Owed alot of money by a 'friend'

mab7689

I am currently in a situation where someone I once considered a friend owes me the considerable sum of £1200. The debt started a few years ago when he ended up out of work and I lent him money to keep him afloat and he owed me the sum of £300 from that. This then increased to £1050 when we went on holiday to the USA and I ended up paying a chunk of his share as his inability to manage his finances meant I payed it as I obviously didnt want to lose the holiday. I did this on the understanding he would starting repaying once we returned. This was 2 years ago. The final £150 was from earlier this year was from the fact he owed a mutual friend who I payed off on the agreement that we would add it to what he owed me to consolidate everything and mean he would only owe me money, meaning we no longer had to have 3 way communication.
Since the start of this year contact has been limited as he avoided and ignored us until it took me going round to his house and confronting him on his doorstep to ask what was happening, this was after I found out he had managed to shell out £500 for a holiday in January. Since then I have persisted to attempt to get the money back from him and there has been nothing. Initially in the summer when we started talking again he said he would pay £100 a month via standing order if he gave him my bank details, which I did. However we have returned to nothing, the contact has stopped as he is proceeding to completely ignore every attempt I make to contact him, I have sent him texts, he doesnt answer my calls and now he has gone to uni and moved as a mature student I dont know his address.
I accept the size of the sum is partially my fault for being too soft but I also feel like I have been taken advantage of and had my generosity thrown back in my face. I am now in a situation where I NEED the money back as I both have a flat to upkeep now and I am also saving towards a deposit for buying next year so I need every penny I can get. Can anyone give me any advice on what I can do to go about retrieving this money back?

Tixy

Hi

In reality it sounds very unlikely you will get this money back from him, certainly in the short term. Many people in your position never get their money back.

Do you have any written agreement with him at all in relation to the debt?

In theory you could pursue court action against him, for which his last known address would be sufficient for you to take action.

The issues with this would likely be
1) proving that you loaned him the money and that he has not repaid you as agreed
2) actually getting him to repay you anything
3) even if he does start to repay if he is a student and not earning then the court may allow him to pay this back in token payments of as little as say £5 a month.

Some people recommend sending a letter before action in an attempt to frighten the debtor in to paying you (even if you don't actually intend to take court action/or even if you expect you court action would fail due to lack of proof). However if he has moved address the letter before action may not even reach him.

sourcrates

I am sorry to say I think you have seen the last of him, and the money he owes you, without a written agreement between you, you have nothing to show in court, he will just deny you ever lent him any money, and you will go round in circles, and get no where.
Hard to hear it I know,:mad: but i think you already know this in your own mind, I would put this down to experience, draw a line under it, and don't be so free with your cash in future.

mab7689

I do actually have photographic evidence from screenshots of Facebook and text messages of him agreeing to set up a standing order, and I can use bank statements to corroborate that I actually haven't received anything and he hasn't kept his word. Could this suffice as sufficient evidence for a court claim?

Tixy

It would likely help your case, but nobody can predict whether it would be sufficient that a judge would grant a CCJ.
There is also a chance that your debtor would enter a defence to say they repaid you in cash.

Even if the judge does grant a CCJ then you still may have difficulty in getting repaid, particularly if your debtor doesn't have assets and isn't working.

Verbatim

I was told by a solicitor that there are tracing agents who work on a no trace no fee basis! Do you know which Uni and which course?