Someone owes me money

agzurek

Hello,
I live in England and someone in Scotland owes me money. It has been over a year and this person does not feel like returning. I would like to get it back via online court claim. Do I fill out english or scottish form? Thank you in advance.

robber2

Do you have a signed contract or any other paperwork relating to the loan? Does the person have the means to repay you?

macman

Send an LBA before making a claim, under either jurisdiction. Is the claim within the allowed limits?

As pointed out above, it's pointless if they have no seizeable assets, as you would have to pay to enforce judgement and would be losing more money.

Winning your case does not in itself get you the money back.

agzurek

I transferred money from my bank account to hers. I have lots of text messages with excuses why she cannot pay back. We work for the same company, same position, same salary so I know she has the money. It is under £500, she could easily pay it back.

macman

But salary does not equal assets that are seizable by a bailiff, should she not pay up. Something like a car (not on finance) is better.
Do you have evidence that she agreed to pay it back within a certain timescale? Or just 'when she can'? Otherwise she can just claim it was a gift.
Text messages are not very strong evidence when it comes to a court judgement, which is why you should always start with an LBA, giving her 14 days to pay. If you fail to send an LBA first for such a small claim, the judge will take a dim view of it.
Assuming you would rather have the claim heard in an English court, I believe you can use the English procedure, but you cannot file it online; it's postal only.

[Deleted User]

agzurek said:

Hello,
I live in England and someone in Scotland owes me money. It has been over a year and this person does not feel like returning. I would like to get it back via online court claim. Do I fill out english or scottish form? Thank you in advance.

To apply for a Money Claim Online you need an address in England or Wales for the defendant which you won't have because she lives in Scotland.  Instead you'd use the Simple Procedure in Scotland if you are confident that you can prove this money was a loan and not a gift.

https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/rules-and-practice/guidance-notes/small-claim-guidance-notes

Before you go ahead with making a claim you might want to check the Registers of Insolvency first.

https://www.aib.gov.uk/debt/register-insolvencies

macman

I believe the OP can use the Money Claims process in England, but it has to be submitted by post (not online) if the defendant is outside of England & Wales? OP may prefer it to be heard at their local county court in England?

Forms N1 and N510 seem to apply:

https://www.moneyclaims.service.gov.uk/eligibility/not-eligible?reason=defendant-address

Vikipollard

agzurek said:

I transferred money from my bank account to hers. I have lots of text messages with excuses why she cannot pay back. We work for the same company, same position, same salary so I know she has the money. It is under £500, she could easily pay it back.

You absolutely don't know she has the money, regardless of whether you earn the same salary or not.  You don't know her circumstances.  After all, based on your stated logic, she shouldn't have needed to borrow from you in the first place as she should have had the money, like you.  Why did she not borrow from standard routes (bank loan)?  If she couldn't, then that should have been a red flag to you.

Not that I agree with not paying you back - that sucks.  Without a written loan agreement I don't know whether you will be able to claim or not, but perhaps for the future, only lend money if you are prepared to accept you may not get it back.

macman

Nothing wrong with lending £500 to a (presumably former) friend/colleague. But, it it all goes pear-shaped, don't expect a judge to necessarily award it all back to you on the basis of a few text messages.

Definite

likely not worth the effort. Call it university fees maybe and move on.

Herzlos

Send off a Letter Before Action and if she doesn't pay up then chalk it up to experience. You'll endure a lot of hassle and probably not see the money back anyway.