To be wary of making any further payments?

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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?

If you called very, would they somehow be able to do a summary of all orders that were delivered to your address?

I very much doubt it - because it isn’t her account.

It's easy to set up an alternative delivery address on any website so it's highly possible the items were ordered on the friends account and she's not a loan shark.

As it's her friends account, they won't be able to discuss it with her. It doesn't matter that stuff was delivered to her address.

What a mess though. I have awful credit and I would never do it! The interest is shockingly high.

Doing the sums isn't straightforward though. Say in month 1: Alice spends £300 on a laptop, Barbara spends £50 on clothes and Carol spends £100 on toys. Total £450. Each bungs £75 into an account, which takes the debt down to £225. Alice and Barbara don't spend anything more, but Carol orders some perfume for £40. Then Debbie gets involved and orders some clothes for £50. Elizabeth orders too, and pays half up front. Then after a few months Carol and Alice order a bit more, and give the catalogue account owner £50 each. After a few months of this you can see how easily things get muddled and how it's super hard to track down who owes what as the interest is charged on the overall balance, not per item.

Agree though that you need to sit down and sort this out, not just send text messages.

The very fishy part is that she refuses to provide the bill/order statement with prices. IMO, you should go to the police or citizen advice to know what to do. It sounds like you have already paid her back, but how would she know if she hasn't kept track of your payments.

Sounds like she hasn't t been using your payments on your buy now pay later, but the balance in general.

With Very you have to select the particular order to pay money off on bnpl. If you dont it just comes off the actual balance of the entire credit limit. Meaning if shes not selecting the right thing and the 12 months is up she will be hit with the interest for the entire year on that amount. Most people i know with very have an interest rate of 54.9%. So if you spent £1500, you can guarantee another £825ish will be added on after the year is up. A lot of people get caught out by not reading it properly.

She can access past orders, the stuff is listed on the bnpl part to show you what you had and how much interest, and when the interest free period ends.

I have a Very account and for the interest free Buy Now Pay Later option, when making a payment you have to specify that it is coming off a certain item. E.g we bought our sons beds on BNPL (emergency purchase and low ready cash funds at the time) so when we make a payment on that we have to go into the account and specify that we're paying money off that item and how much. Also with them the interest is compounded (I think that's the right term) so you only pay interest on the balance that is outstanding when the BNPL period ends.

She needs to provide the order emails then go through them with you and tick off the items that are yours. Add up the total price of the items you purchased. Then subtract the amount you have proof of paying via your bank. That should tell you how much you still owe. Any interest is her own stupid fault for not sorting it sooner.

How did you ask her to order things? Surely you’d have a record of ‘please could you order x y and z’ ? Even a text message or an email? It might be easier to find it that way.

I’d be tempted to write a list like below:

Dec - laptop £500
Jan - £100 paid (laptop balance £400)
Feb - £100 paid (laptop balance £300)
March - £100 paid - £300 spend on clothes (laptop balance £200, clothes balance 300)
April £100 paid (laptop balance £100, clothes balance £300)

Etc etc...

She gave me her login details for her account. Told me to order whatever, although I'd always text her the amount and check she was okay for me to order.

But the confirmation would go to her email address that was registered on the account.

She changed her login details a month or so ago. I last ordered around 5 month ago.

If I still has access I would find my own orders and work it out.

As suggested I'm going to list everything I can remember with rough dates and amounts.

So if you text her the amount then those texts will still be in your phone, unless you've changed your phone or deleted the chat history.

Go through your phone and get all the orders that way.

She must have given her login details to lots of friends and people have been ordering lots of things. Maybe her account is sitting at thousands of pounds to pay, and she hasn't kept track of who owed what and hadnt paid down on each item individually. I'm guessing she is panicking and in a bad situation.

Maybe when you text her asking for all the statements you should also ask if she is in trouble with it all or if a lot of people have left her with the debt.

