JHB man ordered to pay back the money to his sister
A man who borrowed a large sum from his sister more than a decade ago has been ordered by the court to pay back the money with interest.
Lending and borrowing money from friends and family is a decision that should never be taken lightly. While helping someone in need can be particularly rewarding, there are also risks.
There is a risk that your relationship with that person might not remain the same. Even when you handle things in the best of ways, things may take a turn for the worse.
In 2012, a Johannesburg businessman named Andre Tsakos borrowed R1.1-million from his elder sister, Gwendoline Dorothy Williams. Williams had attained a large sum from selling her property and investments. At the time, she planned to invest the money, but her brother approached her with a proposition.
Tsakos entered a waterproofing business with a friend in December 2011, and the friend passed in an accident in January 2012, meaning there was financial stress on Tsakos.
He approached his sister for a loan with great interest rates, and Williams decided to proceed with the loan.
Williams was responsible and approached her lawyer to draw up a loan agreement detailing everything she and her brother had agreed on. But her brother was less than happy to see the document; he insisted on drawing up an agreement independently.
"In the document, he acknowledged being indebted to his sister to the tune of R1.1-million from February 14, 2012, and she was not entitled to claim repayment of the whole amount during the first two years of the loan. However, during the two years, Tsakos was obliged to pay the interest accrued every month. All payments made would be appropriated firstly towards interest and lastly in reduction of the capital sum." (IOL)
A sum of R20,000 was made in March 2012, and repayments toward the loan were paid over six years, but Williams did not see money coming in between 2017 and 2018. Her brother had, however, paid off R1-million interest but didn't touch paying back the capital of the loan.
As a way of settling his debt, he offered his sister his debtor's book from his micro-lending business. But she refused and approached the high court to get her money back.
I just wasn’t in the position to just go to the bank and make a withdrawal and pay her her money. If I was, I would have and just been done with it, but the circumstances weren’t like that, so I tried to in good faith give her the debtors book.
Tsakos's lawyer tried bringing up points against Williams to get the court on his side, but that didn't slide with the judge.
He brought up things like Williams not being a registered credit provider and his client being overcharged with interest in the first six months after the loan was given.
The judge ruled in favour of Williams and ordered Tsakos to pay his sister over R1-million, together with interest calculated from 24 October 2019, until the final payment date.
The moral of this brother and sister money-lending story supports the supposition that lending money between families should be illegal, because the repercussions outweigh the good feeling of helping someone in need.
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