Aibu to go to small claims court for £2,000

[iwantmymoney]

I lent a “friend” £2,000 2 years ago and they agreed to pay me back after a couple of months but I still haven’t received anything since then. Every time I asked I was told “I will give you soon”. These days though, I just get blanked, no response to my messages, just nothing.
Now I know £2k isn’t a lot of money to a lot of people but it is to me. This has obviously affected our friendship hence the inverted commas when I say friend. I don’t know what else to do. Wibu to take my “friend” to small claims court over £2k? Is it too little that the court won’t hear it or will hear it but after fees I will be left with nothing anyway? If you’ve gone through similar, please share your experiences.

Not sure how to edit the poll but question is,
AIBU to take my friend to small claims court over £2k?
Responses - YABU, it’s not worth doing for such a small amount, or,
YANBU - if you can’t resolve this amicably, that’s what courts are for!

Don't forget you can claim interest too so add that on, plus get the fees back if you're successful

YANBU - small claims court is cheap. She's clearly not a genuine friend. Go for it.

I know you say you have evidence you asked for it back but do you have proof it was a loan?

Assuming you have evidence it is a loan and they can’t argue it was a gift…..

Do they have £2000 to pay you? If not you will need to enforce any judgment you obtain, which will cost you more. You will also be expected to attempt mediation of the claim prior to any hearing

I don’t know if I do actually, probably not. Could someone just argue that they thought it was a gift and therefore didn’t think they had to pay it back? Assuming the burden of proof would be on me to prove that it was a loan than on them to prove it was a gift? Gosh, I’m starting to get stressed about this.

I’m not 100% sure of her current financial situation but there is nothing obvious to suggest that she couldn’t pay. I’d also be ok to accept instalments if needed as that’s still better than nothing

I did it. I’d loaned someone £5k and they just would not pay me back. I dithered about it for years - literally. In the end I requested it in writing a couple of times, giving them time to respond and pay (I was terrified). No response at all. Then I filled out the small claims forms. The day they got those forms they paid me. That money must have been sitting in their bank account while I struggled. I hope I’d be much more cautious about lending money now.

Would it be useful to send a message now stating on x date y year I loaned you 2k, we agreed it was a loan to be paid back on x date, I'm seeking repayment? Then if no reply you can start the process and it served as written evidence of the agreement if you don't have it?

You can’t just “say” there was a loan agreement and expect to rely on that alone. There has to be evidence from the other party that they accepted it was a loan either in words or deeds - if there are requests to pay with the other person saying “yes I will get it to you soon” that would be enough to demonstrate they knew it was a loan and they acknowledge their obligation to pay it back.

Thanks for the clarification. Hopefully OP has something of the sort to prove it was a loan not a gift

I took a screenshot of one of the conversations when I was chasing some time back. Would something like this be enough to prove that it was a loan and they accepted that it would be repaid?

You need a message stating you want the money you lent them returned. Do you have anything like that? Or an agreement? Take her to small claims! YANBU, I couldn’t live with myself if I hadn’t paid back a loan, what a horror!

Sorry wrong thread - have reported!

I’m not sure I have exact words but hopefully even if I don’t have it phrased that way, an accumulation of messages chasing for it and responses promising to pay back should be enough. Based on what everyone has said I think it’s definitely worth me pursuing. Hoping the message I sent today to let her know I will be going to small claims court will be enough to prompt her to pay back so I don’t have to go at all. If not, then I’m left with no choice but to take this route.

Do you know if she’s likely ready to have CCJ / poor credit rating? This may mean the threat of action won’t mean as much to her and/or no money to pay even if you do get a judgment

To be honest I’m not sure how she will feel about bad credit. You’d assume she doesn’t want that like the rest of us.