Legal Q&A

Tired of non-expert, ad-driven answers to your legal questions?
Daeryun's specialist attorneys are here to answer.

I lent money without a loan certificate. Is a civil lawsuit for a loan claim possible?

At an acquaintance’s request, I lent money on several occasions. Because we were close at the time, I did not draw up a separate loan certificate, and only records of the bank transfers and KakaoTalk conversations remain. When I asked for the money back, the other party is denying the very fact of the loan, which is troubling. I have heard that a lawsuit is difficult without a loan certificate, so I am worried, and I am curious whether I can still file a civil lawsuit for a loan claim in such a case.

Civil lawsuit for a loan claim

Answer

Published: 2026-01-14

Author : Kuk Il KIM

Hello. This is a civil litigation attorney at Daeryun Law LLC.

The absence of a loan certificate does not immediately make a civil lawsuit for a loan claim impossible.

The key in a civil lawsuit is not the presence or absence of a loan certificate, but whether it can be proven that money was actually lent and that the other party has an obligation to return it .

A loan certificate is one strong piece of evidence, but it is not an essential requirement.

Records of bank transfers, KakaoTalk or text messages, call recordings, conversations to the effect of a request to borrow money, and the fact of partial repayment can all also be used as important evidence in a civil lawsuit for a loan claim.

In particular, if the transfer memo contains expressions such as ‘lent’ or ‘loan,’ or if there are circumstances in the conversation referring to the timing or amount of repayment, these can be sufficiently regarded as materials supporting the fact of the loan.

However, where the other party disputes the claim by asserting that “it was a gift” or that “it was support for living expenses,” mere transfer records alone may be insufficient.

In such cases, it is important to comprehensively organize, and to assert and prove, matters such as the circumstances that led to lending the money, whether the transactions were repeated, and the content of conversations premised on repayment.

In addition, if you clearly make a demand for repayment through certified content mail before litigation, it is highly likely to be used as favorable material in the subsequent civil lawsuit for a loan claim.

If the other party is denying the loan despite the loan relationship being clear, setting the direction of the initial response is more important than anything else.

Rather than making the judgment on your own, we recommend that you establish a realistic response strategy with the assistance of a civil litigation attorney who can accurately review the structure of the case.