paying it back, then it will do her no harm to write back stating the following:

1. The total sum provided: £6,000.00
2. The terms: No interest agreed, verbal agreement between friends only.
3. The sum agreed to have been repaid so far (£2,000.00)
4. The oustanding balance : £4,000.00
5. The fact that no request was made or agreement signed relating to the charging of interest, and it is therefore unclaimable under law.
6. The fact that tax is not payable on such an agreement under law.

Due to the spurious nature of the claims for interest and tax, she should formally refuse to meet any costs he might incur/have incurred in taking legal action, unless ordered to do so by a court.

Offer a repayment plan of however much she is comfortable with paying per month. Request bank details to enable her to set up a standing order, and send a cheque for the first payment with the letter. She will need to stick to it, and keep an account of what is owed as the balance goes down. If she gets into a position where she can clear it, she should send him a balance of the account, the final payment and a letter noting that the matter is settled.

No court would back up his claims, and if he refuses her payment plan, then they won't help him much further. It is difficult to sue for that which you have already refused.....

Best of luck

27col

If, as the op says, the money was offered as a gift, then the question of repayment does not arise. So which was it, a gift or a loan. It cannot be both.

gb12345

27col wrote: »

If, as the op says, the money was offered as a gift, then the question of repayment does not arise. So which was it, a gift or a loan. It cannot be both.

The OP also says that the friend was told that there was no rush to pay it back and that they have already started to do so, which would make it sound more like a loan than a gift to me.

Unfortunately, with most "my friend" type posts you never get the full/true story.