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Fatwa CenterUsing Credit Cards Without Paying Interest
Question
Assalmualikum .
My name is Muntasir rahman . I am doing export business In Bangladesh.So I have to travel. Also in local town I cannot carry cash all time. I use Credit cards .
I am paying , In Sha Allah , the credit card payment within the due date – so that Interest is not coming . About the yearly service charges , I got weaver cause I bought a good amount . so that from credit card no interest or any charges is not coming to me . Also I never withdraw cash through credit cards .
So it is HALAL for me . Please kindly advise
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Whoever needs to use a credit card due to the difficulty of carrying cash with him, and he does not find an Islamic bank or a lawful alternative other than using a credit card in which the bank acts as a lender, then he bears no sin, Allah Willing. In this case, he should keenly make the due payments early before he becomes liable to paying usurious interest charges because of delay in payment. You mentioned that you are keen on doing so. The resolution of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) about the use of Visa cards states: “In a number of Islamic countries, the Islamic banks have issued a Sharee‘ah-compliant Visa card that is free of Sharee‘ah violations and totally clear of interest and any possibility of paying it … There is no sin in using such Visa cards since they have been approved by the Sharee‘ah advisory boards in those banks.”
However, the question that remains to be answered is: "What is the ruling on using these cards outside the Islamic world and in countries where no Islamic banks exist? Most contemporary scholars – as far as we know – held that using them is permissible in case of dire need for them, provided that the card holder pays the required balance before expiration of the grace period so as to avoid any usurious interests charged because of delay in payment and, accordingly, bearing the sin of paying Riba (usurious interest). This is the common practice of Muslims in western countries and none of the scholars whose opinion holds considerable authority has criticized them for it..." [End of Quote].
For more benefit on the use of visa cards, please refer to Fatwa 396634.
Allah Knows best.
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