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I gave £2000 loan to my nieces husband 2-3 years ago and he not paying me back


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I gave a loan of £2000 to my neices husband 2-3 years ago when they needed some money to help them out financially.

I was told they would pay me back by installements but I've not received back a single penny.

 

With me now being out of work I've asked for the money back and asked my niece to ask her husband and not heard anything back.

Her husband is avoiding to pay me back.

 

Witnesses I have that I gave the money are my own brother and family.

My neices mother knows I gave the money.

 

Is there anything I can do to get my money back or have i lost the £2000?

Like sending a letter requesting the money back?

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What (exactly!) were the terms of the loan?

instalments of how much, when, and under what circumstances were they payable (or, more significantly deferrable!).

 

If you are able to get an enforceable means of getting the money back .... are they able to pay?

Is this “can’t pay” or “won’t pay”.

 

If they don’t have the money, “you can’t get blood from a stone”.

 

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What you could do is ask the person for the money back.

 

If he won't move, then send him a formal Letter Before Action.

 

Then if he still won't cough up, sue him in the county court.

 

That all seems very easy to do, and it is. 

 

However, what you also need to think through is

   - can you prove this debt exists?  You don't have to have some formal legal document, text messages, e-mails, etc. will do, but you will have to show the judge that is more probable than improbable that the loan took place

   - if it comes down to witnesses, will they appear in court?  Perhaps, maybe, but, is not good enough

   - are you willing to sue this person, given the family situation?  The worst possible thing to do is threaten court action as I have suggested - and then not carry it through.  You'd just look like a paper tiger.

 

Plus Bazza is spot on, there's no point suing someone on the dole, if they haven't got the money they can't pay you.

 

Not wanting to put you off,  indeed threatening court action I think is the way to go, but it's something you have to be properly prepared for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We could do with some help from you.

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Hi Sofiaa,

 

These are difficult times and that's relevant to your financial position, but also to your neice and her husband.

 

I assume no written agreement was made at the time of the loan, so Bazza's comments about verbal terms of the loan are crucial.

 

Perhaps an alternative to threatening court action may be to speak to the neice and husband and ask them to now agree to repay at the rate of £xx or £xxx per month and sign an agreement to this effect. I suggest this in case they're unable to afford to repay the full amount in one go just now.

 

Get them to sign such agreement and, if they fail to repay as agreed, you have a stronger basis to sue them.

 

But it all hinges on 2 things :-

 

1. How you feel about taking them to court, them being family.

 

2. If you think they would actually be able to repay the full amount, or monthly instalments, given their own current circumstances.

Edited by slick132
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your biggest problem is a lack of agreement as to the actual terms of the loan and preferably in writing.

If you had some evidence that the money must be paid back by such a date then it is easy to take action to recover the money as there will be a breach of contract but as it stands the loan was open ended so not enforceable. He still owes the money but you cant force the repayment via the courts.

This is common within families and it is a common problem.

The only way you will get anywhere is by getting them to acknowledge the debt and to agree to pay something on a regular basis. At the moment the lack of enforcement makes it look more like a gift in the eyes of the law.

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I made the mistake of not having a written agreement when I gave them £2000 and I've no other evidence as in text or anything, only thing is witnesses the mother in law of my nieces husband and my own family, so with a lack of evidence I've lost my £2000 which I really need now being out of a job.

 

I've asked them obver the past 2 years but they has not been a reply, so I left it due to being related family wise but the husband also owes money to plumbers that fixed his kitchen and other work in the house, so its not only me he owes money to.

 

I texted his wife to ask for the money or pay in installements but no response, should I ask his mother in law now?

 

I hope this is a lesson to others not to lend money to people in your family even though these were far related

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Two questions.  Is he at least working with an income coming in?

 

Secondly, what sort of person is he, as in what do you think he'd do if he got a formal letter from you threatening legal action?  Would it terrify him or would he just laugh it off?  I ask as sometimes it's not a matter of who would win in court or not, some people are horrified about the idea of court (illogically) and will do everything to avoid it.  

 

You could perhaps word a letter that either he starts monthly instalments immediately or its court for the full amount plus costs, carrot & stick.  But just putting some ideas out there.

We could do with some help from you.

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He will laugh it off because he hasn't made an effort to even make installments in 2 years, I don't have any evidence apart from his mother in law who is a witness that he received the money and my own family witness when he came to collect the money from me

 

His wife and mother in law have mentioned it to him but he's not taking making any payments.

My biggest problem is a lack of writtem agreement or evidence that money was given to him, if this went to court I have no proof except word of mouth

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Sadly, I think that's your problem, no written evidence.

 

If you can, you need to get written evidence or persuade people to be witnesses in court for you if it goes that far. Of course they may say they'll appear and then change their minds nearer to the court date.

 

It's hard to say whether talking to the MiL will help as we don't know your family.

 

HB

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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True, there is no written evidence on paper. The text messages I had I accidently ended up deleted them long time ago, I had no idea that my own distance relatives would take my money then refuse to pay me.

