 In this module, we would try to explain why Islamic credit cards are not popular in Pakistan. As I said previously, there are only two banks which offer Islamic credit cards in Pakistan, namely, Basil Bank and Standard Charter. Now, Sharia scholars, especially in this country, they are of the view that an Islamic debit card is a preferred choice over an Islamic credit card. Because the technology behind Islamic debit cards or debit cards in general, it has improved so much that there are only minute differences between a debit card and a credit card. Debit card is preferred because the card holder is actually using their own money. They do not go for credit. Hence, they do not become indebted. Sharia scholars actually view this kind of activity, i.e., not going into indebtedness with a lot of favour. Credit cards, according to this approach, they promote excessive spending. You also know that when I have a credit card and I do not have to immediately pay for the goods and services I have bought, and I am going to consume, I would tend to use more of a credit card and hence it is quite possible that I would become indebted. I mentioned in a previous module that there are two types of users of a credit card. One is a transactor, i.e., the one who pays the monthly statement balance fully and hence does not pay interest. And the other one is revolver. Actually, a very significant proportion of credit card holders, they happen to be revolvers and they are part of this culture of excessive indebtedness which is frowned upon in an Islamic culture. Islamic debit cards offer transactional benefits. Why do you need a card? For ease of transaction. So Islamic debit cards offer transactional benefits of holding a card without necessarily ending into indebtedness. This is the reason for which Sharia scholars in this country favor issuance of Islamic debit cards over Islamic credit cards. And I think it makes a lot of sense. And this is actually not true only in Pakistan. Quite a number of other markets they have a similar kind of trend. Issue a debit card and not a credit card. However, I believe that Islamic debit card would not have a huge prospect in the future given that credit is becoming a norm in our lives. So debit card mean whatever I have got in my account, I am only allowed to use that amount. Having said that, American Express which is a very big international card provider, one of the most successful business product of American Express is actually a debit card. This means that those individuals, institutions, corporations which would like to have a discipline in their spending behavior, they must go for a debit card rather than a credit card. And this could be a very wise choice.