Last year when we were dating, I lent him $700 with a verbal agreement that it would be paid back as soon as he could afford it. I ended the relationship about a month later, but we remained friends. Unfortunately for me, this man is extremely unreliable and untrustworthy by his own admission (I have texts that "prove" this). When he was fired from his job, I found out through a mutual friend, but when I called him to ask what happened, I found that his house phone had been disconnected. He made no effort to contact me at all.
Two months later, I had the same mutual friend find out where he was and paid him a short visit at his new job to talk about the money. He has since blown me off repeatedly and he says he might have to go to jail if he doesn't get his license (driver's???) back. He treated this whole situation as my problem and told me to contact him in 70 days to see if he is in jail. I replied by texting that I needed to see either the full $700 by next month or a detailed payment plan (even if he's going to jail, he could could start paying me before he goes, right?) or I would take the matter before small claims. He then texted back an agreement to pay $20. The next time I attempted to contact him, he had blocked my number and he made no effort to pay me even the $20. I'm at a loss. an advisor of mine says I should charge him "interest" of $100, bringing the total to $800 plus any court costs I might incur. Can I do this even if there was no written agreement for any of this? I have the text messages and the mutual friend who can testify, but is that enough to take this to court?
The problem is I don't even have his home address; all I have is his work address. I've tried looking in the white pages and online, but can't really find anything. Could I send the demand letter to his workplace? Could this address also be used to take him to small claims or is there a way to get it through the court system? Is all of this even worth $700? Any advice would be heeded and much appreciated.
Washington County, TN
Two months later, I had the same mutual friend find out where he was and paid him a short visit at his new job to talk about the money. He has since blown me off repeatedly and he says he might have to go to jail if he doesn't get his license (driver's???) back. He treated this whole situation as my problem and told me to contact him in 70 days to see if he is in jail. I replied by texting that I needed to see either the full $700 by next month or a detailed payment plan (even if he's going to jail, he could could start paying me before he goes, right?) or I would take the matter before small claims. He then texted back an agreement to pay $20. The next time I attempted to contact him, he had blocked my number and he made no effort to pay me even the $20. I'm at a loss. an advisor of mine says I should charge him "interest" of $100, bringing the total to $800 plus any court costs I might incur. Can I do this even if there was no written agreement for any of this? I have the text messages and the mutual friend who can testify, but is that enough to take this to court?
The problem is I don't even have his home address; all I have is his work address. I've tried looking in the white pages and online, but can't really find anything. Could I send the demand letter to his workplace? Could this address also be used to take him to small claims or is there a way to get it through the court system? Is all of this even worth $700? Any advice would be heeded and much appreciated.
Washington County, TN
