How do I go about adding late payments or interest to an unpaid personal loan?
azgirl asked:
I reside in Chicago but I lent the money to someone in Arizona Nov 2007 original promise of payment was with income tax refund, then when that did not happen I was told I’d be paid with the gov stimulus check…I’m still waiting! I’m planning on going to small claims court when I am able to head back to Arizona this may be mid July
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I reside in Chicago but I lent the money to someone in Arizona Nov 2007 original promise of payment was with income tax refund, then when that did not happen I was told I’d be paid with the gov stimulus check…I’m still waiting! I’m planning on going to small claims court when I am able to head back to Arizona this may be mid July
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April 12th, 2009 at 4:30 am
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Add it to your claim - BUT - unless you have an agreement in writing spelling out the amount of interest and late payments, you probably won’t get a judgement for anything but the original amount.
April 12th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
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This is not legal advice.
Normally, if you ask for interest in your complaint, this is allowed by the court. The fact is, the payment is late. There are usually prescribed interest rates the courts use. If you’re taking it to small claims, I would just make sure to ask for it. If you’re entitled to it, the judge should give it to you.
You may have a claim for interest as well as the original amount if the loan was due. It may have become due when he got his income tax refund, depending on the parties’ intent when the loan was made. Alternatively, it may be a “demand” loan, and interest would only be due after you make an unequivocal demand for payment.
Edit: I agree with the below statement, if you make a written demand for payment and state after such and such date you will start charging interest, your likelihood of actually getting interest is better.
April 15th, 2009 at 12:39 am
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if the original agreement did not specify interest you’re going to have a hard time collecting interest now. Your best bet is to recap, in writing, what was promised… in nov 07 I did this with the promise of this, etc….. to date I have not charged any intrest on these unpaid funds, even though you have not repaid the debt as promised. Effective July 1, 2008 I will be charging ___% interest. I have checked with a credit card company (name of ccard) and this is the standard interest that would be charged for a cash advance on a credit card.
Make sure you tell them how much you hate going to these lengths, but you feel that you have been more than patient and understanding, however, it’s at the point where you are now being used as a bank loan dept. It’s time to act like one.
Sincerely,
Nice person.
Good Luck
Make sure you send it signed receipt requested.. that way you have record that they received the letter.
April 17th, 2009 at 9:22 am
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I’m no lawyer, but unless interest and late charges were agreed to by both parties at the time of the loan, you probably do not have a case for them. Unless you took out a loan with interest for this party. Say you took an advance on a credit card, you may be entitled to the interest you paid on that money, but a judge is going to look at whether you made an attempt to mitigate you damages, or try to reduce your interest. The effort needs to be made.
Good Luck with everything.