No-interest MasterCard aims at devout Muslims

Zero interest and faith are not words one commonly associates with credit cards.

They do have a place in discussions about the iFreedom Plus MasterCard, tailored to meet the religious requirements of Canada’s Islamic community and recently launched by Toronto company UM Financial.

“There are clients in the market looking for structured products that are compliant,” from credit cards to mortgages, said Omar Kalair, president and chief executive officer. UM Financial plans to market the card to all Canadians.

I posted this on 4/10/10.

For Koran-thumbing Muslims there is another way to have money loaned to them. It is okay for a Muslim to borrow money from a member of his own familiy.

After my father died some sixteen years ago, a Muslim businessman flooded my narcissist mother with the attention she craves. Thanks to my father, my mother is a very wealthy woman with a full staff (housekeeper, cook, personal attendants and a gardener).

Ahab and his wife took Mother out to dinner three to four times a week. He dropped by the house with little gifts in between 'dinner dates'(fresh squeezed orange juice from the gourmet deli, Brach Jelly Beans, flowers, ...). He declared that he thought of her as his mother.

A few months after the relationship began *Ahab received the first of many very low interest loans (1-2%) to make improvements in his three liquor stores. Later on Ahab 'helped' mother with purchases of large ticket items such a large screen TV, refrigerator, vacuum cleaner, and several king-size bed which she gave away to him. None of the items came with receipts; I suspect they all had fallen off the proverbial truck. Everything Ahab purchased for her was overpriced. Example: Best Buy price for large screen TV was around $5,000. The price mother paid Ahab was around $8,000.

At mother's request Ahab directed major home improvement projects on Mother's home (bathroom remodeling, elevator for her three level house,interior and exterior painting, ...). The work was done by Ahab's 'boys' who were mainly illegal workers from Mexico. Much of the improvements had to be redone by licensed contractors later.

I wanted to have Ahab investigated for possible fraud and elder abuse, but my sister who lived nearby insisted that even though Ahab was taking advantage of Mother, she enjoyed all the attention Ahab provided. My sister thought the price of several thousand dollars a month to keep Mother entertained was worth it. "After all it is her money, and its just pennies to her."

Last year with the help of the housekeeper, my husband and I disentangled Ahab from mother's life. Through investigation I discovered that Mother was not the first rich widow woman he'd 'helped' in the valley.

Isn’t a fee essentially interest?

Oh, no; not at all! Not any more than "registration fees", "license fees", "inspection fees", "documentation fees", etc are 'taxes', according to governments. Your local pols can explain that.

And, it isn't 'interest' any more than doubling or tripling the price of one's home, then selling it on contract, then adding in "origination" fees, etc, at 0% interest is 'usuary' under Shari'a: just ask MadMo; he can explain it.

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