Family Member owes debt?

I allowed a family member to use credit cards to help fund a new business. The total amount charged was 20K. Initially the family member was making payment but recently he has stopped and now the payments are 4 months behind. The total amount due now is 18K. When asking for payments I get all types of excuses from this family member. What should I do?

Tell your family member that you tried to help them out, and are about to get rewarded by having your life ruined.
Aside from using whatever tactic you can find for them to pay the debt you are going to be stuck with it. If no one has paid the bill in 4 months, expect for the credit card company to sue you soon.

wow your screwed, hes going to ruin your credit. id be heading to court.

Do NOT EVER loan money to family or friends!!! It is the sure fire number one way to send the relationship down the tubes.
Sounds like you might have to eat it, possibly have your credit ruined. Did you create a written agreement w/ this relative? If so then court is a possibility, but even if you win the judgement there's small chance you would get your money. Is there another family member who could speak to the relative on your behalf to see if this could be worked out? Is the business still open? You might possibly be able to go after assets.
That's alot of money there, not too mention family harmony.
Good luck to you

this is why you don't "loan" money you don't have. Even if you did have the money, you should not have loaned it to him, but you didn't even have the money!

You are probably stuck. This is also the reason you don't boorow money to buy a business.

Cancel his debt. When family is involved, it's better to give them money than loan it to them w/ the expectation of being payed back. If they choose to pay you back, great. If not, then it's not worth destroying family relationships over. It's just money.

I'm very sorry this happened to you. You could try to catch this up and maybe he will continue paying. This is worth a try.

WHen it comes to that, my policy is to never loan or borrow from friends or family. I am not a bank. If they can not get a loan from a bank then, why should YOU be the bank. Red flag, right there. I would really try to make arrangements and sit down and tell them that you trustedt hem and need them to keep their end of the bargain here. You can try to sue them, but it most likely will not work. Take it as a lesson learned and move on.

JUDGE JUDY is your best bet unless you had a signed agreement from this family member

I agree with Bruno!