Almost half of my extended family in the US has always paid cash for their homes. Some were well to-do to begin with but most were not. But as they did not have any mortgage or car payment to deal with every month, they spent the extra cash to continue building their worth, slowly but steadily. They do not contribute to the banks, but they do support social causes and people in need, and contribute to the economy in general. Some of them do own mortgage free $750+ homes in San Francisco and DC areas. It is a personal choice to be interest free. It does need sacrifice in the beginning. One of them opted to live in a trailer until he had accumulated enough to buy a house but not each of them had to sacrifice as much. Some laughed at the trailer-dweller but no more after he paid cash for his first home. Once you are over the first hump, you are care free. Being a Muslim, I do know many Muslims who live interest-free but I am sure there are people from every religion who do not want to give free money to a bank. I also realize that not everyone can do this. That is where regulation and morality comes in. As an example, a bank would raise the interest rate of a borrower on a late payment, thus making it even more difficult to manage his worsening financial situation rather than working with him to find favorable ways for him to get him out of his agony. Here is the recipe: Study hard, get good grades and go to a college who pays your full tuition. Do not run to buy a new home and dream car as soon as you get a job or internship. Live humble until you accumulate cash for what you "need." I have lived most of my life in the US, so I cannot confirm or deny Rudy's comments. -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of R Sedlak Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:44 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] A Modern Parable - "No interest" loans The Muslim societies have developed an interesting way around "paying interest". The banks actually purchase the item the customer wants. Then they mark the price up a lot, and turns around and sells it to the customer at the higher price, on a "no-interest" loan. Thus apparently, "no-interest" is paid. Rudy Sedlak --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------