My friend won't repay the £14k I lent him :(.

[Calamityjane128]

Please can someone help with some advice? I lent my best friend £14k over the space of 6 months. It was never meant to be that much but things just got out of hand. I lent him the initial £3k in Dec 14 as he came to me distraught and saying he was in serious debt and that he had no one to help. He asked if I could lend him £6k. I transferred him £3k from my current account on 9th Dec 14 but to be honest the minute I did it I regretted it, so the next day I said I had made a mistake and could I have say £1k back but he said it had gone already. Over the next 6 months he came to me asking for more and more and I took finance on for him to in my name. He was supposed to repay me at £450 per month but he has only paid three times, at £200 each time and then, in the same month he has said he has no money so I have lent it back to him. Because I lent him every penny I had, I have now had to enter a DMP as I don't have a penny left, and yet, despite telling him I have nothing he still says he cannot pay. I simply do not know what to do or where to turn and since my money ran out the friendship has gone cold too. Do I have a legal leg to stand in as a lot of the money was given to him in cash. I do have an email from him confirming the amount and that he would try to repay

[des8]

Re: My friend won't repay the £14k I lent him .

Hi and welcome.
Friends!

It's not so much "do you have legal recourse", but does he have, or is ever likely to have,the resources or assets to repay you?
If he doesn't have two pennies to rub together, and no assets (house?) it may not be worthwhile pursuing him through the courts.

[Calamityjane128]

Re: My friend won't repay the £14k I lent him .

Hi Des8
Thank you for replying. He sadly has no assets at all, apart from the goods I took out for him on finance, which would come to about 3k. He has a good job and brings home £2k per month, but prefers to spend this money on living his life instead of repaying me. He is also about to start renting a flat, which worries me that should I take him to court the rent would eat up his income/expenditure. I know I have been a fool. By giving him a good life I have financially ruined my own and hope that at least this situation will protect someone else from making the same mistake.

[R0b]

Re: My friend won't repay the £14k I lent him .

A legal remedy may be through an attachment of earnings order in which a specified amount each month is deducted from your friends employer and transferred straight to you each month. Claiming the full £14k will take you over the small claims threshold and so if your friends decides to employ legal representation and you lose, then that could open you up to paying your friend's legal fees. The fact that you have retained an email which he agrees to repay that would be helpful to you, does it state when he would start repaying it? Also was the email sent before or after you decided to give him the money as that could also potentially affect your claim against him if there was never an understanding that it would not be repaid.

[des8]

Re: My friend won't repay the £14k I lent him .

So as he has an income, a win at court would allow you to an attachment of his earnings.

As you lent the money in different tranches I THINK you could probably issue separate proceedings for the individual amounts.
This would enable you keep the claims under the £10,000 small claims limit.

One court claim won't be that expensive, and you might qualify for fee remission in any case.
Must be worth a try, but see what others have to say.

[R0b]

Re: My friend won't repay the £14k I lent him .

As you lent the money in different tranches I THINK you could probably issue separate proceedings for the individual amounts.
This would enable you keep the claims under the £10,000 small claims limit.

I would be careful with the above, you'd have to prove that each claim was a separate and individual contract to make several claims. If the money lent in separate amounts all relates to the same thing or reason then issuing separate proceedings could amount to an abuse of process and the court may strike out the claims. The argument will be that you issued separately to (a) avoid the cost of the correct legal fees to pay to the court and (b) reduce your liability in the event that you are not successful and avoiding liability of legal fees.

I've seen this happen on a number of occasions especially in the personal injury sector where solicitors issue claims for amounts which would fall in the small claims bracket only to amend the amount claimed at a later stage that would take it into the fast track or multi track bracket.

You could I suppose claim that you are writing some of the amount off i.e. the initial amount loaned and then when you started loaning a larger amount you decided that you wanted repaying, this could bring you back down into the small claims bracket but all I would say is be careful especially if you issue multiple claims which is for the same debt.

One other option could also be that once you have issued proceedings whichever track it will be in (and the defendant has acknowledged the claim/filed defence), is that you could apply for summary judgment. You will have to pay £155 for the cost of the application but the benefit is that you could get an judgment at an early stage which means that there would be less expense incurred by both parties. If your summary judgment is not granted then the claim will continue as normal.

[Amethyst]

Re: My friend won't repay the £14k I lent him .

Did you mention you had an email from him about repayment? ahh yes

I do have an email from him confirming the amount and that he would try to repay

Would you be able to post the unpersonal bits of that email up - as that might be your evidence of an agreement if you took it to court.

The goods you took out for him on finance - was that things like letting him buy stuff from a catalogue account of yours or did you apply for credit in your name for him ( eg car finance etc )?

[Calamityjane128]

Re: My friend won't repay the £14k I lent him .

Guys thank you all so much for helping.
The email he sent was in response to me sending him a default notice - in the email he apologises that he hasn't been paying and that he will from now on. That was 17th November and he still hasn't paid anything else. The email is therefore dates after the loans were made.
I wonder if the following is enough evidence for the courts...?
1. The transfer of money
2.The payments he did make - before I have it back to him?
3. Will the courts says it was my own fault as he wasn't paying me back as agreed and I still then lent him more?
4. The finance was taken out in my name for goods with V12 Finance. It sounds silly but it was for fishing gear as we used to fish together but that all stopped and he has the goods. I am currently repaying the finance with my DMP.

Again, thank you so much