If a loan is made with a secular loan contract and also a heter iskah, does the heter iskah override the terms of the secular contract?
I.e., if the secular contract specifies that the loan is for a term of three years (for example) or until the investment yields a profit, can the debtor claim the loan earlier on the basis that the heter iskah does not specify a time for the loan?
Answer:
Explicit terms of the heiter iska will override the terms of the contract, because the contract is made contingent to the terms of the heiter iska.
However, where a detail is not mentioned by the heiter iska, and it is mentioned in the contract — such as the detail mentioned in the question — the term of the contract will remain binding.
The reason is that the heiter iska is a method of rendering the transaction permitted according to Torah law, and it does not mean to change those terms of the contract that do not need to be altered for the sake of Torah law.
The time of the loan is a case in point, and there is no reason to think that the heiter iska changes the time from three years to thirty days (the standard time for a loan) — rather, the heiter iska given halachic permission for the loan of three years.
Best wishes.
