Al Rayan bank

zilla6

Anyone use Al Rayan for fixed term deposits? I am familiar with Sharia banking and have used BLME happily for years. I just checked trustpilot for Al Rayan and 95% of the good reviews are by people with 1 posting, which is very suspicious.

Aidanmc

I had an cash Isa with Al Rayan for a couple of years and have a positive experience. Profit was as expected credited every month. I transferred just for a better rate.

soulsaver

There's not much you can measure with a year fixed term deposit... you open the account and a year later they contact you to say times up - whaddayawannadoo. The webby is slow, and it's hard to find your FTB, but eventually you can...

triplea35

Opened an account, (18month fixed 2.3%, quarterly interest) earlier this month in my wife's name. First online application did not seem to be accepted immediately but asked for us to print out application and post it.

I made a second application online and am sure used the exact same details but this time the account opened immediately and gave account details.I transferred £45k that day and £40k the following day to meet my current account online maximum payment limits.

First written communication from them appeared to be in reference to first application and asked for forms to be completed and proof of identity including a 'certified' copy of her passport. We ignored it.

We later received a welcome letter regarding the second application. It did ask to make one payment to prevent delays, but as I said I had already made two payments.
We have since received written acknowledgement of the £85k deposit and the start of the fixed term from the date of the second deposit so all appears ok.

So if your application is accepted online all appears good, but if not I personally couldn't be bothered with all the identity checks process.

It is of course FSCS protected to £85k.

zilla6

Thanks triplea35 for the detailed reply. I might do as you suggest, if the online process goes through, then great. Otherwise I might forget it. Though I don't understand how some banks still need certified documents whereas others don't.

Steve_xx

zilla6 wrote: »

Thanks triplea35 for the detailed reply. I might do as you suggest, if the online process goes through, then great. Otherwise I might forget it. Though I don't understand how some banks still need certified documents whereas others don't.

Al Rayan are absolutely fine. should you need phone contact with them, they are generally very polite and helpful.

colsten

Aidanmc wrote: »

I had an cash Isa with Al Rayan for a couple of years and have a positive experience. Profit was as expected credited every month. I transferred just for a better rate.

Same here. Couldn't fault them. Although I have seen a report that Al Rayan has reported ISA interest/profit as taxable income to the HMRC, so if you are thinking of an ISA, it needs double-checking if your total interest for a year exceeds your Personal Savings Allowance.

msnau

Al Rayan was mentioned negatively in the news recently. I dont know what the implications are? After all the doom and gloom, the article's last few paragraphs state there is no suggestion that it has breached any UK laws, and the bank has said it does not support extremism or violence.

What are the financial impacts to current policy holders?

aroominyork

msnau wrote: »

Al Rayan was mentioned negatively in the news recently. I dont know what the implications are? After all the doom and gloom, the article's last few paragraphs state there is no suggestion that it has breached any UK laws, and the bank has said it does not support extremism or violence.

What are the financial impacts to current policy holders?

1) To decide if you want to be associated with them and, if you do, 2) to stay firmly within FSCS limits.

colsten

msnau wrote: »

Al Rayan was mentioned negatively in the news recently.

Have you got more details on this please - who mentioned them, and what was negative about them?

msnau wrote: »

What are the financial impacts to current policy holders?

Al Rayan don't, to the best of my knowledge, sell any policies. Do you mean account holders? Anyway, it depends on what those negative mentions are, and who made them.

msnau

They have been accused of having clients linked to extremism by the Dailymail.

As an existing customer, I am concerned this is a reputational risk for the bank and may result in a decline of profits to its customers : less people will want to use their services, business will decline, therefore less profits to share out to customers.

I guess for Fixed Term Bonds, the rates are relatively fixed so should not be impacted (much). However, for Savings accounts where the profit is not fixed there could be an adverse impact?

I may be over worrying.

Plenty of other banks have had major reputational issues - TSB with their IT meltdown lost many customers, but has survived (I think)

Good point on the FSCS limit - thank you. That is a reassuring point.