Stearns Salaam Banking is the Islamic banking division of Stearns Bank N.A., an OCC-chartered national bank in St. Cloud, Minnesota with $3.27 billion in assets at June 30, 2026 according to FDIC BankFind. It offers an interest-free Salaam Personal Checking account that opens with $50 and has no maintenance fees, a Salaam Personal Market Savings account paying an expected 0.85% below $100,000 and up to 2.99% APY above $500,000, a Profit-Link savings account at 2.02% APY, and Salaam CDs paying 3.85% to 3.94% APY from $500, all per the rate sheet effective October 1, 2026. Deposits are segregated from interest-bearing funds and certified by a three-scholar Sharia Supervisory Board. Accounts open online nationwide. This review tests those claims against Stearns' own pages and the FDIC, with the bank accounts hub for alternatives.
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What Stearns Salaam Banking is and who runs it
Stearns Bank describes Salaam Banking as a division of Stearns Bank N.A. offering a full suite of Islamic banking products: checking and savings for consumers, businesses and nonprofits, plus commercial financing. Its Sharia certificate names the unit more precisely as the Islamic Banking Services Division, overseen by an Islamic Finance Advisory Board whose three-person Sharia Supervisory Board issues fatawa on every product. The leadership page lists Irshad Rasheed as President and Board Chair of the Islamic banking business, Zeshan Gondal as Senior Vice President, Heather Plumski as President of Stearns Bank, and Dr. Aamir Rehman and Wazhma Sadat as board members.
The stated mission is to let all Americans thrive financially while staying true to their faith, and the stated goal is to be the leading Sharia-compliant banking services provider in the United States. Those are marketing lines, but they are backed by something unusual: a published rate sheet, published Sharia certificates and a published board. Most US halal deposit products offer at most two of those three.
Salaam Personal Checking: $50 to open, no monthly fee
The checking account is interest-free, meaning it pays nothing and charges no interest-based fees. Stearns' personal Salaam page gives the terms: a $50 minimum to open, no maintenance fees, and waived fees on up to three international wire transfers per month when initiated through online or mobile banking. That wire allowance is aimed squarely at families sending money abroad and is the most distinctive feature of the account; conventional banks usually charge a fee on every outgoing international wire. Online and mobile banking include balances, transaction alerts by email and text, e-statements, transfers, bill pay with scheduled payments, and wires from the mobile app.
Business customers get Salaam Business Checking with no maintenance fees and $100 to open, a Salaam Business Essentials account for higher transaction volumes, and nonprofit accounts built for donations, bill payment and payroll. The rate sheet footnote for the business Next Level Select savings notes a $100 flat monthly fee if a business does not keep a $25,000 average balance, which shows that not every Salaam product is fee-free; read the Truth in Savings disclosure for the specific account you open. For how checking accounts fit the halal picture generally, see our halal checking and savings guide.
Savings and CDs: the October 1, 2026 rate sheet
Stearns publishes a two-page Salaam Products Rate Sheet, currently effective October 1, 2026 and marked Operating Nationwide, Headquartered in Minnesota. Every figure is labelled an Expected Profit Rate and Expected APY, with the note that both may change after account opening and that fees could reduce earnings. The expected profit is derived from Stearns Bank's Islamic financing portfolio, and the page states that funds are not invested in interest-bearing instruments and are kept separate from interest-bearing deposits.
