Question:
Hi,
I live in Eretz Yisroel. I recently took a credit card loan from Visa CAL on behalf of my brother. Meaning, the loan was to me and I transferred the money to my brother in the states. The agreement was that my brother would deposit money to my account monthly to cover the loan monthly pay back.
It was brought to my attention that this can be ribis and even de’oryssa.
So:
1) Is this indeed an issue of ribis
2) If yes, is there something to do about it now?
Thank you
Answer:
Hello,
You should be very happy that someone brought this to your attention, because it is indeed ribis, and possibly ribbis dorayso, between you and your brother. The reason is, because the credit card company didn’t give you brother a loan, they gave it to you, and you in turn lent that money to you brother. Therefore there are two separate loans here. there is no problem with the loan between you and the credit card company, because they have a heter iska. however the lon that you gave your brother, since he is paying you back more than the sum of the actual loan it is ribis.this is true even though what your brother is paying is only to cover your expenses, he essentially is taking a loan from you and giving you extra money to pay for something that is outside of the actual loan. Since this was agreed to, by the parties before the loan it can be ribbis d’orayso (ribbis kitzutza).
The question now is what can be done to rectify this? The general rule with ribis d’orayso is that it has to be returned to the borrower, which is your brother. Therefore, let’s say he already gave you 150 shekel in ribbis, that money should be returned to him. An alternative to this is that you brother can tell you that he is mochel the money that you now owe him, and that it is as if he already received the money from you (keilu hiskabalti). (Then it is as if you actually returned the money to him). This will rectify the past, aside for doing teshuva for actual aveiro.
Regarding the future payments, since they are ribis he may not pay you any extra for them. However what can be done is to make a heter iska between the two of you. The general idea of a heter iska is that instead of the two people having a lender borrower relationship, it is changed into a partnership between the two of you and a joint business venture. The extra money that you will be making from the deal, is your share in the profit of this venture. Therefore the two of you should sign a heter iska.
There is however one catch, a heter isk is usually signed before the investment, however here, since the loan was already given, the only way to make a heter iska is if there is a kinyan suder done. Meaning that your brother has to pick up something of yours, or of your messenger, which would thereby give you an actual part of his property (If the property is something that can make money, such real estate). Then, since you now own the property together you can make the heter iska. if you brother doesn’t own something like this, then I would advise you to speak to a local rov to discuss what other options can be done.
If this doesn’t work, there is another option, for your brother somehow to pay you back the whole sum now, and you will work it out with the credit card company, to liquidate the loan.
Best wishes
