Loan Harassment

badback1987

Asking on behalf of a family member.

They had an agreement with an in law to pay for a product in installments as a gift for the other half. since the agreement, other half had an affair and left, meaning my family member didn't want to pay for the gift anymore. Obviously they cant just do this but here is where it gets complicated.

The in law has contacted my family member on numerous occasions by email, harassing the said family member and causing anxiety and panick attacks. The in law has also in one email said that he had written the debt off but then in a separate email that comes later, he has taken screenshots of unfiled county court papers to reclaim debt and urges my family member to borrow money to pay off his debt.

Is this a legal way to recover the debt?

It is also worth pointing out that my family members income isn't great since the affair of the other half and the debt incurred by the divorce proceedings. The other half has also said in a court document during these proceeding that he would settle all of the couples debts, but didn't settle this one.

The in law has been relentless and down right nasty in his bullying tactics and I wondered if my family member where to defend the claim (even though it isn't filed, but may get filed) would she have any reasonable defence?

Thanks for any help.

BorisThomson

The in law is probably getting fed up of your "family member" failing to pay their debt.

If you think the bullying tactics amount to harassment then contact the police. I expect they'll suggest you pay your debts.

Pixie5740

I imagine the in-law is getting rather cheesed off with your family member's refusal to repay the debt. I would be in their shoes too. If the in-law takes your family member to court and can demonstrate the money was indeed a loan then the court will order your family member to repay the money. However, winning the judgement and enforcing it are two different things.

Has your family member made any attempt to repay some of the loan? If not, why not? Who does your family member think should settle the loan?

shortcrust

Imagine getting cross and combative when someone borrows money and refuses to pay it back. What sort of monster?!

ReadingTim

If the boot was on the other foot, ie that you'd lent the money and someone else refused to pay it back, the advice is generally to let it go. It costs money to go to court, and even if you get a result, it'll cost more to then enforce that result - you're basically throwing good money after bad. However, if someone was successful in court, had deep pockets and was so bl**dy-minded, then they could potentially cause the non-paying party long-ish term problems in terms of their credit history etc.

However, if the non-paying party found the so-called bullying tactics that distressing, then for the sake of a quiet life and putting the matter behind them, it might be preferable to take out a loan and pay the in law off. As to whether the the bullying tactics amount to harassment then they're free to contact the police, but there's no guarantee that they'll agree.....I would suspect that given austerity and government funding cuts, they probably have more serious things to concentrate their resources on....

So, morality of repayment aside, from a purely practical perspective it's a case of who breaks first - family member or in law?

MEM62

From the manner in which the in-law is pressing the issue can we assume that the amount is significant?

Presumably, the in-law has incurred the cost of the gift and is rightly expecting the contribution agreed by your family member. I see no reason why the in-law should be out of pocket because the relationship failed and your family member has decided they no longer with the contribute. The breakup and subsequent financial difficulties are irrelevant.

Candyapple

badback1987 wrote: »

Asking on behalf of a family member.

They had an agreement with an in law to pay for a product in installments as a gift for the other half. since the agreement, other half had an affair and left, meaning my family member didn't want to pay for the gift anymore.

So if the borrower's partner didn't have the affair - would they have still kept up with the repayments? Million dollar question.....

badback1987 wrote: »

It is also worth pointing out that my family members income isn't great since the affair of the other half and the debt incurred by the divorce proceedings. The other half has also said in a court document during these proceeding that he would settle all of the couples debts, but didn't settle this one.

Why should he? It's not a couple's debt. It was the borrower's personal debt because they purchased something as a gift.

Did the borrower at any point make a single repayment? Or has nothing been paid to date?

What was actually purchased? How much was the total cost?

Why did the borrower not purchase the item themselves and had to rely on the family member to take out a payment plan?

redpete

So it seems the borrower's first thought was not to pay because the relationship ended with a secondary reason that they are badly off. In the lender's position I would be pretty fed up and tempted to make the borrower's life difficult until they took responsibility for their debt.