| Account | Minimum to open | Tier | Expected profit rate | Expected APY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salaam Personal Market Savings | $0 | $0.01 to $99,999.99 | 0.85% | 0.85% |
| Salaam Personal Market Savings | $0 | $100,000 to $499,999.99 | 1.95% | 1.97% |
| Salaam Personal Market Savings | $0 | $500,000 and up | 2.95% | 2.99% |
| Salaam Personal Profit-Link Market Savings | $0 | $0.01 to $499,999.99 | 2.00% | 2.02% |
| Salaam Personal Profit-Link Market Savings | $0 | $500,000 and up | 3.15% | 3.20% |
| Salaam CD, 3 month | $500 | All | 3.85% | 3.90% |
| Salaam CD, 6 month | $500 | All | 3.90% | 3.94% |
| Salaam CD, 12 and 18 month | $500 | All | 3.85% and 3.65% | 3.85% and 3.66% |
The CDs carry footnotes worth knowing. The 3 and 6 month CDs can be funded throughout the term and no discount may be applied for early withdrawal; profit is paid at maturity. The 12 and 18 month CDs may have a discount applied for early withdrawal. Stearns calls this a profit-sharing flexible certificate with no withdrawal penalties on its product page, which is accurate for the two short terms and needs the footnote for the longer ones. Nonprofit Market Savings pays slightly more than the personal account, 1.00% below $100,000 and 3.20% APY above $500,000. Our halal savings account comparison sets these numbers against UIF, Bank of Whittier and Jafari.
Profit-Link: a higher rate in exchange for giving some of it away
Profit-Link Market Savings is Stearns' newest Salaam deposit. It pays 2.02% APY on balances up to $499,999.99 and 3.20% above, against 0.85% for the standard account below $100,000, and the design is that the customer directs a portion of each month's expected return to a nonprofit of their choice. Stearns frames it around the $4.3 billion it says Muslim Americans donate annually, including $1.8 billion of zakat, citing a 2024 Voice of America report. A launch promotion pays a $200 bonus to customers who open and enroll by December 31, 2026, keep a $1,000 average balance, make six consecutive monthly donations, and contribute at least 25% of expected returns each month, limited to one bonus per person.
The arithmetic for a $20,000 saver: the standard account yields about $170 a year; Profit-Link yields about $404, and giving away a quarter of it leaves roughly $303 plus the $200 bonus in year one. Even after the donation the saver keeps more than in the standard account, and the donated share counts as sadaqah, though not as zakat unless you direct it to a zakat-eligible recipient with that intention. Whether the required donation percentage continues after the promotion ends is not spelled out on the pages we read; ask before opening.
How deposits are segregated and who certifies them
The Sharia Supervisory Board is Mufti Ibrahim Essa, chair, a faculty member at Darul Uloom Karachi; Shaykh Taha Abdul-Basser, managing partner of Straightway Ethical; and Mufti Mirza-Zain Baig, resident mufti at the Canadian Center for Islamic Research and Ifta. Their Certificate of Sharia Compliance for Salaam Checking and Savings Accounts, issued June 2024 (Dhul Hijjah 1445), states that the board reviewed all related agreements, statements, processes and procedures, judged them against the decisions of Islamic jurisprudence academies and AAOIFI Shariah Standards, and certified the products compliant. Separate signed certificates cover construction financing, real estate acquisition and refinancing, and murabaha financing, all downloadable from the Salaam page.
Segregation is described in one consistent sentence across the site: funds are not invested in interest-bearing instruments and are kept separate from interest-bearing deposits, with the expected profit derived from the Islamic financing portfolio. What Stearns does not publish is the contract type (mudarabah or wakalah) in plain language on the product pages, the profit-sharing ratio between bank and depositor, or a history of expected versus paid rates. The Truth in Savings disclosure provided at account opening is where the expected profit rate mechanics are defined, so request it before funding if the structure matters to you.
Is Stearns Bank legit? Charter, size and FDIC coverage
Yes. FDIC BankFind lists Stearns Bank National Association, FDIC certificate 10988, chartered by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, established May 28, 1912, with $3.27 billion in total assets, $2.39 billion in deposits and eight offices as of June 30, 2026. The holding company is Stearns Financial Services, Inc. Stearns is a nationwide equipment finance and SBA lender as well as a Minnesota community bank, which is why the Salaam division can run commercial financing at scale. Salaam deposits are FDIC-insured to $250,000 per depositor, per ownership category, and Stearns says it offers customized solutions to extend FDIC insurance well beyond that limit for large depositors, which in practice means a reciprocal deposit placement service; ask whether extended coverage keeps funds in Salaam-eligible pools.
