Sister refuses to pay me back for money I loaned

Cut them all off. It cost you £2.5k to find out once and for all how toxic your family are. Forget all this “blood is thicker than water” bullshit and the old favourite “you only have one mum”. Cut them all of and enjoy your life. It’s not your fault you got lumped with them as family but you don’t have to keep them.

Please don't do this. What an insane suggestion. I am sure this is illegal

Sounds like you can't take the legal route to reclaim your money and your sister and parents won't be fair. You can take the noble position of letting it go, go NC etc or maybe there's a way of getting her back....has she got anything you can take in lieu of payment or cause her to have to pay out? Not saying that two wrongs make a right but karma can be a very slow process (if ever).

I'm not for a single moment suggesting you should actually do this, but how tempting to mock up a fake letter from HMRC and tell her that she is immediately required to start paying the required tax each month on her rental income to 'their' (actually your) bank account - then, when she's repaid you what she owes you, report her to actual HMRC

If your parents have always paid everything for her why did she need to borrow money off you, why didn't your parents just give her the money. I'd nc all of them, they bring nothing to your life.

@Anon777 there are several ways you can play this.

1. Send a "letter before action" giving her 28 days to pay off the loan in full, otherwise you will start court action against her where she will then become responsible for all associated court costs.
2. Ask your parents for a loan of £2500 then tell them that as your sister owes you the same amount, then you'll pay it back when your sister pays you back. Let's see if they're so quick to back up your sister then...

The other option is if you buy gifts for your parents/sister for Christmas and birthdays. If you spent £100 a year on gifts for them, then that's 25 years without gifts (plus a few more for interest).

God Almighty OP, the more you write, the more unbelievable the situation is.
Re taking her to SCC, I'm not sure I agree with that.
You seriously need to consider 'distancing' as much as possible from your family.
Take care of yourself

Small claims court if you have proof of the loan. I hope she is paying tax on her rental property income. Have no more to do with her till the money is repaid.

I presume 'she' both times in that post refers to your sister?

But how is she supposedly so poor? Does she have a drug or gambling addiction?

She has wages from a full-time job, rental income (guessing undeclared for tax) and no bills to pay. Far from being poor or even just making ends meet, she has loads of money each month and should have a fortune in savings by now.

My horrible BIL and SIL did this to my partner. Took 5k off him with all-sorts of promises to pay it back but never paid a penny. We haven't had anything to do with them now for 7 blissfully happy years.

Partners parents gave all the siblings 40k last year but they got 35k and partner got 45k. I wish I could have seen their faces!

@Anon777 The tax question raised was regarding her status as a landlord. She is liable to pay income tax on any rent she receives over £1000 a year.

Doesn't sound like she's the sort of person who declares this.

www.gov.uk/renting-out-a-property/paying-tax

As you have no proof you can’t really do much but I wouldn’t be buying her any birthday or Christmas presents and just saying “that’s £50 less you owe me” each time.

2.5K is a lot of money, but if writing it off gives you the push you need to finally have nothing to do with them ever again? I would view it as money well spent. After of course you have written them a letter fully explaining how you feel about them, a catharsis of sorts!

If there was no repayment schedule or written agreement you may have a problem with lack of intent to create legal relations if you go the small claims route. Have you suggested a payment plan to her? I would definitely do this before issuing proceedings.

Could you send her a letter from a solicitor , maybe she will then start to pay some back.

Grass her up to the tax man . Your relationship is toxic and you’ll never see the money again - so go for gold .

If they have always been this bad, no idea why you loaned it in the first place.

It's clear that you are angry and venting your hurt @Anon777 but there have been a dozen people saying "small claims court" - this feels like this is something you could do. Could you?

My friend was in a very similar position, right down to his sibling taking holidays in North America, yet refusing to pay him back a penny. However, their parents were no longer around.

He eventually got his money back by threatening legal action (presumably he had some evidence of the loan), but his sibling disowned him. Decades on, he says he doesn’t miss his sibling at all and has no interest in seeing them again. Incidentally, said sibling later became estranged from other family members following a separate dispute over money.

If you have no way of getting the money back, I wonder if it might help to view the £2.5K as the cost of finally freeing yourself from your bullying family? It sounds as though it will be worth it. I hope you now have decent people in your life who care about you and support you.

Your parents are awful. Remember you got away. You are actually the lucky one even if it doesn’t feel this way.

Just wondering if there is any written trail at all. Do you have any texts from your sister, mum or dad stating that your mum would pay you back? Or any texts from your sister back when you learn the money thanking you for the loan? Or any emails by any chance?

From your updates they sound dreadful. I would walk away and go totally non contact with the lot of them!

Unless you have anything in writing, to confirm it was a loan and not a gift, there is nothing you can do. A court request will go nowhere. 🤷‍♀️

Tbh £2.5k is a small price to pay to get these appalling people out of your life for good.

Set yourself free.

Her parents would enjoy turning her down…

Write it off, it's been 3 years. You have no written agreement and no leverage. I'd go NC with the three of them personally.

Ask your parents for £2.5k