Lent Money and Not Repaid in Turkey? Bank Receipts, Messages and Recovering the Debt

1. What is a loan in legal terms?

What people call "lending money" is a loan for consumption under Turkish law: the lender transfers a sum of money and the borrower undertakes to return the same amount (Code of Obligations art. 386 [1]).

• An oral agreement is valid. Unless the law says otherwise, contracts need no particular form (art. 12 [1]). But being valid and being provable in court are different things; most disputes turn on proof.
• No interest unless agreed. In a non-commercial loan, interest can be claimed only if the parties agreed on it (art. 387 [1]). Default interest for late payment is a separate matter.

2. When can you ask for the money back?

3. How do you prove you lent the money?

The written-proof rule

Under the Code of Civil Procedure, a legal transaction whose value at the time it was made exceeds the statutory threshold must be proven by a document, normally one bearing the other party's signature; witnesses cannot, as a rule, be heard (art. 200 [2]). The threshold, written in the Code as 2,500 Turkish lira, is increased every year by the official revaluation rate, and the threshold in force on the date of the loan applies (Additional art. 1 [2]). After years of increases it is far above the figure in the Code, so the threshold for the year of the loan needs to be checked separately.

Documents that satisfy the rule include a signed loan agreement or promissory note, a signed acknowledgment of debt by the borrower, and a document created with a secure electronic signature (art. 205 [2]).

No signed document: what is left?

• Beginning of written proof: where written proof is required, witnesses may be heard if there is a document that makes the loan likely without fully proving it. It must have been issued or sent by the person it is used against or their representative (art. 202 [2]). What matters is what the borrower wrote, not what you sent.
• Close family: witnesses may be heard for transactions between ascendants and descendants, siblings, spouses, and parents-in-law and their children-in-law (art. 203 [2]). Loans between friends, or between relatives not on this list such as uncles or cousins, are not covered. Whether the separate exception for transactions customarily made without a document applies depends on the facts.
• The other party's express consent: after the judge reminds them of the rule (art. 200(2)).
• Oath: if you have no other evidence, you may offer the oath to the other party. If they fail to attend without valid excuse or refuse to swear, they are deemed to have admitted the facts (art. 229 [2]). If they swear, this evidence does not help you.

What does a bank receipt prove?

A receipt shows that money moved from your account to theirs. The dispute is usually about why it was sent. In its decision of 24 May 2023 (E. 2022/1076, K. 2023/494, UYAP case-law database [3]), the Court of Cassation's Assembly of Civil Chambers held:

• A bank transfer is, in principle, a means of payment, so it is presumed to have been made to pay an existing debt. A sender who says the money was a loan must prove it.
• Where the transfer description contained words such as "debt" showing it was not a payment of a debt, and the recipient accepted it without reservation, the burden of proof shifted to the recipient.
• For a transfer whose description did not show any reason (it only said "deposited"), the presumption worked in the recipient's favour and the sender had to prove the loan with admissible evidence.

The decision has a dissenting opinion arguing that mutual transfers should be assessed as a whole and the presumption should not be applied rigidly. The issue is therefore not free of debate, but the majority view is as summarised above.

In practice: a receipt without a description is often not enough on its own. Support it with messages acknowledging the debt, partial repayments by the borrower or other documents.

WhatsApp messages, texts and emails

The Code treats electronic data as documents (art. 199 [2]). A message from the borrower that makes the loan likely ("I'll pay back my debt at the end of the month", "I'll send the rest too") can be treated as a beginning of written proof (art. 202).

In a case decided by the Court of Cassation's 3rd Civil Chamber on 2 April 2026 (E. 2025/5099, K. 2026/1855, UYAP case-law database [4]), the regional court of appeal treated WhatsApp messages as a beginning of written proof and, together with a witness statement, found the loan proven. The Chamber upheld the decision, noting that the defendant had relied on the messages in the defence, was therefore deemed to accept their content, and had acknowledged the debt in them.

Each case is assessed on its own. If it is disputed that a message came from the borrower, a technical examination of the phone or records may be needed; in the same case the first-instance court had given the claimant time to hand over the phone for examination. The Court of Cassation, however, stated that in that case the phone or call records did not need to be obtained, because the defendant had relied on the content of the messages in the defence.

Evidence at a glance

4. How to preserve your evidence

• Do not delete messages. Back up before changing phones and keep the whole conversation, not a few selected screenshots.
• Screenshots should show the other person's name or number and the date and time.
• Obtain bank records of transfers, including any partial repayments.
• If evidence may be lost, you can ask the court to preserve it even before filing a case (art. 400 [2]); notarial recording of facts is also available (art. 401(2)).

5. How to recover the money

Formal notice and settlement

The first step is usually a written demand. A notarial notice records the date on which the six weeks started. Whether the same notice also counts as a default notice, and from when interest runs, depends on the facts. If you agree a payment plan, put it in a signed document; this largely removes later problems of proof.

Mediation

For a loan between private individuals that is unrelated to a business, mediation is not a mandatory step before filing a lawsuit; it is not among the disputes listed for mandatory mediation (Mediation Law art. 18/B [5]). You may still use mediation voluntarily. A settlement agreement that receives an enforceability annotation from the court has the effect of a court judgment (art. 18).

If the dispute is a commercial case, for example where the loan relates to both parties' businesses (Turkish Commercial Code art. 4 [6]), applying to a mediator before filing a monetary claim or an action to set aside an objection is mandatory (art. 5/A).

