Islamic Bank of Britain demystifies Sharia’a compliant home finance for MWA Newsletter readers and explains how it provides an ethical alternative to conventional mortgages.
WIN - If you didn’t win an MWA award this year, aim, for the lucrative prize on offer from IBB to have your Home Purchase Plan rental payment paid for a year - worth up to £30, 000*!!
Halal and ethical – the new way of managing your finances
We all need bank accounts, savings accounts and mortgages. However, the last year has been a devastating one for the UK banking sector and our confidence, as consumers, has been shaken; in the wake of recent banking crises, we’re not really sure if the banks we’ve always known and trusted are really as reliable and ethical as we’ve believed them to be.
It is perhaps therefore not surprising that attention is turning increasingly to Islamic finance as a means of providing a stable, ethical alternative. Islamic Banks, which follow Sharia’a based, ethical principles, have hit a nerve with customers who believe honesty, integrity and financial gain can co-exist.
Islamic banks operate on an entirely different model to the conventional banking sector – one that is rooted in principles of fairness, transparency and responsibility. The Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB) is the UK’s only stand-alone, Sharia’a compliant high street bank – a veritable pioneer of Sharia’a compliant retail banking in the UK.
Since its inception five years ago, the Bank has developed a host of competitive products and at the same time guarantees 100% Sharia’a compliance. A visit to the Bank’s website, www.islamic-bank.com, will provide you with a feast of products to choose from ranging from savings and investment accounts that pay profits to customers instead of interest, to current accounts with debit card facilities, to Home Purchase Plans helping customers to buy their home in a Halal way – without paying interest.
It’s IBB’s Home Purchase Plan (HPP) which has been drawing the most attention recently based on its competitively low rates starting at 3.99% 1 and low administration fee of £299. If you take out HPP before 31st July 2009 you will be entered into a prize draw and given the chance to win up to £30, 000 towards monthly rental payments for a year!
Over the course of the Home Purchase Plan, the customer will make monthly purchase instalments through which they will buy out the Bank’s share. With each instalment paid, the Bank’s share in the property diminishes while the customer’s share correspondingly increases. And the customer pays rent for the bank’s share in the property.
With the banking crisis far from over, and the consumer left uncertain about who to trust, an Islamic mortgage alternative is a beacon of light amidst the murkiness. Offering Muslims, and non-Muslims alike, greater choice and a chance to live by ethical and Sharia’a compliant principles, surely it’s worth a look? Now is as a good time as any.
To find out more visit www.islamic-bank.com or call 0800 40 87 786.
*Finance must be drawn down by 31st July 2009, for further details on rules please contact us on 0800 40 87 786.
1 Subject to status. Terms and conditions apply.
YOUR HOME IS AT RISK IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP PAYMENTS DUE UNDER THE LEGAL AGREEMENTS.