Not getting paid back

[kumbah]

What is the name of your state? Massachusetts.

I've been lending money to a friend for some time and have been promised that I would start getting paid back. Every time they need something I am right there lending again, despite the fact they still owe me from the
previous "lends". The amount in question is way up there, over $1400, and all attempts to collect are met
with every excuse in the book, and no money handed over from him. I've bought equipment for his business,
paid for gas and meals, even allowed them to stay over my place, and footing the bill for the entire afair, but still
I am getting no satisfaction, and not a cent has been paid except for $20 over 10 months ago. I am at my wits end and (e-mail) letters and calls begging him to pay me (even something) are met with responses that range from
"it is my fault they are in this predicament", to "mind games" and ouright ignorance on his part.

Despite my earnest efforts to be nice about it, he continues to ignore my requests to pay me, and he shows no intention of honoring our agreement so far.

I am getting seriously p.o.'d with the whole affair. I am not even sure if he intends to pay, but he has recently
cut off online communications from me and I fear he might be on the run or considering it. I used to have his
address, but he moved and is being secretive about his new location, as he claims, "it's only temporary".

I think I've been had and maybe I should just hire a P.I. to find him, and then get a court order to have him
return all of the equipment I bought for him and his business.

Do you have any ideas on what I might be able to do? I know I am the fool who's "enabling" this person by
loaning him money, and I have receipts for all items he's "borrowed" or been lent. There has to be some
way for me to drive home the idea that I am not fooling around, but court seems to be the only option left.

Thank you for any response(s) you can give, I'd like to think there is hope for getting my money back from
them, even if "his work" isn't steady, the least he can do is at least pay me in small increments rather than completely dodging the payments entirely. Am I out of luck?

- Robert

 

[shortbus]

Getting a P.I. and a court order is going to be expensive. The cheapest thing to do is forget about it. And DON'T LEND ANY MORE MONEY.

 

[kumbah]

How to get money owed -reply

Yes, I somewhat agree to the first statement ("Forget about it'"), however, one
aspect of all this is not mentioned, that I am on a fixed income and he's not.

$1400+ is alot of money to "forget". (It's not something I relish the thought of.)

Can you "forget" about $1400? Unless you're rich, you can't.

Maybe in some ways, it could be bneneficial, to forget, but I am still at that
stage where I am reluctant to forget because he "throws it back in my face"
how I am the cause of his problems, when in fact, him not paying his bills
is the main reason he doesn't seem to stay in one place very long.

Each time that I am about to "give up and klet himw alk away" he tells me
of some money he's made and that he's put it into his vehicle or bought
something for his "imaginary girl friend" (and not paid me!) and that just
gets the juices flaring for an argument. Never fails.

Maybe he's testing me to see how far he can push me, maybe it's something else.

Either way, I've been told by others to put a stop to lending him any more money
and especially to stop helping him in any way, shape, or form and maybe he'd get
the message that "Rob is not as much a push-over as I thiought, maybe I better
pay him or I could end up losing it all, or worse".

I find it next to impossible to "forget" an amouint that large, really!

This makes the "borrowing" a hardship on me. He can make money, if and when
he wants to, which makes his "manipulation" seem more like a dirty trick than
the act of "being a friend in need". The fact I still have some contact is a sign
that I might still have a chance to get back my money, albeit, at his terms.

I can solve that, tho, by using the law to my advantage, if I play the right cards.

I fully agree on the second statement, do not lend any more money.

COMPLETELY AGREE!

I've told him, that he's really going to have to work at earning my trust again
and that he needs to earn his own money, not "take from Peter, to pay Paul."

Apart from that, our conversations have been brief, and fewer.

- Robert

PS: There's no point in letting him know what kind of "workings" I have in store for him.

 

[garrula lingua]

Sue in small claims.

The problem is, can you have someone else serve him ?

You need to have an address for the sherrif to serve him, or a good friend to accompany you & serve him, wherever you find him.

You will only get a money judgment in small claims - no order for him to return mdse.

After getting the judgment, you will, then, have to collect, which, way down the road, may allow you to take his mdse (complicated - read up on enforcement of judgments/U.C.C.)

 

[kumbah]

I figure getting an attorney to write the note, having "good friend" be
around when he arrives, then handing the note and having both parties sign
a "letter of witness" or some such, and then basically watch as he either
accepts or rejects what is handed to him. Once a letter with the attorney's
letterhead is presented, his tune will change rapidly (I hope).

Serving a court notice, might be harder, but I found something on the lines
of "an order to return merchandise" - wish I could remember what exactly it was
but I found it on either this site or another one that dealt with business/personal
law (something on financing or recovery or some such thing).

I'm counting on it.

- Robert