Facilitating a loan that involves interest is forbidden
Fatwa No: 259195

Question

Assalam-ul-aicum. I work for a car dealer and a part of my job is sell warranty and other protection packages for a newly purchased vehicle. I am paid a commission based on what I sell. If a customer is financing their new car, and I submit their application to a bank, the dealership gets a type of referral fee. The amount of the referral fee is based on the rate of interest that the customer is financing at. If they finance using the posted rate, they get a certain amount. If the rate is discounted, the referreral fee is lessened (Because the profit the bank will make has lessened) . A percentage of the referral fee is then given to me apart of my pay. Is this considered ribba? Would this part of my pay be considered haram? The reason I ask is because I do not earn money unless the customer buys a warranty or other packages. If they chose to finance, I am then working helping them get approved. That referral is taken as 'a wage' for the time I spent working on their file for the customer. Some see it as accepting usury. I am uncertain and would appreciate your help. Jazak-Allah

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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.

Based on our understanding of your question, the bank lends the person who seeks to buy a car the value of the car as an interest-based loan and you play a role in facilitating such transactions for the customers in return for fees that are determined in proportion to the interest rate. If this is the case, such an act is prohibited, because it constitutes helping those who deal in Riba (usury), facilitating forbidden transactions, and accepting and approving such unlawful transactions. Allaah, The Exalted, says (what means): {… And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression…}[Quran 5:2] Moreover, Jaabir said: “The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, cursed the one who consumes Riba, the one who pays it, the one who records it, and the two witnesses, and he said: “They are all equal (in sin).” [Muslim and others]

Allaah Knows best.

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