Legalities of the loan

Rebma3

My daughter has been working since she was 16. She was the first ever apprentice to be taken on at her place of employment. Also employed at this place are a number of people between the age of mid 20s to 40s. My daughter is a hard worker who has frequently does overtime and as such has managed to save a lot of money. She is now 18 and lives on her own.

I have just discovered that she has been pressured into loaning money to people who have, in my opinion, exploited her naivety and kindness. In the past she has loaned £200 here and £500 there. She says that on the whole these amounts have been paid back over time. A while ago she told me that a woman was asking for money so that she could move house and enrol on a nursing conversion course; the amount requested was £3,000. Obviously I advised her not to do this and she agreed. She was 17 at the time.

To cut a long story short she has just told me that she did lend that woman the money because she cried and got other people to try to persuade her. One of those friends knocked up an agreement, which is shabby at best, but that does demonstrate that there was a loan and that there is a deadline for repayment. The terms simply say that £3000 was loaned from A to B and that B agrees to pay by December 2017. The loan was signed by both and witnessed by C (the friend). There is nothing about repayment schedule but their subsequent written communications reflect that the woman knows she should be paying something on a monthly basis but has yet to make any payment.

The way I see it the person is not in breach of the agreement until Dec 2017. I am however uncomfortable with the way my daughter was approached for money. It is extremely unusual that someone of such a young age would even have that money. I feel that her age made her vulnerable and find it hard to understand how women in their 30s and 40s feel it is ok to ask a teenager for large amounts of money. She is after all doing the same job as them but for less money (because of her age). We are talking about minimum wage positions here. I'm assuming it is a cultural difference but we are talking about multiple nationalities so this is not necessarily the case.

What I'd like to know is whether to contract is legal, what rights my daughter has as a lender, and does this constitute financial abuse?

iolanthe07

I suspect that such an agreement signed by a minor under age 18 will have no effect in law. You'll have to rely on the honesty and morals of the borrower. You might like to have a solicitor look over the agreement and give a professional opinion.

National_Debtline

Hi Rebma03


My first thought on reading this was that your daughter's employer needs to be made aware of what is going on. If her colleagues are pressuring her into lending them money, then it is surely an employee welfare issue.


I would suggest calling the ACAS helpline on 0300 123 1100 in confidence as a starting point.


Dennis
@natdebtline

jonesMUFCforever

I agree with above but probably kiss goodbye to the money owed.

PeacefulWaters

What disgusting people.

marcarm

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

What disgusting people.

Totally agree with this.

Preying on a young girl to give them money is abhorrent. There may be nothing that can be done but I would sure as hell make sure the employer knew about it. If there are several people involved, and she felt pressured this could even be a bullying issue?

OP, I'm not sure how these people knew your daughter had money, maybe she let it slip that she had been saving etc, and I'm sure this will make her more cautious, but she really needs to be careful what she says to people.

Well done to your daughter for having the nous about her to save in the first place though, wish I was like that at her age.

Tiddlywinks

Rebma3 wrote: »

I have just discovered that she has been pressured into loaning money to people who have, in my opinion, exploited her naivety and kindness. In the past she has loaned £200 here and £500 there. She says that on the whole these amounts have been paid back over time. A while ago she told me that a woman was asking for money so that she could move house and enrol on a nursing conversion course; the amount requested was £3,000. Obviously I advised her not to do this and she agreed. She was 17 at the time.

....... One of those friends knocked up an agreement, which is shabby at best, but that does demonstrate that there was a loan and that there is a deadline for repayment. The terms simply say that £3000 was loaned from A to B and that B agrees to pay by December 2017. The loan was signed by both and witnessed by C (the friend).
There is nothing about repayment schedule but their subsequent written communications reflect that the woman knows she should be paying something on a monthly basis but has yet to make any payment.

What is your daughter's job?

Is this a care-giving type of work environment?

I would suggest your daughter seek legal advice about the contract AND report the matter to her employer.

If the 'borrower' is in a role which brings her into contact with vulnerable clients then this matter needs to be addressed to ensure none of them have been taken advantage of.

The fact that the 'borrower' is looking to work in nursing is worrying too... perhaps seek advice from the relevant regulatory body?

If your daughter feels she was placed under undue pressure and felt threatened into lending the money then she should go to the police.

DCFC79

She also needs to learn to say no to people and also be insistent in the reply.

27col

The mere fact that they knew that she had substantial saving shows up her youth and naivety. You don't tell strangers the state of your financial situation.
Hard luck stories can be hard to resist, especially by the financially inexperienced.
In this situation it is a case of Mother(I assume) knows best.

Helvetica_Van_Buren

Rebma3 wrote: »

My daughter has been working since she was 16. She was the first ever apprentice to be taken on at her place of employment. Also employed at this place are a number of people between the age of mid 20s to 40s. My daughter is a hard worker who has frequently does overtime and as such has managed to save a lot of money. She is now 18 and lives on her own.

I have just discovered that she has been pressured into loaning money to people who have, in my opinion, exploited her naivety and kindness. In the past she has loaned £200 here and £500 there. She says that on the whole these amounts have been paid back over time. A while ago she told me that a woman was asking for money so that she could move house and enrol on a nursing conversion course; the amount requested was £3,000. Obviously I advised her not to do this and she agreed. She was 17 at the time.

To cut a long story short she has just told me that she did lend that woman the money because she cried and got other people to try to persuade her. One of those friends knocked up an agreement, which is shabby at best, but that does demonstrate that there was a loan and that there is a deadline for repayment. The terms simply say that £3000 was loaned from A to B and that B agrees to pay by December 2017. The loan was signed by both and witnessed by C (the friend). There is nothing about repayment schedule but their subsequent written communications reflect that the woman knows she should be paying something on a monthly basis but has yet to make any payment.

The way I see it the person is not in breach of the agreement until Dec 2017. I am however uncomfortable with the way my daughter was approached for money. It is extremely unusual that someone of such a young age would even have that money. I feel that her age made her vulnerable and find it hard to understand how women in their 30s and 40s feel it is ok to ask a teenager for large amounts of money. She is after all doing the same job as them but for less money (because of her age). We are talking about minimum wage positions here. I'm assuming it is a cultural difference but we are talking about multiple nationalities so this is not necessarily the case.

What I'd like to know is whether to contract is legal, what rights my daughter has as a lender, and does this constitute financial abuse?

You need to stop with the wishy washy approach and take decisive action right now.

Protect your daughter from these parasites. Contact her employer and kick up a fuss about this. Also, a have a strong word with your daughter about her right to say 'no'.

If you have to, contact the police and report it. Putting duress on a child to lend money has got to be some kind of crime.

Start sorting this out.

Rebma3

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hi Rebma03


My first thought on reading this was that your daughter's employer needs to be made aware of what is going on. If her colleagues are pressuring her into lending them money, then it is surely an employee welfare issue.


I would suggest calling the ACAS helpline on 0300 123 1100 in confidence as a starting point.


Dennis
@natdebtline

Thanks Dennis. I definitely agree the employer should know for exactly that reason. I'll call the number that you kindly provided and see what they have to say.

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

What is your daughter's job?

Is this a care-giving type of work environment?

I would suggest your daughter seek legal advice about the contract AND report the matter to her employer.

If the 'borrower' is in a role which brings her into contact with vulnerable clients then this matter needs to be addressed to ensure none of them have been taken advantage of.

The fact that the 'borrower' is looking to work in nursing is worrying too... perhaps seek advice from the relevant regulatory body?

If your daughter feels she was placed under undue pressure and felt threatened into lending the money then she should go to the police.

Tiddlywinks - You are absolutely correct it is a care establishment. I researched financial abuse yesterday which began ringing bells. I know that the home operates along very strict guidelines about receiving anything from the people they care for and their families. They are simply not allowed to accept anything - not even Christmas presents. I guess this is potentially why my daughter was targeted.

Helvetica_Van_Buren wrote: »

You need to stop with the wishy washy approach and take decisive action right now.

Protect your daughter from these parasites. Contact her employer and kick up a fuss about this. Also, a have a strong word with your daughter about her right to say 'no'.

If you have to, contact the police and report it. Putting duress on a child to lend money has got to be some kind of crime.

Start sorting this out.

Helvetica Van Buren thanks for your impassioned response. Believe me, I am keeping it cool on here but I am already taking action. I wholeheartedly believe the employer needs to know for all the reasons Tiddlywinks stated and also so that they are aware of their duty of care to employees. The day that I found out I told her to talk to her boss or I would.

My daughter was in the first month of being 18 when she loaned the money so it may stand up as a loan agreement between adults - still assessing the legalities of this. She has however loaned to this woman before and been paid back. I have taken steps to get a proper payment plan set up as an addendum to the initial (lame) contract that was originally signed and have added a time of essence clause that failure to return the new signed document agreeing to the payment plan by the specified date and failure to meet any of the payments becomes a breach of their contract that will immediately trigger legal action.

Unfortunately my daughter is a stubborn and believes she knows-it-all and that everyone has good intentions. We already had the talk already but she rarely listens because I'm just mum...what do I know? What I know for sure is that she won't be lending money again after the stress of this experience. Sometimes only personal experience teaches the lessons your parents have been trying to protect you from. She's like her mum - I only ever learned the hard way too.