Advice

[NetwM]

Hi,

 

A friend of mine borrowed money (cash and bank transfer) from me few year ago. He was in bad situation so I helped him.

 

Last two years, he is making excuses to give my money back. Finally, he has agreed to give every month in instalment.

 

I don’t trust him anymore and wanted him to confirm in a official letter that he took this amount from me and he will be paying me every month £££.

 

Like a official agreement. Do I need to get this done from a solicitor?

 

Please advise.

 

Thanks

[mavhc]

Probably not, him signing a letter would seem to be fine. But it will point out to him that you don't trust him, which would discourage him from a) signing the letter and/or b) continue to pay you back

 

Depends a lot on the amount, time period, and how much persuasion you needed to start the installments

[NetwM]

He himself said to me that he can sign a agreement.

[DrCheese]

A legal agreement won't mean zilch unless you are prepared to later go to court to try and get it back which will cost money & even then it's no guarantee you'll get the money back, even if you win. - I'm also not sure you can try to do this retrospectively.

 

A hard rule in life is never ever lend money you expect back - Even to family. If someone can't get a proper loan then there's usually a good reason.

[mavhc]

If he's fine with it, go ahead, if you do need to involve more people later it'll be useful to show that it wasn't a gift

 

I lend money to my family all the time, no point them paying interest when they don't have to

[PotNoodleTech]

Check with a solicitor, but as I understand it, the legal agreement needs to be in place when the loan is originally given - you can't come back 3 years later and devise a legal agreement all of a sudden - it won't be worth the paper it is written on and he would be able to get out of it at any time.

[drutt]

It would probably be better for your own well being to just remove that person from your life and forget about the money. Take it as the admission fee to a life lesson.

[Steve101]

Check with a solicitor, but as I understand it, the legal agreement needs to be in place when the loan is originally given - you can't come back 3 years later and devise a legal agreement all of a sudden - it won't be worth the paper it is written on and he would be able to get out of it at any time.

 

I'm pretty sure in small claims court they only require evidence that money was lent with expectation to be paid back. Writing up a payment plan after the fact doesn't make a difference as this happens all the time, and should be taken as evidence that this person knows the money was to be paid back.

 

If you have text messages that prove he asked you for money, he received the money and you expected repayment then these can also be used for evidence.