Haifa Enforcement Registrar Cuts Debt From 13,000 to 6,600 Shekels Over Old Checks Dispute

Two checks of 400 shekels each, drawn in 2002 and 2003, led to enforcement cases against a debtor in Haifa nearly nine years later. By the time the cases were opened in 2011, the debt had grown quietly to over 13,000 shekels due to accumulated interest and fees. The debtor, then 44 and now 59, claimed in April 2026 that he had fully repaid the debt back in 2003 and accused the creditor of bad faith for waiting almost a decade before initiating collection proceedings.

The debtor argued the checks were originally issued to a private software service provider, not the creditor company, and that the creditor only acquired the debt years after the statute of limitations had passed. He also pointed to discrepancies in the dates stamped on the checks as evidence of delay. The creditor countered that proper warnings were issued in 2011 and that partial payments over the years acknowledged the debt’s validity.

Registrar Issam Haik of the Haifa Enforcement Office rejected the debtor’s claim of repayment, stating the burden of proof lies with the debtor, who failed to provide sufficient evidence. He noted the debtor should have raised such defenses earlier, during the enforcement process. However, the registrar significantly reduced the accrued late payment interest, citing the creditor’s long inaction and reliance on the case as a "savings plan" to accumulate interest without active collection efforts.

Invoking Amendment 75 to the Enforcement Law effective January 2025, which empowers registrars to reduce interest and fees, Haik cut the debt roughly in half. The total owed across both cases dropped from about 13,184 shekels to approximately 6,600 shekels, with late fees reduced to 2,000 shekels. Each party was ordered to bear its own legal costs, and the enforcement office was instructed to update the debt balances accordingly.

This ruling reflects a growing trend among enforcement registrars to intervene in cases where creditors delay collection for years, even if the principal debt remains valid. The full original report was published by Bizportal.