Getting her to pay her half of the bill!

[MARYGIRL]

Hi everyone! I share a cell phone bill with my friend. I had opened the account with 2 lines, with one of my ex's. After we broke up, I had this extra phone and was under a contract. It would have cost me $200 to cancel it. So, since my friend has really bad credit and was unable to open a cell phone account on her own, I let her use it and she reimburses me for half the bill. Or she's SUPPOSED to. It's been like pulling teeth to get the money from her! It's not that she's trying to screw me over. It's that she gets really busy and forgets, or she just doesn't have the money at the time I ask for it. When she does give me the money, she'll give me much more than she's supposed to and I apply it to the next statement. But I hate having to ask her 3 or 4 times every month. It makes me uncomfortable. And to top it off, she went way over our minutes and we both got charged overages! I only used 1500 minutes while she used almost 4000! I don't think it's fair for me to have to pay for overages when she's clearly the one who caused it in the first place!

 

Maybe I'm just venting! But I'm not sure how to handle this anymore! She's a really good friend and I know she means well, but it's still frustrating that I have to front up sometimes over $200.00 every month while I wait for her to decide to send me a check! The cell phone company won't put it into her name because her credit is so bad. So I either just put up with it, or take the phone back! Or if anyone else has some suggestions??

[DN]

How about you get post-dated cheques from her. It won't solve the overage issue but at least you will get the basic payment assuming the cheque doesn't bounce.

[MARYGIRL]

That's another problem! Because of her bad credit, she doesn't have a checking account! She sends me money orders!

[helpme2]

you kinda put yourself in a bad situation didn't you?

 

if your friend has so bad of credit that she can't even get a checking account what made you think she would pay you when you have just about zero recourse.

 

your options are pretty limited, you can take her to court and try to prove your case, which is spotty depending on what type of records you have, and then you will probably mess up your friendship.

 

you can continue to bother her

 

you can just pay it yourself and write it off as a "bad experience"

[DN]

I think you have to talk to her about it and say that either she pays promptly and for her overages or you are going to have to take the phone back.

[helpme2]

yeah, I agree with DN, that would be what I would do first.

[MARYGIRL]

Thanks everyone! I think I'll talk to her about it. She's also moving in with her new BF this weekend (that's a whole other story, they've only know each other a few weeks...). I'm going to ask her if he can have the phone put into his name and they can get the bill directly.

 

I just feel bad. I've known her MANY years, since junior high (we're 25 now). It seems like I'm the adult and she's the child. I've had to hold her hand and carry her for all these years and I'm just getting tired of it! I see her making bad choices in her life and getting herself into bad situations and I just feel the need to help her when I can. But I end up getting resentful and feeling used. I guess it's sort of a catch 22. I want to help my friend, I don't want to see her struggle. But I get angry if she starts taking advantage too much!

[helpme2]

I had a friend like that, and I had to set up boundries, my boundry ended up being money, $50 or less and I would help her, more than that.... no money from me.

 

I was still a good friend, just not her own personal ATM machine.

[bebecole]

take her to court!!

[now_better]

this is why money + friends => bad combination. unless your friend is extremely responsible, it's almost always a bad idea to get involved.