To be wary of making any further payments?

[Abcdefgfedcba]

I've been very stupid by not keeping a log of everything and am now in a real pickle.

A friend allowed me to purchase items on a catalogue in her name. This was various items over 12 months. I was not the only person, which means the payments made monthly onto the catalogue were for various peoples orders.

I stupidly didn't keep a record of what was bought and what was paid back.

I've asked a few times now for her to send me information of the total cost, along with payments made towards that. She keeps saying she will do this, but never does.

She's not messaging me up to 10 times a day saying I need to pay at least 100 per month because I owe her over 2k.

Looking at my bank statements I have already paid back over 1k.

I ordered clothing, kids Xmas presents last year, a smart watch, laptop.

Am I Being a terrible person to not want to keep putting money into her bank without seeing proof of how much I owe at least?

I'm worried that I'll end up paying money back indefinitely even after clearing the balance.

I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to buy things on the catalogue, but I just want a statement or something to show where I'm up to.

I now feel harassed and stressed by the constant texts. Should I just put more money into her bank?

Hi OP,
Although you state you have paid back £1000 already the items you have listed already sound like they would cost more than £1000? I don't think you should even think about stopping paying until you know that you have covered the item prices.

Add up what you remember you bought and what you can remember of the cost. Then add some for interest (as you say it has been a year say 25% for example).

Let your friend know "I have calculated what i bought as (e.g.) £1000. I have added interest of 25% (£250) I have already paid (e.g. £1200) and so I owe you a further £50. If you show me an itemized list of purchases/dates/interest rates that shows I owe more then I will of course pay you what I owe but without further information this is my understanding of the balance".
I hope you are paying in a way that shows evidence of payments such as a bank transfer and not just passing your friend cash.

I think this might be one for Citizens Advice or the Money Advice Service TBF. You probably need an impartial person present to advise you how to clear the payments, back you up if she gets difficult and help you protect yourself from getting fleeced (any more). It goes without saying that you'll need to kiss goodbye to the friendship too.

What catalogue is it, Very or Littlewood or similar? Go on line and google the catalogue and look up what you’ve bought and the cost. You don’t have to join or be a member to do this.
I know your friend should do this but she won’t, so you’ll have to. Once you know what you bought and how much it was, you’ll know roughly, how much you have left to pay, if any. I say roughly, because there may be interest added or not.
Often catalogues give 1-2 years before you have to pay interest but if you haven’t paid everything off by then the interest is incredibly high.
Good luck working it all out.

She does feel a bit threatening as I know if I don't just send the money over this weekend rather than just meet up with me to discuss it she will get her husband to step in which is quite intimidating.

As said above I'll look in the catalogue online and do a list and check my bank statements. I'll factor in interest so I have the best and worse case amount I could owe in total.

Don't pay anymore until she can show what you owe. Ultimately it is in her interest that you keep paying.

Sounds fishy as hell. I’d let her know you’re happy to pay and to let you know as soon as she’s ready to meet up with the statements. Or write a list of things you’ve had and check with her if there is anything else you’ve missed.

Then check the interest rate of the catalogue. You can work out from there what you should have paid.

If you see that you’ve paid it off then simply send a list of what you’ve bought / the prices / the interest and your payments to her and ask what the extra money is for? If she hasn’t got a decent reply then don’t send anything else.

It begs the question why was she so keen for you to order? It would only benefit her if she was also ordering then getting you to make payments.

Like I said. Fishy.

rather than just meet up with me to discuss it she will get her husband to step in

The more you post, the more dodgy this sounds. I would wonder why she is so reluctant to meet up. You say she's a friend but how did you meet? Do you ever meet up, or is all correspondence done via email or messenger?

Of course you shouldn’t just keep paying her on her say so.

Send her a letter saying that you will stop paying as of next month until she supplies a list of your purchases, dates of purchase and prices. If she is smart she should have some sort of accounting procedure, even if it is just a page in a notebook, that she can send you. State that you will resume paying as soon as she has supplied you with a statement of your debt. I would block her mobile and tell her that until this is resolved she remains blocked too.

Once she has supplied the info you can work out where you are and resume paying and you should have an idea what you owe and hopefully come to some agreement over that.

I too would be very wary that she is overcharging you on the interest.

If her husband threatens you call the police. Otherwise just breezily tell him you’re more than happy to pay but could he please provide statements as requested because you think you’ve already paid what you owe.

Funny how payments are going up now Christmas is coming.

I know it’s done now. But why on earth would you get yourself into debt without keeping track of how much?

You ordered from her, you are responsible for your own finances. You should know how much you spent.

You must have some idea of what your stuff cost in total & whether or not £100 a month would clear it before interest kicked in.

Equally, I would have expected that she has a separate record of everyone's purchases & payments.

She's surely just an agent for the catalogue-something that people have done for years!