The division is young relative to the bank. The Sharia certificate for deposits is dated June 2024, Profit-Link is described on the site as a new launch with a promotion running to December 31, 2026, and the rate sheet is reissued as rates change. That means a short public track record for the profit-sharing products specifically, even though the bank itself has operated for more than a century. Our Stearns Bank Islamic business financing review covers the commercial side, which is the older part of the Salaam program.
Online opening, the app, ATMs and customer service
Personal Salaam accounts are opened through Stearns' online personal application; the Salaam pages carry Apply Now buttons for checking, savings and CDs, and the rate sheet's Operating Nationwide label matches the FDIC record of a bank with eight physical offices serving customers in every state. The mobile and online platform covers balances and deposits, customizable email and text alerts, online statements, transfers, bill pay and mobile wires. Customer service is by phone at 800-320-7262 and through a contact form; Stearns also advertises a fraud prevention program that monitors accounts and intervenes on suspicious activity.
Two gaps in what is published. First, the Salaam pages do not state the ATM network or whether out-of-network ATM fees are reimbursed; Stearns has a Locations and ATMs page, but a bank with eight offices has a small ATM footprint of its own, so an out-of-state customer should ask about surcharge rebates before relying on a debit card for cash. Second, the pages do not say whether Salaam checking comes with a debit card by default or whether checks are free. Treat both as questions for the 800 number.
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What Salaam does not offer
- Home financing for personal residences: Stearns states plainly that it does not currently provide Sharia-compliant financing for personal homes, though it finances investment and rental property for businesses.
- A halal credit card: Stearns issues conventional personal and business credit cards, and no Salaam card is listed; a Salaam debit card is the only card option.
- Consumer auto or personal financing: the Salaam financing menu is commercial real estate, construction, equipment and secured lines of credit for businesses and nonprofits.
- A published profit-sharing ratio or paid-rate history: the rate sheet gives expected figures only.
- A guaranteed return: every rate is expected and may change after opening.
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For a reader who needs a halal mortgage, University Islamic Financial or Devon Bank remain the routes, and both can sit alongside a Salaam checking account. For a halal credit card, no US bank including Stearns offers one; the practical answer is a debit card plus a conventional card paid in full before any interest accrues.
Stearns Salaam versus UIF, Devon Bank and Bank of Whittier
| Feature | Stearns Salaam | UIF (University Bank) | Devon Bank | Bank of Whittier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riba-free checking | Yes, $50, no maintenance fee | No checking; savings with ATM card | Conventional checking | AMANA Demand Deposit and RF Income Generating Checking |
| Riba-free savings | Yes, $0 minimum, 0.85% to 2.99% APY published | Yes, $100 minimum, rate in application | No; interest-bearing (Legato Saver 2.70% APY) | RF Income Generating Savings; rate not published online |
| CDs or time deposits | 3 to 18 months from $500, 3.66% to 3.94% APY | 12, 36, 60 months from $5,000 | Interest-bearing CDs | RF Certificate of Deposit, rate not published online |
| Bank size (FDIC, June 30, 2026) | $3.27bn assets, 8 offices | $1.24bn assets, 2 offices | $419m assets, 3 offices | $153m assets, 2 offices |
| Shariah oversight | Three-scholar board, June 2024 certificate, AAOIFI standards | Three-scholar board, published fatwa and 2024 audit | Financing fatwa from Shariah Supervisory Board of America | LARIBA riba-free model; board not named on pages reached |
| Open online nationwide | Yes | Yes | Online savings only, interest-bearing | Site says all 50 states; verify process |
Bank of Whittier is the only one of the four that runs its whole balance sheet riba-free, but it is a $153 million two-branch bank whose deposit rates are not printed on the pages we could reach. Stearns is the opposite trade: a large conventional bank with a segregated halal division and full published pricing. Our UIF savings account review covers the closest head-to-head on the savings side.
