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Fatwa CenterOpening a saving account in a usurious bank to get a long term house rental
Question
Assalamu Alaikum, I have been living in Stockholm Sweden with my wife and my daughter for almost a year and half now. During this period i have to rent and live at 4 different places and until now I am not able to have a secure place to live in. By secure place I mean a long term affordable house. My options are : 1- To borrow money from a bank and buy a house (As i don't own enough money to buy a house in cash), but in this case i have to pay interest in the loan 2- Or get a long term rent from a cooperative housing company, but for that I need to wait for several years before i can get a place 3- Or get a long term rent from private housing companies, from which i can get a place faster compared to option 2 above if opened a saving account in one of their banks and save some money there, and they will pay me interest on the money I save with them. My question is: Does my situation justify trying option 3 above, and open a saving account at the housing company's bank (where they pay interest)? How can I get rid of the interest money I will get? Note I have contacted the housing company that I want to open an interest free saving account, but they replied that is not possible. May Allah bless you all
Answer
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.
As for the second option, according to the face-value of the question, there is nothing objectionable about it.
The third option, however, involves lending money on interest which is impermissible. However, in case of a legitimate necessity and unbearable hardship that is beyond your ability, there is no harm in resorting to that option. In this case, you should not leave the interest to the bank but rather pay any proceeds in charity to the poor and needy in order to get rid of them as clarified in Fatwa 131588.
You should save in your account only the needed amount of money for the transaction. Verily, what is made lawful because of a necessity is measured according to the degree of that necessity.
Allaah Knows best.
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