Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Bank Rakyat vs. Tabung Haji

Last year I opened a saving account for Maryam with Bank Rakyat. I decided to go with Bank Rakyat because of two things. First, Bank Rakyat's operations are 100% syariah-approved. Second, recently Bank Rakyat has gained high profit and gave high dividends to their members. High profit means their whole business operations are good, so there is a big chance that the hibah-rate for their savings is high. Furthermore, there is a branch near to my hometown in Sungai Ara, Penang. Since the account is to save money for Maryam's future, the officer suggested to me to choose Tilmiz account, where only one withdrawal is allowed per month.

After one year, it seems that putting money in Bank Rakyat is not efficient. First, there is no branch near to our home in Kuala Lumpur nor my office in Gombak. So we can only put money when we go back to Penang, or through my parents. So my mother always go and deposit the money for her granddaughter. However, she used to complaint to me that the officers are not friendly. She expect that an old lady like her should at least get a smile and a nice greeting from the teller officer, plus all the helps available. Besides, the area is always congested and it is very hard to move, what else to find a place for parking.

Today, I have discussed with my wife and we closed Maryam's saving account with Bank Rakyat (actually my wife did not like the idea in the first place). We transferred her money to Tabung Haji and also opened another account for Aiman. It's time for the whole family to start building funds for pilgrimage to Makkah.

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