Ruling on overdraft fees on public transport card

15-10-2023 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalamu Alaykum. I use a “presto” card, which is used for paying transit fare for trains and buses here in Canada.The amount of money I had was low, and I tapped the card and got a message that I had negative balance. Upon doing research i found out that the next time I reload my card with money they have the right to charge me overdraft of 25 cents (riba). So I have two questions in this regard: 1. Is it permissible for me to reload the card (as they put in the contract that they are allowed to charge me the riba overdraft). And 2. Is it permissible for me to continue using the card? It brings a lot of benefit, such as greatly reduced fare amount.

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Answer:

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

Dear questioner, you did not make it clear to us the reality about the overdraft fees so that we can judge whether they are usury or not. These fees issued by the authority in charge might be service fees, which are permissible. In any case, there is nothing wrong with you using the transportation card.

Allah knows best.