Need advice regarding a loan

[Red and White]

I'll try to keep this short as to not bore you. About a year ago my sisters ex boyfriend who was living with us signed up for Littlewoods in my name and bought a £300 bike. He told me it'd be fine and that he'd pay it back no problem. As I'm sure you can guess, he still hasn't paid it back. I've been getting letters froms Lowell debt collectors since, and more recently letters from Hampton Legal which is Lowell's legal department I think.

The letter says if I don't pay they can apply for a county court judgement and have bailiffs to remove goods from my home. Or instead of CCJ, I can apply for bankrupcy.

My question is, how serious are these claims? I'm not going to pay this loan because it's not mine, and I can't afford to anyway. I've been on the phone to Lowell multiple times and they told me I could file for fraud against my friend, but I don't really want to do that either. My "friend" keeps telling me that £300 is too low of an amount of money for them to do anything, but I don't trust this guy at all anymore.

Any advice at all would be appreciated.

really? they can and will send baliffs round to your house and they will get the police to assist them in removing your property if required.

the amount is irrevlevant. if you owed them a tenner you could expect the same process. only sensible thing to do is report it as fraud and let them deal with your sisters boyfriend. why screw up your credit rating for a complete tool?

 

[Xordium]

Do you actually have evidence to prove that he did this? They will want to know why you let it continue for this long.

 

[just Scott]

Do you actually have evidence to prove that he did this?

How could I prove that? It was done online. He simply registered, ordered a bike and that was it. I'm not sure what evidence there could be.

 

[bledd]

Just do what I said above, the week is you being generous.

 

[Xordium]

How could I prove that? It was done online. He simply registered, ordered a bike and that was it. I'm not sure what evidence there could be.

Well if it were me I would fire him an email saying look mate this needs paying or else I will have no choice to take the matter to the police. BY responding and acknowledging he will pay at some point he will implicate himself.

 

[lee1101]

How could I prove that? It was done online. He simply registered, ordered a bike and that was it. I'm not sure what evidence there could be.

Just call them and agree to pay it off. They will accept pretty much anything on monthly instalments. Better to do that than be screwed for 6 years, although its probably too late now anyway.

Then sort it out with the friend

 

[just Scott]

Well if it were me I would fire him an email saying look mate this needs paying or else I will have no choice to take the matter to the police. BY responding and acknowledging he will pay at some point he will implicate himself.

He has paid some back actually. I got Lowell to contact him and arrange payments. He made 1 £10 payment then stopped. This was in january.

Just call them and agree to pay it off. They will accept pretty much anything on monthly instalments. Better to do that than be screwed for 6 years, although its probably too late now anyway.

Then sort it out with the friend

So filing for fraud is pointless anyway since I can't prove it?

 

[Xordium]

He has paid some back actually. I got Lowell to contact him and arrange payments. He made 1 £10 payment then stopped. This was in january.

So filing for fraud is pointless anyway since I can't prove it?

No the fact he has paid you will show something, the bike being in his possession will show something (photo?), fire an email off. And then keep all correspondence with the police so then you can send that to the credit checking agencies and force them to change your records. For them to knowingly apply a poor rating after it has shown to be fraud will be against numerous laws and acts of parliament.

TBH: Get yourself off the forums and down to CAB or ask a theoretical question at your local police station. I suspect they may take a dim view of the amount of time that has passed since the crime.

 

[Damnations Fury]

File for fraud, it's only way you have of sorting your credit rating.

 

[mame]

my sisters ex boyfriend who was living with us signed up for Littlewoods in my name and bought a £300 bike. He told me it'd be fine and that he'd pay it back no problem.

I'd say you need to decide if this is

Identity fraud

or

You helped him to buy a bike

You can't really sit on the fence and say that he pretended to be you to get credit but assured you that it would be ok. If that's the case then you can't really not pay the creditors because your personal agreement has fell through of him coming up with the cash.

 

[lee1101]

I'd say you need to decide if this is

Identity fraud

or

You helped him to buy a bike

You can't really sit on the fence and say that he pretended to be you to get credit but assured you that it would be ok. If that's the case then you can't really not pay the creditors because your personal agreement has fell through of him coming up with the cash.

Agree completely

 

[Jonny ///M]

Some people do my head in. Guilt you into money and then don't give a **** later on.

I've been stung for £100 from a woman I used to work for and £50 from a 'mate' sine January.

My money is my money now other than to my parents and/or the girlfriend and that's how it's going to stay.

 

[Disco Boy]

Shop him.

Some people do my head in. Guilt you into money and then don't give a **** later on.

I've been stung for £100 from a woman I used to work for and £50 from a 'mate' sine January.

My money is my money now other than to my parents and/or the girlfriend and that's how it's going to stay.

It's better to give than to lend, and it costs the same.

 

[ash_scotland88]

Shop him.



It's better to give than to lend, and it costs the same.

I would say it costs less, due to the amount of time you spend chasing them up.

 

[Jonny ///M]

Shop him.



It's better to give than to lend, and it costs the same.

That's one way of putting it!

 

[tres]

Call the company, say you would like to pay but you are having financial difficulties, and request a payment plan of £5 per week.
They'll accept if you can prove that's all you can realistically afford.

 

[shoes]

You MUST deal with this because it IS serious. This is trashing your credit rating and it will only get worse if they apply for a County Court Judgement. Once a CCJ has been granted the Court can and will appoint baliffs to recover property.

I know fox has been pretty clear but please please pay attention to him. I'm 26 and have just had real issues buying a house due to an unpaid water bill. AT a guess I'm only 4-5 years older than you and a £45 unpaid water bill stopped me getting a mortgage with a loan to value of 40%.

If you try to buy a house with a 95% mortgage when you hit 26 and have a CCJ or IVA against you, not one single provider will touch you.

It might not seem a big deal now but it really is.

Good luck OP, and I'm sure you've also learnt a very valuable lesson from all of this.

 

[shoes]

Call the company, say you would like to pay but you are having financial difficulties, and request a payment plan of £5 per week.
They'll accept if you can prove that's all you can realistically afford.

I think they pretty much HAVE to accept as they cannot take you to court if you're showing willing to pay.

 

[ZXSpectrum]

You sir are an idiot! As soon as the bike arrived and he "Came clean" You should have given him a slapping, sent the bike back and cancelled the account. As you have not and took his word that he would "Sort it" then the ownace is on you and you have to accept the concequences which will have messed up your credit rating for a while. You will struggle filing a fraud case as you knowingly did nothing once you was told about it. You are also wrong about them not chasing etc. You will get letters like you already have then its passed to the legal dept, then it goes to court and as you have showed a no intention of paying back as the debt is "Not yours" you will get a CCJ Then once a court order and CCJ have been filed they can send round court appointed Bailiffs and gain entry and remove goods to the value of the court order which after charges and legal fees will probably have mounted to £1500-2000.

 

[Haggisman]

How could I prove that? It was done online. He simply registered, ordered a bike and that was it. I'm not sure what evidence there could be.

Did you sign anything?

I thought with these online credit applications, they always send the physical paperwork a few days later for you to actually sign?

If you didn't, then surely they have no evidence that it was you?

Perhaps ask them for a copy of the original credit agreement.

Oh, and:

Yeah, I know. But I had no reason to not trust him.

He signed up on the littlewoods site with my name.

Surely enough reason not to trust him?

Should have pimp-slapped him and sent the bike back as soon as it arrived.