Heres a paragraph taken from tonights star .A sheffield branch of lloyds tsb
has started offering islamic banking services for the citys muslim community.islamic law forbids muslims from receiving or paying interest on their savings or loans,making traditional bank accountss unsuitable. the islamic account is now available at lloyds tsb,s darnall branch and offers no credit interest or overdraft facility. paul sherrin, head of lloyds tsb islamic financial services said: There is now a real choice on the high street for muslimswho want an alternative to conventional current accounts and mortages.Now dont get me wrong but i thought thats how banks earnt their money.I wonder whos going to be subsidising this little enterprise.

Ive got no idea, but I think I may have to convert to Islam if this is the case :clap:

Surely this is discrimination ?

Originally posted by matsalleh
Surely this is discrimination ?

Maybe so, but it wont stop me from 'pretending' I am Muslim in order to take advantage.

Erm, instead of paying mortgage and interest don't you just pay 'rent' which works out the same [Sharia-compliant product] e.g. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/features/banking/

AFAIK HSBC was doing sharia products few years back.

I find it hard to believe...

I shouldn't rush to convert - all that happens is the lender buys the house and the buyer pays off the mortgage while paying rent to the lender as well. An overview here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2525635.stm)

As Grissom says, HSBC have been doing Sharia mortgages for years..

These mortgages tend to work out more expensive than buying a property using a conventional mortgage, not least because there are two lots of stamp duty to pay.

It's not discrimination, anyone can apply for these products and there's no need to pretend to be muslim.

They're not being subsidised by tax payers or the council or the EU.

But why let the truth get in the way of a good little rant eh? :D

They don't pay interest, they just pay "rent" instead. The property is put in the banks name, the "tenant" (aka borrower) pays the bank "rent" which just happens to be charged at a percentage rate similar to the interest rate on mortgages, and is also liable to vary with the base rate. At the end of the 25 year period you then purchase the property from the bank, i.e. it's basically an interest only mortgage dreamed up by some marketing expert who saw that a gap in the mortgage market exists and should be exploited.

I'm sure "God"/ "Allah", Mohammed & co will be so relieved that followers of Islam so strictly obey their religion through a few contractual semantics. :rolleyes: