Common Everyday Cases of Interest: Difference between revisions
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→Taking a Loan from an Israeli Bank
(Created page with "=="Keep the Change"== # It is forbidden to lend money in order to get less than a prutah more than he lent.<ref>Tosfot Bava Metsia 61a s.v. im writes that based on a klal upra...") |
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==Family Members== | ==Family Members== | ||
# It is forbidden to charge interest even between a parent and child even if they aren’t Bar/Bat mitzvah even though it is understood to be a gift.<ref>The Gemara Bava Metsia 75a concludes that it is forbidden to charge your children interest because it is teaching them a bad lesson. That is also the opinion of Rambam Malveh Vloveh 4:8 and Shulchan Aruch 160:8. Why in fact isn’t it Biblically forbidden to charge your children interest irrelevant of the fact that it is teaching a bad lesson? Chelkat Binyamin cites three approaches as to why it is technically permitted. 1) It is certain that in the end you don’t collect it (Prisha 160:13). 2) We’re only about money that the father gave the child and is now taking it back as interest (Ritva 75a, Knesset Hagedola, Lechem Mishna 4:8). 3) It is understood that the person means to give a gift to his children as a pure gift that he would have done so even if they didn’t lend money (Taz 160:4).</ref> This applies both to a parent borrowing from a child and a child from a parent.<ref>Taz 160:4 based on Rambam</ref> | # It is forbidden to charge interest even between a parent and child even if they aren’t Bar/Bat mitzvah even though it is understood to be a gift.<ref>The Gemara Bava Metsia 75a concludes that it is forbidden to charge your children interest because it is teaching them a bad lesson. That is also the opinion of Rambam Malveh Vloveh 4:8 and Shulchan Aruch 160:8. Why in fact isn’t it Biblically forbidden to charge your children interest irrelevant of the fact that it is teaching a bad lesson? Chelkat Binyamin cites three approaches as to why it is technically permitted. 1) It is certain that in the end you don’t collect it (Prisha 160:13). 2) We’re only about money that the father gave the child and is now taking it back as interest (Ritva 75a, Knesset Hagedola, Lechem Mishna 4:8). 3) It is understood that the person means to give a gift to his children as a pure gift that he would have done so even if they didn’t lend money (Taz 160:4).</ref> This applies both to a parent borrowing from a child and a child from a parent.<ref>Taz 160:4 based on Rambam</ref> | ||
==Buying an Item for Someone Else== | |||
# If someone asks his friend to go to a place where it is cheaper to buy that item and he gives him the money in advance, it is only permissible if the giver has responsibility for the money until the sale or that the friend has no responsibility for the item on the way back. For example, if an Israeli asks his friend to buy something for him for cheaper in America and pays him in advance they need to arrange that the friend not be responsible for the money until the sale or not be responsible for the item after the purchase.<reF>Torat Ribbit 9:41. He explains that by giving the money in advance and having the buyer return him the item for that price back in the more expensive place is interest. He is giving him money and getting in return an item that is worth more than the money spent in the place where the buyer lives. If the buyer takes responsibility for the money until the sale, it isn't a loan at all but rather an agency of the friend. Alternatively, if the buyer takes responsibility for the item on the way back it is a loan but the friend isn't doing him a favor in returning the item and taking responsibility for it.</ref> | |||
#The halacha considers that when you buy an item for someone else the item immediately belongs to that person for whom you bought it. One can explicitly stipulate otherwise.<ref>Shulchan Aruch C.M. 183:4 based on Bava Kama 102b</ref> If one did not stipulate and the friend bought an item for his friend with his own money then the friend may not pay extra for the item. Doing so would be interest since when the item was purchased a loan was established from the friend to the sender. Paying extra is interest. To avoid any issue they have to stipulate that the friend is buying it for himself and then selling it to the sender later.<ref>Torat Ribbit ch. 9 fnt. 89</ref> | |||
==Taking a Loan from an Israeli Bank== | ==Taking a Loan from an Israeli Bank== | ||
# It is permitted to take a loan from an Israeli bank account since there is a heter iska klali. It is preferable to write on the contract that it works with a heter iska.<ref>Yalkut Yosef Sova Semachot v. 1 p. 517 writes that it is permitted to take an interest loan from the Israeli banks. Here are his reasons: | # It is permitted to take a loan from an Israeli bank account since there is a heter iska klali. It is preferable to write on the contract that it works with a heter iska.<ref>Yalkut Yosef Sova Semachot v. 1 p. 517 writes that it is permitted to take an interest loan from the Israeli banks. Here are his reasons: | ||
