Dormant-account fees at share-trading brokers

A question on a share broker whose contract charges a $100 fee on any account with no trades for eleven consecutive months, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that the condition is forbidden, as consuming people's wealth wrongfully. ¹

The questioner asked about trading shares with a company whose contract charges the client a $100 inactive-account fee if he makes no trades for eleven consecutive months. ¹

The Department explained that a share investor buys and sells for profit, the broker taking its commission on each purchase and sale, and that an investor may hold shares for years for their dividends, or freeze trading until their value recovers to protect his capital, leaving the account dormant. ¹ It said a broker's fee on a dormant account is consuming people's wealth wrongfully, since freezing the account costs it no work or money; it only loses its commission and makes it up with the fee. ¹ It concluded that the company may not impose this condition. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3872, dated 7 May 2024. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.