OP - you're not in a pickle, your (former) friend is. Absolutely no more payments until you've seen the list of items and the cost. No interest, as if she'd let you know how much you owed earlier, as you asked, you could have made sure each item was paid off (as far as you individually were concerned, irrelevant how she attributed the payments to the catalogue company) within 12 months. When she provides a full list, pay her any outstanding sum (in installments if need be), or ask for any excess payment back. Legally, the whole debt is her issue, not yours. Morally, you should pay for what you bought (but not with interest).

Your contingency of "other stuff I've forgotten" adds 50% to the list including maximum figures for clothing and christmas, so I'd be surprised if it is anywhere near 2k.

Why on earth have you not kept a record of it?? She's having you on! She's ordered stuff for herself that she thinks you will pay for! Look back through your texts. Write down exactly how much you have paid her. Exactly how much the orders were. Don't pay anymore until she gives you the statements and proof.
She's an idiot for letting you order on it as she's responsible for that not you and your an idiot for doing it and not keeping record! Or even doing it in the first place! Why not just get your own account??

Maybe she hasn't actually paid any of this off and has been pocketing the money everyone has been giving her too

I'm inclined to agree with Lulualla. This isn't a helpful observation, but this person must have been mad to share her login details like that.

The OP is obviously an honest and decent person trying her best to repay the debt, but it wouldn't surprise me if others have left her completely in the lurch. If people have been ordering willy-nilly, at different times and different interest rates, as a pp said, it would take an accountant to work out who owes what. OP, I'd advise your friend to seek help with this debt as well as you.

My friend had a very account, if I remember rightly it showed that if you didn’t pay back in the interest free time , it showed exactly how much interest you would have to pay,

It wouldn’t be hard for your ‘friend’ to look up and see what you owe /owed, it’s coming across as being quite dodgy what she’s saying and doing

Something to be aware of with very.

Say your order was 2k bnpl interest free for 12 months. If you’ve paid 1995 of that order by the time 12 months is up, you still pay interest on the whole 2k, not just the fiver that’s left.

Hope that makes sense! Something to think about when you’re doing your sums

What OkayGo said, how did you ask her to buy the items? Was it through email or text? If so you can look yourself to find out what they were. If over the phone can you have a look through your call history to her and try to think what you received shortly after the call? At least that will give you some idea until she provides the invoices

Ok, go back in your texts to the first date this started, write the date and amount, keep going to present day. Go through your bank statements to write date and payment. Line them up as @twirlypoo suggests, or post them here if you want maths help. Nobody can give much more help without you doing your sums.

Don't worry about the interest until you have the full sums done.

I'd say to that "when we get together we'll ring Very and get them to confirm which items are still outstanding/interest free".
Refuse to pay any more money, but put it aside in a separate account of your own until the matter is resolved. Then if there is still a debt to pay you have the money ready for her.

@Yabadee that’s not what their website says. It says partial payment will reduce the amount of compound interest applied.

But it does point out that you will then be paying interest on interest - will I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s only explicitly stated because the law requires it?

The thing is, I think I was the first to mention BNPL. OP didn’t - and as it’s a friend’s account possibly doesn’t even know if they used BNPL, or Take 3 or whatever else deliberately confusing shite these awful companies use.

I think we can pretty much guarantee that whether the account owner is a deliberate scammer or just a hopelessly lost with multiple people’s orders - she won’t have been applying the OP’s payments correctly.

Very have a maximum you can put on BNPL. Will all her friends (clients? Victims?) have been able to use it?

I would not be surprised at all if all the OP’s payments actually have been paid to Very and not embezzled - but that the account owner has fall into the huge interest trap that so many do.

Don’t be a mug, OP. Don’t pay anymore until she shows you exactly how much you have left to pay. Meet somewhere neutral, I certainly wouldn’t be going to her house given her threats of getting her husband involved. Can’t she fight her own battles? Is he known for violence or something.