Loan in my name for an ex girlfriend who isn't paying. Can anyone help?

andyward82

A while ago a girlfriend moved into my house. Her car died and she needed a new one. She had no credit history at all so couldn't get a loan. I got one in my name and got her a car on the agreement that she'd pay back the instalments.

Then we split up. She continued to pay for a year or so but now has stopped. Obviously, I've been a gullible idiot and should have at least got the car in my name but I didn't. I know - absolutely stupid.

So, based on her history of payment which was initially quite good and the verbal agreement we had - do I have a legal leg to stand on?

Is there ANYTHING I can do?

[Deleted User]

If you can prove she was to pay you back for it, then you could go the small claims route, but it sounds unlikely if she chooses to deny it.

iolanthe07

The fact that she did pay you back for a year will indicate to the court that she knew it was a loan and not a gift. I think you have a good chance of winning using the small claims procedure, but it would be better if you could agree a repayment scheme with her amicably before beginning litigation.

HappyMJ

andyward82 wrote: »

A while ago a girlfriend moved into my house. Her car died and she needed a new one. She had no credit history at all so couldn't get a loan. I got one in my name and got her a car on the agreement that she'd pay back the instalments.

Then we split up. She continued to pay for a year or so but now has stopped. Obviously, I've been a gullible idiot and should have at least got the car in my name but I didn't. I know - absolutely stupid.

So, based on her history of payment which was initially quite good and the verbal agreement we had - do I have a legal leg to stand on?

Is there ANYTHING I can do?

You're not stupid. We are supposed to trust the person we are living with to stay around to repay a debt.

You have to continue making the payments as you took the loan out. If you've got payments coming in to your account from her equalling the loan repayment and hopefully marked as loan repayment even without any written agreement you should have a good chance of convincing a court that it was a loan. You will only be able to claim the missed loan repayments and all future loan repayments. You can't add anything else on unless you have a written agreement saying you would. You can however add the court fees and enforcement costs on. Send her a "letter before action" demanding full repayment first.

National_Debtline

Hi Andy


I can't offer an opinion on the likelihood of your success if you were to try going down the court route - just warn you that it guarantees nothing. Try to establish if possible at this stage what her means are - if she has stopped payments because she can no longer afford to maintain them, then legal action is unlikely to get you your money back any more quickly, whatever the outcome.


Dennis
@natdebtline

robatwork

I agree with Iolanthe - her record of regular payments (can you prove these? Were they cheques? Were they regular payments you can show incoming into your account? Were they the exact amount of the monthly loan payments?) proves the loan was to be paid back by her, just enabled by yourself.

martinthebandit

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hi Andy


I can't offer an opinion on the likelihood of your success if you were to try going down the court route - just warn you that it guarantees nothing. Try to establish if possible at this stage what her means are - if she has stopped payments because she can no longer afford to maintain them, then legal action is unlikely to get you your money back any more quickly, whatever the outcome.


Dennis
@natdebtline

Otherwise known as......

'never sue a man of straw'

AKA

You can't get blood out if a stone