On 27 Feb 2025 at 22:18:49 GMT, "Peter Walker" <not@for.mail> wrote:

Malcolm Loades <devnull@loades.net> wrote in news:m2bgtmF44ohU2@mid.individual.net:

On 25/02/2025 16:11, TTman wrote:

My friend ( again) wants to help a landlady who has cash flow
problems. She runs a pub and a punter has rung up a ~£400 ish debt
and despite her best efforts, he won't pay ( he's a garage manager so
has money). The landlady has come across hard timnes, having had to
shut her pub to care for a very sick child ( one of 4) who is in
hospital. So my friend has suggested buying the debt from the
landlady and then chasing it through MCOL.My friend is retired and
gets assistance with court fees and is well versed in MCOL
dealings/debt chasing. Are there any 'pitfalls' in doing this
charitable excecise ? TIA

I wouldn't call it a 'charitable exercise' to buy a debt and then
attempt to recover the money. Unless you're buying it at 100% of it's
value. Maybe your friend is? If not he's no different to any debt
collection agency and they're certainly not charities!

The o/p has stated multiple times that this is indeed a 100% altruistic situation with the creditor receiving 100% of the debt amount.

He is enquiring about the feasibility and possible logistics of doing so
and being allowed by a court to do so.

I really don't know the law but I'll try and break the question down for the experts to answer:

There is nothing to stop the friend giving the creditor £400.

I don't know of any way to actually transfer the debt to the friend. I could just be wrong though.

To collect debts on a commercial basis one needs a licence, which, with the status and evidence needed, is totally disproportionate for one small debt.

If the debt can't be transferred, the friend would either have to get the creditor to give them a power of attorney, or get them to sign each paper or online form as they came to them (which would be almost as burdensome as doing it themselves). The creditor might still have to appear in court in person though this seems unlikely for such small sum. See below.


Can a person with a power of attorney write a claim form or appear in court
for the principal? That should be a fairly straightforward legal question (or 2 questions) with simple answers.


That only helps if anyone knows any of the answers!





--

Roger Hayter

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Malcolm Loades <devnull@loades.net> wrote in news:m2bgtmF44ohU2@mid.individual.net:

On 25/02/2025 16:11, TTman wrote:

My friend ( again) wants to help a landlady who has cash flow
problems. She runs a pub and a punter has rung up a ~£400 ish debt
and despite her best efforts, he won't pay ( he's a garage manager so
has money). The landlady has come across hard timnes, having had to
shut her pub to care for a very sick child ( one of 4) who is in
hospital. So my friend has suggested buying the debt from the
landlady and then chasing it through MCOL.My friend is retired and
gets assistance with court fees and is well versed in MCOL
dealings/debt chasing. Are there any 'pitfalls' in doing this
charitable excecise ? TIA

I wouldn't call it a 'charitable exercise' to buy a debt and then
attempt to recover the money. Unless you're buying it at 100% of it's
value. Maybe your friend is? If not he's no different to any debt collection agency and they're certainly not charities!

The o/p has stated multiple times that this is indeed a 100% altruistic situation with the creditor receiving 100% of the debt amount.

He is enquiring about the feasibility and possible logistics of doing so
and being allowed by a court to do so.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 27 Feb 2025 at 22:47:23 GMT, "Roger Hayter" <roger@hayter.org> wrote:

On 27 Feb 2025 at 22:18:49 GMT, "Peter Walker" <not@for.mail> wrote:

Malcolm Loades <devnull@loades.net> wrote in
news:m2bgtmF44ohU2@mid.individual.net:

On 25/02/2025 16:11, TTman wrote:

My friend ( again) wants to help a landlady who has cash flow
problems. She runs a pub and a punter has rung up a ~£400 ish debt
and despite her best efforts, he won't pay ( he's a garage manager so
has money). The landlady has come across hard timnes, having had to
shut her pub to care for a very sick child ( one of 4) who is in
hospital. So my friend has suggested buying the debt from the
landlady and then chasing it through MCOL.My friend is retired and
gets assistance with court fees and is well versed in MCOL
dealings/debt chasing. Are there any 'pitfalls' in doing this
charitable excecise ? TIA

I wouldn't call it a 'charitable exercise' to buy a debt and then
attempt to recover the money. Unless you're buying it at 100% of it's
value. Maybe your friend is? If not he's no different to any debt
collection agency and they're certainly not charities!

The o/p has stated multiple times that this is indeed a 100% altruistic
situation with the creditor receiving 100% of the debt amount.

He is enquiring about the feasibility and possible logistics of doing so
and being allowed by a court to do so.

I really don't know the law but I'll try and break the question down for the experts to answer:

There is nothing to stop the friend giving the creditor £400.

I don't know of any way to actually transfer the debt to the friend. I could just be wrong though.

To collect debts on a commercial basis one needs a licence, which, with the status and evidence needed, is totally disproportionate for one small debt.

If the debt can't be transferred, the friend would either have to get the creditor to give them a power of attorney, or get them to sign each paper or online form as they came to them (which would be almost as burdensome as doing
it themselves). The creditor might still have to appear in court in person though this seems unlikely for such small sum. See below.

Can a person with a power of attorney write a claim form or appear in court for the principal? That should be a fairly straightforward legal question (or
2 questions) with simple answers.

That only helps if anyone knows any of the answers!

PS. If a judgment is obtained there are similar procedural questions for actually getting the money but I didn't go through all that.


--

Roger Hayter

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 26/02/2025 22:36, TTman wrote:

On 26/02/2025 20:52, Andy Burns wrote:

Alan Lee wrote:

Where do you get the £400 charge from?

I don't think he does, his "friend" is offering to buy £400 of debt in
order to chase it ...

Corrct, and this is a 'charitable ' offer, not a commercial deal that
will provide a 'reward' for my friend buy offering to buy the debt at a discount. She enjoys debt chasing, as in her own case and that of
another of her friends. I admire her tenacity.Think fearless Amazon warrior...

You're assuming that your friend will be successful in chasing this
debt. You said in your first post that "he's a garage manager so has
money". But, how will your friend feel if it later turns out that the
garage manager is bankrupt, or goes bankrupt, or simply ups sticks and
leaves the country?

This is a somewhat weird hobby, and of course people do pay for their
hobbies, but paying 100% up-front is risky, which is why I asked whether
your friend is prepared to make a gift of £400 to the landlady.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 25/02/2025 16:11, TTman wrote:

My friend ( again) wants to help a landlady who has cash flow problems.
She runs a pub and a punter has rung up a ~£400 ish debt and despite her best efforts, he won't pay ( he's a garage manager so has money). The landlady has come across hard timnes, having had to shut her pub to care
for a very sick child ( one of 4) who is in hospital.
So my friend has suggested buying the debt from the landlady and then
chasing it through MCOL.My friend is retired and gets assistance with
court fees and is well versed in MCOL dealings/debt chasing.
Are there any 'pitfalls' in doing this charitable excecise ?
TIA

I did look into something similar but using Ordinary Power of Attorney.

With the appropriate permission by way of writing you can issue all the paperwork for your friend.

The stumbling block comes down the closed-shop nature of speaking on
behalf of your friend. Your friend would have to attend court and you
would be her McKenzie friend.

In theory the court should then allow you to speak, but your friend must
be present for you to attend court, otherwise you are resigned to be
silent in the public area.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)