 

I've sent a text to his wife, she has not replied back, so I havve proof of the text being sent requesting the money and the time/date.

 

ericsbrother can you help me draft some kind of letter I can send them to acknowledge the debt and to agree to pay something on a regular basis.

 

If they don't respond to the letter is the next step the small claims court?

 

my brother is ready to be a witness he witnessed my niece and her husband who is refusing to pay come to the house to collect the money and they promised to pay back.

 

As for his mother in law to be a witness I don't know is she will do it

 

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How much would you accept per month in repayment, or more to the point, how much do you think he would be prepared to pay?

 

Yes, your case is weak, but if you threaten county court it might focus his mind and make him think slowly paying the money back is better than court, CCJ, having to lie in court if he defends it, etc.

 

Plus, how would you prefer to be paid back?

 

I'm asking these things while drafting a letter in my head!

 

 

We could do with some help from you.

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OK, well how about sending something like this?

 

Dear _____,

 

I refer to the loan of £2000 which I made to you on/in _____ (the exact date if you can remember it, if not the month).

 

I also refer to my letter(s)/e-mail(s)/text message(s) which I sent to you and your wife on _____ to which I have had no reply.

 

I would much prefer to resolve this matter amicably rather than involve the county court with its inevitable costs, interest and issuing of a County Court Judgement, and am prepared to accept twenty consecutive payments of £100.  I ask you to sign and return the enclosed agreement within 14 days using the supplied stamped addressed envelope and to commence payments by _____.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Stick in a letter with something like

 

                                                                                                                                                           ______ (his address)

 

I, _____, agree to repay the sum of £2000 which I owe _____ in 20 consecutive monthly instalments, beginning on _____, with payment made by _____ (how you want to be paid).

 

_____ (signature)     _____ (date)

 

However, don't send this off immediately.  Wait a couple of days.  There are people on this forum with a hell of a lot more experience than me who may very well suggest improvements. 

We could do with some help from you.

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As no-one else has replied, send it off like that - except that before  Yours sincerely, add a sentence  I am sending this with a Certificate of Posting from the post office  just to show him you've looked into the legal side and know what you're doing.

 

Indeed get the free Certificate of Posting and stick in an s.a.e. so he can't try to get out of it by saying he couldn't go the post office due to the lockdown or some such rubbish.

 

After that come back here if you get a reply, and if you don't get a reply come back here in three weeks and we can draft an LBA (yes, the letter says two weeks but the post is bound to be delayed due to the emergency). 

 

Whatever you do, don't accept phone calls where anyone can say anything and then deny it afterwards - or even better, accept the phone calls and record them.

We could do with some help from you.

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Re the bits I've put in bold - is there possibly a danger the OP may interpret this as meaning they need to send the certificate of posting to the niece's husband?  Easier perhaps to say "I am retaining a certificate of posting from the post office as proof* I have sent you this letter" rather than saying "I am sending this with..."?  I know what you mean but it could be misunderstood.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "...get the free Certificate of Posting and stick in an s.a.e..."?  The OP needs to hang on to the cert.

 

Apologies if I've picked up the wrong end of the stick and have missed something that should be obvious.

 

*I know it's not proof of the content of the letter but he won't know that.

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Hi Manx,

 

Instead you could say :-

 

I have a Certificate of Posting from the Post Office as proof of posting this letter to you.

 

FTM Dave is saying, put a Stamped Addressed Envelope in with the letter so they have no excuse for not replying to you.

We could do with some help from you

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Thanks to the two of you.  Yes, I was in a rush today while posting and wasn't very clear.  Ambiguity is not a good idea in legal letters!

 

Your "I am retaining a certificate of posting from the post office as proof I have sent you this letter" or "I have a Certificate of Posting from the Post Office as proof of posting this letter to you" are both much clearer than what I suggested.

 

Slick is right about the s.a.e. idea. 

We could do with some help from you.

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Thanks to you both. 

 

It's just that I was confused by the sae bit because you'd already mentioned it in the draft of the letter and then I read "...get the free Certificate of Posting and stick in an s.a.e..." as meaning "stick [it] (ie the certificate) in an sae".   Having read it again I understand exactly what you meant!

 

I was just worried that the OP may be as stupid as me!  (Unlikely...)

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........... or as dumb as me, who replied to Manxman as if HE was the OP.

 

Maybe Soffia can let us know when the letter is sent off.

We could do with some help from you

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Nice of you two to get confused too in solidarity with me 😄

 

Hopefully we got it right in the end though, and the final version of the letter was fine, and Sofiaa has sent if off.

We could do with some help from you.

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I sent a text to my neicea week ago explaning her husband took £2000 loan needs to pay it back in full or installements. I guess she has spoken to her husband because the reply I've received is saying they will pay £100 a month starting from the 5th of next month.

 

Now if they don't make payment on the 5th or if they make the token payment on the 5th and subsequently they stop making payments then what?

 

Do I need to send them the letter or wait until the 5th?

 

 

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Do it in WRITING not by phone/text/email.

 

dx

 

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

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