Recently an upset young man called our firm for consultation, he mentioned he lent around RMB 50,000 Yuan to one of his so-called friend, however after many times of been refused by his friend to pay back the money, he came to our firm for help.
After further discussion, we found out the young man lent the money to his friend when they were together to play card during the Spring Festival of 2016 when they go back to home town to spent the holiday. He won a lot in the card game however his friend lost a lot, upon his friend’s ask he lent money to his friend and the total sum is around RMB 50,000 Yuan. However, he didn’t ask his friend to write a receipt of the loan nor he kept any other evidence to prove the loan.
We pointed out that it is very hard for the young man to win the case if he wants to bring the case to the court.
First, the law does not protect the loan for illegal activities. It’s obvious the young man’s friend lost the money on gamble and the young man knew about this. According to the laws in the case the lender knows in advance or should have known that the borrower will use the loan for illegal and criminal activities and still provides the loan, the lending contract( if exist) is invalid.
Second, there is no evidence to prove the loan such as a certificate of indebtedness, receipt, receipt for a loan or any other certificates of creditor’s rights as well as other evidence that can prove the existence of legal debtor-creditor relationships.
The advice from the lawyer is: do not lend your money easily to others, if you have to do this, following below tips:
1. Investigate the borrower’s credit record;
2. Value the borrower’s repayment ability;
3. Get to know the borrower’s true purpose of borrowing the money;
4. Always keep evidence for the loan to state clearly the basic information of the loan, such as the name of the both party, the amount of the loan, the time limit to payback the money, the purpose of the loan etc.