Ok so you go through the catalogue look up the items and prices and get a total for what you ordered. Then go through the T & C’s so you can work out the interest and interest free period. Refer back to your bank statements to collate the payments you have already made and you should get a rough idea of what you have left outstanding. Inform you friend that since the information from her has not been forthcoming, that you’ve done your own calculations. You have worked out that there are ‘X’ amount of payments left which you will make to her, after which payments will stop. Tell her that if these calculations are incorrect that you will make further payments but, only if she can share the information/statements you have been asking for.

@diddl this doesn't sound like Avon or similar to me.
It sounds like OP has an acquaintance that has offered to order goods she couldn't readily afford or get credit of her own for from a catalogue (like Littlewoods) and is demanding payment from the OP without having agreed a prepayment plan.

I imagine that acquaintance has paid for the catalogue in full on the interest free period and is now making profit on the basis of Interest being charged by the catalogue company hense the lack of providing statements.

She has prayed on vulnerable people and has a husband who will threaten them for the money. She is a loan shark.

I agree if you are threatened you should involve the police.

At the moment, she has no legal grounds to enforce your repayment - if you refused, she'd have to make a civil claim against you (small claims court) and for this to succeed, she would need to produce a proper account of what you owe.

The sooner you work out, as accurately as possible, what you owe, the better - at the moment it's hard to tell whether your friend is someone who has got themselves into a mess by ordering for other people and is desperately trying to protect her financial position; or whether she is taking advantage of your willingness to pay to exploit you (to make up the shortfall for others or simply for her own profit).

Did you get packing notes, texts advising of deliveries etc . Unless you have only ordered since last Christmas and it is interest free and under 1200 value, £100 pcm won't cover it. You need to proces the catalogue charges as this is often significantly more than high street.

I agree, she's either vulnerable and getting freaked out by the repayments and needs you to pay more, or she knows exactly what she's doing and is exploiting you.

Impossible to know which, but her reluctance to meet up to sort it out is really odd.

Did you sign anything about your repayments and incurring interest, OP?

The fact that she is refusing to give you clear proof of what you owe and becoming more aggressive about demanding money makes it fairly clear that she is up to no good rather than just a silly sod whose intention to help her mates out has backfired on her. As PP have said, make as accurate a calculation as you can of what you still owe, and tell her that this is all she's getting unless and until she proves that you owe her more.

"She has prayed on vulnerable people and has a husband who will threaten them for the money. She is a loan shark."

Hmm, yes, could be.

But if all in her own name, Op could just walk away & the woman couldn't prove anything?

She asked me if I wanted to order stuff. Said it would help me out. I agreed with the 12 months interest free thing.

Was it Littlewoods or Very? If you don't pay off the credit within the interest free period; they usually add it all on in the 13th month, and they do not typically have low interest rates... has this happened?

Loan sharks don't go to small claims with paperwork @diddl. They threaten and harm to get their money back.

I would put good money on the catalogue having been paid off already before the interest period began (otherwise how will she keep good enough credit to keep this up?

Tell her you will transfer her the money as soon as she has forwarded the order confirmation emails and print off a statement showing what's been paid and amount left. (Checking that the numbers add up with what you've transferred).

I can't believe you didn't keep a list and running total of all the items you had bought! Surely that is just common sense? You don't want to underpay her, but equally you don't want to overpay her.

But if all in her own name, Op could just walk away & the woman couldn't prove anything?

Maybe, but there might be enough evidence to show that the items were OPs - delivered to her address; comms about repayment, monthly payments. It wouldn't help the other woman's credit rating but it might mean she has a chance of winning in the small claims court should it get that far.

Although it's impossible to tell if it would; or how likely it'd be; with no idea what the original debt was and how much has been repaid.

If we say £1k for a laptop, £500 for an Apple Watch and £500 for Christmas presents, then it could be around £2k. Littlewoods do 12 months interest free; but add the interest at 44.9% if you don't clear the balance in the 12 months, which would add just under £1000 in interest. So OP could easily have £2k left to pay, and it would need to be paid in two years from the date of the interest free period expiring.

But if all in her own name, Op could just walk away & the woman couldn't prove anything?

Maybe, but there might be enough evidence to show that the items were OPs - delivered to her address; comms about repayment, monthly payments. It wouldn't help the other woman's credit rating but it might mean she has a chance of winning in the small claims court should it get that far.

Although it's impossible to tell if it would; or how likely it'd be; with no idea what the original debt was and how much has been repaid.

If we say £1k for a laptop, £500 for an Apple Watch and £500 for Christmas presents, then it could be around £2k. Littlewoods do 12 months interest free; but add the interest at 44.9% if you don't clear the balance in the 12 months, which would add just under £1000 in interest. So OP could easily have £2k left to pay, and it would need to be paid in two years from the date of the interest free period expiring.

Does that sound about right, @Abcdefgfedcba ?