Posted on 03/31/2010 6:45:15 AM PDT by Loyalist
A new interest-free credit card, the first of its kind in North America, aims to reconcile Islamic canonical law and Western consumer culture.
Until now, observant Muslims have been precluded from owning credit cards on which they pay interest, a violation of shariah law.
The iFreedom Plus Master-Card, set to be available in the coming days, promises no bills, no interest and no credit card debt.
....
With the iFreedom Plus MasterCard, holders load up their card with cash in advance, up to $6,000. Each purchase draws down on the account without accruing interest.
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Because the new product doesn't actually involve credit, applicants are approved without a credit check.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MuslimCard!
They don’t belong here.
That’s a debit card by another name.
The way they do their “interest free” lending is
that they charge a usage or “loan fee”.
They get paid for lending the money, they just don’t charge “interest”.
sounds like a simple debit card to me. free with my bank — and these muzzies are going to pay a $50 fee? funny.
Prepaid credit cards have been around for a long time, what is so special about this one?
>> With the iFreedom Plus MasterCard, holders load up their card with cash in advance, up to $6,000. Each purchase draws down on the account without accruing interest.
So ... its a debit card. This is just a marketing ploy. One would think that most American muslims have already discovered this decade-old-invention.
SnakeDoc
Yeah, but they’ll get to use it anywhere they use a credit card. Car rentals usually won’t take debits even when they have a visa logo on it.
I’ll be completely honest, if I were someone who didn’t want to have a credit card I probably would consider something like this just because it would guarantee access for some actions that take credit and credit alone (even if this isn’t credit, it’ll be as good as it).
And I’m as far from Muslim as it gets. This product will actually do quite well among credit averse non-Muslims.
Tell your Iran loving, Israel hating farrakhan supporting president that!
Maybe he can send you a gift from his new outreach center...
“And our community(Muslim)travels a lot,” Mr. Kalair said.”
....yep....we’re well aware of Isamic passengers on planes...thanks to them our airports are a mess.
They don’t belong here.
Let me add:
“drag them out of the sewer and into broad daylight” - Putin
Neither does he.
It's not a new product. These type of prepaid Visa/Master Cards have been around for YEARS, think it was 2000 or 2001 that I saw the first ones. Not to mention Visa/Master Card back debit cards.
It's just a new brand with a new marketing scheme.
The best news is that it should drive down the cost of prepaid credit cards. Their fees are substantially lower than other prepaid cards available here.
Why wouldn't I, a non-Muslim want to do this? I'm retired, pay all my bills on time, have no mortgage, the only thing I need a card for is "convenience", (buying Anti-Obama bumper stickers online). Putting money "into" the card would be a loss of income from having money in my checking account at .0005% interest /sarc.
I've been a great credit card holder for years, and they've made money on me. Now, because I pay my bills, they are threatening to take away my credit. Every time I responsibly pay a bill, my credit rating takes a hit. Maybe something like this is what I could use?
OK, for some of you, get out the bic, light it off and pull the trigger .. I could care less about YOUR comments. But I'd really like a financial person to discuss this one.
(1) does this make financial sense?
(2) what's the downside?
(3) wouldn't it be discriminatory to DENY selling something available on the open market to a non-Muslim?
There is another prepaid card available here in Canada but the fees are much higher. Currently the only debit cards in our market can only be used in Canada and cannot be used for online transactions.
at some point, the admin costs have to be covered.
WHO foots that bill?
The deal actually seems reasonable. There is a 95 cent fee for each deposit made on the card, no fee for purchases, and a 1% rebate on purchases over $100. If the number of large purchases you make exceeds the number of payments, you come out ahead. This is far superior to the only other prepaid CC being advertised here, which charges fees for every transaction.
An interest free, prepaid ‘credit’ card, isn’t. Outside the Muslim world we refer to those as ‘debit’ cards.
Presumably it’s covered by (1) investing the prepaid amounts in short-term instruments and (2) the commission paid by retailers.
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