Recovering lent money

Dannypeck

Right, I'm gonna keep this short and sweet, while including all the facts
Been lending a friend money to keep him going (including a phone contract in my name) as he was struggling. Got him to sign a contract for the outstanding amount plus all liability for the contract in question. Also included in this was a payment plan every two weeks. First payment has been missed, and I have effectively been told to go fudge myself for the money.
What are my options for getting this money back? And if I were to go court-warrior, can I have the full cost of the contract being closed added onto the currently owed cost?
Thanks

DCFC79

Your first step is to go small claims court, you have proof. Just be aware of he has no money then he can't pay you.

First thing I'd do is get the phone blocked, sim cancelled.

jonesMUFCforever

..........but you will have to pay the contractual amounts for the phone even if you don't get it back or its your credit rating that gets ruined.

Dobbibill

I agree with PPs - get the phone number blocked/changed and new sim ordered for yourself, you need to keep paying the contract or your CR is going to be shot, so you may as well use the contracted minutes.

Hopefully, you haven't lent them too much money, so if court fails, you are not too much out of pocket on top of the handset. If they have no money, it may be worth taking the hit, rather than paying to go to court but learn from it, don't lend to anyone again. It's quite common to hear about friendships disintegrating through money.

Smodlet

Yep, this is classic Judge Rhymes with a certain child-focused chocolate containing a little, plastic toy. If you don't want to end up hugging on daytime TV, I'd do as advised above.:D

Arleen

You can only sue for what you can prove, in this case the binding document will be the signed contract between the two of you, and nothing that would come after that unless you've put that into the contract.

Keep in mind that CCJs do not expire, you just have to "renew it" every six years and then you can continue to keep trying to get the CCJ paid. So while it will go away from his credit record after six years, the debt will say and is still very much enforceable. And at some point that person will make some money, which is when you will get yours back if you keep at it.
I for sure would, if for no other reason than the principle and some justice against someone who behaves like he did.

Additionally if he is not going to challenge the petition then it will cost you very little money to get a CCJ, how much depends on the sum in question - check how much here: https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/court-fees making it even easier decision to go for the CCJ. Subsequently on the money owed you are entitled 8%/year interest starting from the day of first missed payment.

Enforcing the CCJ can be tough, but the prices of court bailif service are highly reasonable (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fees-for-civil-and-family-courts/court-fees-for-the-high-court-county-court-and-family-court#enforcement-proceedings) if you will decide to go that way.
From experience I can say that bailiffs are fairly effective at collecting money owed, especially from people who think that they are above the law and don't have to pay money back. Primarily because people like that are ultimately not-so-smart and very short sighted, and bailiffs been doing their job for many years, dealing with scoundrels like that every day.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Report the phone lost, or even stolen. This will result in the phone being totally unusable to your former 'friend'. You could perhaps make a claim on insurance, as it has, in a way, been stolen or lost.

As to all the other money owed - if former friend has no money, it's lost, but you could go to court and trash his credit for a further six years.

dealer_wins

Drop the "friend", repeat to self 100 times "I am never going to lend money to family and friends again"

Best to move on and hope that karma rewards you whilst giving your Ex friend something fitting of the **** he or she is.

Pixie5740

if the friend was unable to get a mobile contract in his own name then his credit files are probably already not very good.

Whether I'd take a so-called friend to court or chalk it up to experience depends on how much we're talking about although as a rule I don't lend more than I can afford to lose. I would definitely get the sim card and handset blocked, as well as changing the password on the account so your "friend" can no longer access the account online or by calling the network provider's call centre to remove the bars. You are not only responsible for paying the line rental but also any additional charges your friend might run up on the account so block his access. Whilst at university I worked for one of the large mobile network providers in their call centre, you wouldn't believe some of the bills people would run up in a friend's name, or an ex's name or their parent's name....they'd make your eyes water.

DigForVictory

+1 for call the service provider & lock the phone. Revise all account security whilst you're at it.

This "friend" is no longer a friend & cannot be presumed to be treating your credit rating with any respect, so protect yourself pronto & leave chasing monies (via the court) to the pros.

You may never see tuppence of your original money again, but if likewise if you never see your "friend", that'll do.

paddyrg

Horrible, but mitigate your losses by getting the contract stopped/transferred to you on a new SIM (may cost you a few quid but owrth it) and handset bricked (bit of petty spite, no reason not to TBH).

At least the handset will be impossible to use in the UK again, and have to be sold to some dodgy backstreet dealer for the (probably) African market. If it was an iDevice you may be able to brick it worldwide in fact.

It's going to wind up costing you a few hundred quid - that's actually quite a cheap way to learn the lesson about lending to friends who can't get honest credit elsewhere (there's a reason nobody trusts them).