Ribbis in the Business World

• Is a vendor or landlord allowed to charge a penalty on a late invoice? Can someone sign a contract or consent form that includes a late fee clause, even if it’s not expected to be enforced?
• A real estate syndicator is raising funds for a multi-family housing project. Are there any forms of preferred return that require a heter iska?
• Is it a broker’s responsibility to ensure that the loan he is brokering does not violate hilchos ribbis?
• In business formation and funding, when one partner provides all the capital funds, is it considered a loan to the entity? Are there any restrictions on how to structure each contributing partner's liability for company losses?

The halachos of ribbis are complex. The halachos of ribbis in the business world are even more complex. Nowadays’ ever-evolving financial and legal environments, complete with e-commerce and innovative business structures, confronts the frum businessman with ribbis-related issues that simply did not exist in previous eras. Many contemporary financial scenarios raise sheilos that, just decades ago, couldn’t have even been dreamed of.

Ribbis in the Business World walks the modern-day reader through these intricate halachos, step by step. The topics selected for this sefer are based entirely on real-life cases and questions encountered by dayanim and poskim who specialize in hilchos Choshen Mishpat, from real estate acquisitions to Amazon buying groups, from ventures such as merchant cash advance to factoring arrangements.

Also included is a comprehensive, industry-based index designed to reflect the types of questions that most commonly come up in practice, which allows individuals within a specific field to easily find those sheilos most relevant to them.

By Rabbi Chaim Francis