Enforcement proceedings

You can start enforcement proceedings without a judgment. The request can be made to the enforcement office in writing, orally or electronically (Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law art. 58 [7]). Money debts are payable at the creditor's domicile unless agreed otherwise (Code of Obligations art. 89 [1]), and civil-procedure jurisdiction rules apply to enforcement (art. 50), so as a rule the enforcement office at your own domicile also has jurisdiction.

1. No objection: the borrower may object within seven days of service of the payment order (art. 62 [7]). If not, the proceedings become final and you may request attachment of assets (art. 78).
2. Objection: a timely objection stops the proceedings (art. 66). You can then file an action to set aside the objection within one year of being notified of it (art. 67 [7]). If the court finds the objection unjustified, the borrower is ordered, at your request, to pay enforcement-denial compensation of at least 20% of the amount awarded. If the creditor's proceedings are found unjustified and in bad faith, the creditor may be ordered to pay compensation instead.
3. Removal of the objection: if your claim rests on an acknowledgment of debt whose signature is admitted or notarised, or on an official document, you can apply to the enforcement court within six months (art. 68 [7]). Receipts and messages usually do not meet this requirement because they do not bear the borrower's signature.

Missing the one-year period does not prevent an ordinary lawsuit (art. 67).

Filing a lawsuit directly

You can also sue without enforcement proceedings. For non-commercial loan disputes the competent court is, as a rule, the civil court of first instance (Code of Civil Procedure art. 2 [2]), either at the defendant's domicile or where the contract is to be performed (arts. 6 and 10). Enforcement-denial compensation is tied to an objection in enforcement proceedings, so it does not arise in a lawsuit filed without them.

Precautionary attachment

For a money claim that is due and not secured by a pledge, you can ask the court to attach the borrower's assets provisionally before the case or enforcement ends (Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law art. 257 [7]). You must show evidence that convinces the court of your claim (art. 258), you are liable for damage if the attachment proves unjustified, and security is generally required (art. 259).

6. Limitation: how long do you have?

• Period: loan claims are subject to the general ten-year limitation period (Code of Obligations art. 146 [1]). Periodic payments such as interest on capital have a five-year period (art. 147).
• Start: limitation starts when the claim becomes due; where that depends on a notice, from the day the notice could have been given (art. 149 [1]). For a loan with no repayment date, whether the period starts on the date of the loan or after the first demand and six weeks may be disputed. The cautious approach is to count from the date of the loan.
• Interruption: acknowledgment of the debt or a partial payment by the borrower, and filing a lawsuit or enforcement proceedings, interrupt limitation (art. 154 [1]). A new period then starts; if the debt was acknowledged in a document or confirmed by a judgment, the new period is always ten years (art. 156).

7. Is failing to repay a crime?

As a rule, no. Under the Constitution, no one may be deprived of liberty merely for failing to fulfil a contractual obligation (Constitution art. 38 [8]). A criminal complaint filed only because the money was not repaid is not a suitable way to recover it.

If the money was obtained by deceiving you from the outset, fraud may be at issue (Turkish Criminal Code art. 157 [9]). Later non-payment does not by itself show that this offence was committed; each case depends on its facts.

8. Before you lend: practical points

• Even for a modest sum, prepare a short signed note: who lent how much to whom, on what date, and when it will be repaid.
• If possible, send the money by bank transfer and write in the description that it is a loan.
• If you lend cash, get a receipt signed by the borrower.
• Receiving repayments by bank transfer makes it easier to show what has been repaid and what remains.

9. Hypothetical example

This example is purely hypothetical. A sends money to a friend, B, by bank transfer with the description "loan"; no repayment date is discussed. Months later B writes on WhatsApp, "I'll pay back my debt when things improve," but does not pay. A sends a notarial notice demanding repayment and, after six weeks, starts enforcement proceedings. B objects, saying the money was payment of an old debt. Within one year A files an action to set aside the objection, submitting the receipt, the messages and the notice. The court assesses the description on the receipt, whether B objected to it, and the messages acknowledging the debt together.

10. FAQ

What if the borrower says the money was a gift?

If the borrower admits receiving the money but says it was a gift, the burden of proving that it was a loan generally stays with the lender. Words such as "my debt" or "I'll pay" in the borrower's messages become important here.

Can I claim interest?

In a non-commercial loan with no agreed interest, no interest is due for the loan period (art. 387). Once the borrower is in default, default interest can be claimed for the delay; unless a different rate was agreed, it runs at the statutory rate (art. 120 [1]; Law No. 3095 art. 2 [10]). Since 31 July 2026 the statutory rate is no longer a fixed percentage: it is 80% of the Central Bank's short-term rediscount rate applied on 31 December of the previous year, and if the 30 June rate differs by five points or more, 80% of the 30 June rate applies in the second half of the year (Law No. 3095 art. 1, as amended by Law No. 7589 art. 10 [11]).

The borrower has died. Who do I claim from?

Heirs become personally liable for the deceased's debts (Civil Code art. 599 [12]) and are jointly liable for estate debts (art. 641). Heirs may, however, disclaim the inheritance, generally within three months of learning of the death (arts. 605–606); an heir who disclaims is, as a rule, not liable for the debt.

Can I start enforcement proceedings without a lawyer?

The law does not prevent a creditor from filing on their own behalf; the request can be made in writing, orally or electronically (art. 58). Details such as the amount and the interest start date can affect later stages, and if the borrower objects, the matter moves to court.

What happens once the proceedings are final?

Before requesting attachment, the creditor may search the borrower's assets, rights and receivables through the national judicial IT system (UYAP) and request attachment of what is found through the same system. The right to request attachment lapses one year after service of the payment order; time spent on an objection or a lawsuit is not counted (art. 78). Finality alone does not secure payment if the borrower has no attachable assets.