Many Lloyds TSB customers are being hit with charges of up £200 a month if they go into the red, while Muslims who use the bank are only being charged £15. The part-nationalised bank has been accused of religious discrimination over the disparity between overdraft charges on its standard current account and its Islamic account. The Islamic account was set up to attract Muslim customers by allowing them to keep faithful to their religion. Sharia law does not permit the payment of interest so the 'typical' Islamic account at Lloyds TSB has been set up without an overdraft facility.
If a Muslim customer who has insufficient funds in the account tries to make a payment, it is blocked and a 'return item fee' is charged. However, on some Islamic accounts such a payment is authorised and an 'unplanned overdraft fee' of £15 is then levied. The bank says this is a management fee, not a payment of interest, so does not contradict Sharia law. Meanwhile, customers with standard current accounts who go into the red by at least £100 without authorisation are hit with an 'unplanned overdraft fee' of £20 a day for a maximum of ten days. This could mean a customer has to pay £200 in one month.
The Islamic account is available to all customers at Lloyds TSB. In theory, anyone who does not need a permanent overdraft facility could switch to this account to avoid being hit by interest charges for going into the red. The disparity between the two accounts emerged after the bank sent its customers a booklet this month explaining its charges. Graham Milne, a customer and chartered accountant from Norham, Northumberland, said difference in fees was tantamount to 'religious discrimination'.
He added, "This means that all the non-Islamic account holders are subsidising those with such an account. It strikes me as something which is bordering on illegal. One cannot help feeling the organisation is bending over backwards to help Muslims to the detriment of everybody else. The man in the street would say this is a form of theft. Whether you call it a management fee or an interest fee, it makes no odds because they mean the same thing."
A Lloyds TSB spokesman said, "The Islamic current account is for customers who cannot receive credit or debit interest due to their religious beliefs. All of our Islamic accounts comply with Islamic law and are available to anyone regardless of background or faith. These accounts are structured differently to our traditional accounts and are designed to help prevent a customer slipping into the red. A comparison with the overdraft charging structure on other accounts is meaningless." (Source: Daily Mail,
Live life to the full and enjoy, try and help people who havn't got as much as you, you never know what tomorrow will bring!!!!
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr................................dont get me on my soapbox...
[quote="jonah"] (Source: Daily Mail, [/quote] I guessed this without even getting to this part. I wouldn't believe a fucking word that rag prints. "These accounts are available to anyone regardless of background or faith" so this makes the big fucking hoo haa these twats and printers of right wing twaddle have made it into from what should be a complete non story. Daily Mail kindly go and take your face for a shit and while there boil your head in your own piss. Thanking you.
I'm not really sure of all this pressure, I'm never gonna lose any of my old letters, 'Cause they'll stay with me, Until I can see that I'm no one
All deposits into your Islamic Business Account are maintained in a Shariah approved way. We don’t earn any interest on your credit balances. The money you keep with us isn’t used for any interest-based or non-Shariah approved business activities. And there are no extra charges just because we look after your money in accordance with Shariah.
All we ask is that you keep a minimum balance of £1 in your account each month. If your account balance falls below £1 at anytime then you’ll pay our standard ‘BUSINESS EXTRA TARIFF’ on all transactions you make during that charging cycle.
We don’t offer an overdraft on this account so if you inadvertently carry out a transaction that would take your account below £0, we will return any items we can, for example cheques, to prevent this from happening. However it is not possible to return some items. Many electronic payments are sent and received instantly and cannot be recalled.
Day-to-day banking Like any business we make charges for the services you use. This page gives you details of our day-to-day banking charges.
Unauthorised borrowing Transaction type
Charges Unauthorised borrowing fee
£15.00 Unpaid item
£35 for each item not paid
Unauthorised borrowing fee – The first time you overdraw your account or exceed your agreed limit with us by £50 or more, an Unauthorised Borrowing Fee (UBF) is chargeable. After that, the UBF is chargeable every time you increase your unauthorised borrowing by £50 or more from the previous day's closing balance unless a higher limit is agreed with us or until the account is within its existing limit or in credit.
Unpaid item – We charge each time we have to return a cheque unpaid or there is insufficient money in your account to pay a standing order or Direct Debit.
Either way - Lloyds will not gove a flying fuck and carry on regardless, the governemnet wont do a thing as their shit scared of the banks. If you wont to do something have a look at what UKuncut are doing and get ready to get even angrier by what stunts the banks and other multinationals pull.
I would expect they have very few Muslim customers regardless of this account being available for the last five years. They keep their money within a tight circle if at all possible.
seems fair enough - no overdraft facility, and open to anyone who requests one.
seems to me that lloyds are attracting business through targeted products, unless you have a major aversion to capitalism, competition and consumer choice I don't see the problem. Reckon some have just seen the word 'muslim' and entered a red hue.
This country is fuckin unbelievable , the trouble is we all stand for it . My mate worked in carphonewarehouse and was told to give better deals / tariffs to Asians because they tend to use the phones more
I was talking to a muslim pal and he told me its true even laughed about it and then went on to tell me about the special morgage deals they get where the intrest is small and termed diffrently so its not called intrest...........
Live life to the full and enjoy, try and help people who havn't got as much as you, you never know what tomorrow will bring!!!!
I bet it doesn't come with a free piggy bank though if you open one of these accounts!!!
But would Lloyd's be castigated if they did advertise it to all customers regardless. I would imagine that some people may get offended if they went to Lloyd's and the counter staff asked if they would be interested in opening a Muslim bank account that adheres to Sharia law?
I don't understand what exactly the story is here? I've got an account that doesn't allow unplanned overdrafts either, it's just not called a "muslim account" (which is only called that to target an area of the market).
[quote]He added, "This means that all the non-Islamic account holders are subsidising those with such an account"[/quote]
What a load of bollocks, this guy claims to be an accountant! Every bank has accounts which can go into overdraft, and ones that can't.
One of the strangest stories I've read in a long time. Free press, eh?
[quote="kuriousoranj"]I don't understand what exactly the story is here? I've got an account that doesn't allow unplanned overdrafts either, it's just not called a "muslim account" (which is only called that to target an area of the market).
[quote]He added, "This means that all the non-Islamic account holders are subsidising those with such an account"[/quote]
What a load of bollocks, this guy claims to be an accountant! Every bank has accounts which can go into overdraft, and ones that can't.
One of the strangest stories I've read in a long time. Free press, eh?[/quote]
Fucking shit press more like.
I'm not really sure of all this pressure, I'm never gonna lose any of my old letters, 'Cause they'll stay with me, Until I can see that I'm no one
Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:59 pm (Last edited: Tue Mar 22, 2011 9:01 pm)
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