[LifeComesFirst]

Well if they’re lobbing off *my* head then it would affect me and I would mind. But I don’t care if some banks decides to tap an untapped market by selling these BS “non-interest” sharia loans. Now, if the government ordered banks to do so, then I’d complain. But as I see it, this is just a privately owned bank trying to conduct business according to their own needs and desires. Why should I care?

[jammer]

You make a good point, but I wonder...rolling the interest payments into the sales price of the house, besides having negative tax consequences for the purchaser, increases the comps in the area by a great deal, making a prospective purchaser pay more for comparable housing. And that potentially DOES affect you, for good or ill.

Plus, it is producing another bubble of housing "worth" which doesn't begin to reflect the real worth.

This is just another smoke-and-mirrors trick that changes the meaning of words, but not reality, sort of like "religion of peace."