ASSALAMU ALAIKUM. AS REGARDS THE INTEREST RECIEVED FOR THE CASH KEPT AS BANK SAVINGS DEPOSIT, CAN THAT INTEREST BE USED FOR THE BANK CHARGES FOR THE SAME ACCOUNT, FOR EXAMPLE, CHARGES FOR NOT KEEPING MINIMUM CASH BALANCE , CHEQUE BOOK CHARGES ETC??

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

We have already issued many Fataawa clarifying that it is not permissible for the account holder to benefit from that interest for his own benefit; rather, he has to get rid of it by giving it in charity. If he pays the fees of the bank or the charges for not keeping minimum cash balance, then he would have used it for the benefit of himself and this is not permissible.

It should be noted that it is not permissible to save money in banks dealing with Riba (interest and/or usury) unless in case of necessity and when there is no Islamic bank. In which case, the money should be saved in a current account and not in a savings account. In case one has saved his money in a savings account, he has to get rid of the interest as we already clarified. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 90054.

Allaah Knows best.