If a loan is made under a heter iskah, can the creditor withdraw the money at a time when this would deleterious for the business venture that it has been invested in?
I.e., seeing as the heter iskah makes the creditor a shutaf in the business, so that the monies lent are venture capital more than a loan, does the creditor then have a right to withdraw the money at the cost of their ‘partner’?
Or, does the fact that they are a shutaf in the business give them a responsibility to manage the capital of the business (that they have provided) in a way that is not detrimental to the business?
Answer:
The idea of a heiter iska is that the loan splits into two parts, one of them a formal loan (halva’ah) and the other a pikadon (deposit).
The deposit part of the loan is tied to the actual loan, so that the creditor cannot withdraw his deposit before the loan is available for withdrawal.
However, the loan itself is only given for a certain amount of time, and once this time arrives the creditor can certainly demand the money back, and he is no longer obligated to be a partner in the business. The partnership itself, based on the heiter iska, is limited for this time, and beyond this there is no further obligation.
