Using Credit Cards & Reward Points

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question: Are credit cards permitted if you ensure to make payments on time and not incur interest? Also, is one allowed to accept points or cash back from credit cards?

Answer: Walaikum assalam,

Contemporary scholars generally agree that it is permitted to use credit cards with the following conditions:

1. One has the firm resolve and ability to pay the amount before the accruing of interest; and

2. One is sure that one will actually pay it off before any interest becomes due. This means that one has the financial means to do so, and one’s habit and past experience shows that one will actually do so.

As for reward points, Mufti Taqi Usmani mentions:

“If a credit card is used for purchases and the bills are paid promptly without requiring to pay interest on late payment, it is permissible and the benefits given by the credit card company as rewards can be availed of. It is not impermissible to benefit from such rewards.” [www.albalagh.net; posted 10th February, 2002]

Walaikum assalam,
Faraz Rabbani.