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Fatwa CenterBreaking relations because of debt
Question
I m a Muslim student in USA I don t have any family but one cousin. He is married to an American. My problem is that my cousin is a big spender and does not know how to manage money. Every time he gets stuck in financial problem he comes to me and I help him, he hardly ever pays me back even though he promises every time, his father usually pays me back instead. My problem is that recently he made a purchase under my name with a credit card and failed to pay it back I refuse to make the payments for him. I asked him to make the minimum payment at least. I don't know what I should do. I tried to be patient and I m afraid I will be responsible of this debt in front of Allah the day of the judgement. Should I break all relations with him or is that Haram since he is my blood family. Please help me because this is causing me so much stress which aggravate my illness.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Know that credit cards usually contain two prohibitions:
Firstly, approving the contract that involves Riba. The contracting person accepts that he will pay Riba for any delay in the payments. This acceptance indicates that he does not have any objection to involve in Riba.
Secondly, the possibility of committing a sin (Riba) if he fails to settle the debts on time. For the above two reasons, it is forbidden to deal with credit cards. If one is able to delete the condition and pay back the loans within the time, then using credit cards is permissible. The Islamic banks are not issuing such kinds of credit cards, praise be to Allaah. There is no difference in the above rulings whether the cards are used in purchasing commodities or withdrawing the cash because the prohibition is based on the two reasons mentioned above. As long as the cards are not free from both or one of the prohibitions, then using them is, by no means lawful. If the cards are used, regardless of whether the owner has used them or someone else by his permission, the owner is responsible for any transaction made through his card. If the owner of the cards can convince the authorities to excuse him from paying interest, then he must do so. If he cannot avoid paying interest, then he may pay it but he should sincerely repent to Allaah besides abstaining from its use in the future.
As for your relation with your cousin, you are non-Mahram to him. Therefore, you should bear in mind that you should not talk to him except for a necessity and within the limits of the Sharee’ah. Being in seclusion, uncovering yourself in front of him, etc. are forbidden.
As for cutting relations with him due to his lavishness in spending money or due to his sins, it is permissible if this can deter him from committing sins. If it is expected that he will repent and give up the bad ways if you continue on exhorting him, then it is better not to cut the lawful relations with him. If you want to cut the relations in order to avoid the harms that he causes continuously by asking loans, it is also permissible. If you can prevent him from taking loans without abandoning him, then it is desirable not to cut the relations with him.
Allaah Knows best.
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