Who should move their primary checking to Stearns Salaam
- Anyone currently holding a conventional checking account that pays interest and wants an insured, fee-free, interest-free replacement they can open online from any state.
- Families that send money abroad regularly, because three free international wires a month is a real saving.
- Savers with $100,000 or more who want published tiers, where Stearns' 1.97% and 2.99% APY are competitive among halal options.
- Savers of any size who want short CDs, since the 3 and 6 month Salaam CDs pay 3.90% to 3.94% APY with no early withdrawal discount.
- Nonprofits and masjids that need interest-free operating accounts and may later need construction or acquisition financing from the same bank.
Our view
Move the checking. Salaam Personal Checking costs nothing to open beyond $50, charges no maintenance fee, pays no interest to purify, sits in a $3.27 billion FDIC-insured national bank, and is certified by a named board under AAOIFI standards. Pair it with Salaam CDs for money you will not need for three to six months, where the 3.90% to 3.94% APY is the best published halal deposit rate in the US, and keep only a small liquid buffer in the 0.85% Market Savings tier, or use Profit-Link if you are comfortable donating a share of the return. Do not expect Salaam to replace a halal mortgage provider or to give you a credit card, and do ask the 800 number about ATM surcharge rebates and the debit card before you close your old account. A UIF borrower may still prefer one UIF relationship; a Devon Bank mortgage customer should open Salaam for deposits, because Devon's own savings accounts pay interest. Compare further on the halal savings accounts hub.
Facts checked against stearnsbank.com, fdic.gov, myuif.com, devonbank.com, bankofwhittier.com on September 26, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is Stearns Salaam Banking halal?
Yes, according to a Certificate of Sharia Compliance issued in June 2024 by Stearns' Sharia Supervisory Board, Mufti Ibrahim Essa, Shaykh Taha Abdul-Basser and Mufti Mirza-Zain Baig, after reviewing the Salaam checking and savings agreements against AAOIFI standards. Deposits are kept separate from interest-bearing funds and the expected profit comes from Stearns' Islamic financing portfolio, not from interest.
Is Stearns Bank legit and FDIC insured?
Yes. Stearns Bank National Association is FDIC certificate 10988, chartered by the OCC in 1912, with $3.27 billion in assets, $2.39 billion in deposits and eight offices at June 30, 2026 per FDIC BankFind. Salaam deposits are insured to $250,000 per depositor, per ownership category, and Stearns offers arrangements to extend coverage for larger balances.
What rates does Stearns Salaam Banking pay?
As of October 1, 2026, Salaam Personal Market Savings pays an expected 0.85% below $100,000, 1.97% APY from $100,000 to $499,999.99 and 2.99% APY above $500,000. Profit-Link Market Savings pays 2.02% APY up to $499,999.99 and 3.20% above. Salaam CDs pay 3.90% APY for 3 months, 3.94% for 6 months, 3.85% for 12 months and 3.66% for 18 months from $500. All are expected rates and can change.
Does Stearns Salaam Banking have a minimum balance or monthly fee?
Salaam Personal Checking needs $50 to open and has no maintenance fees. Salaam Personal Market Savings and Profit-Link have no minimum opening deposit on the rate sheet, and the CDs need $500. The rate sheet warns that fees could reduce earnings, so read the Truth in Savings disclosure at opening; the business Next Level Select savings, for example, charges $100 a month below a $25,000 average balance.
Can I open a Stearns Salaam account from any state?
Yes. Salaam accounts are opened through Stearns' online personal application, and the rate sheet is marked Operating Nationwide. Stearns has eight physical offices, mainly in Minnesota, so out-of-state customers bank through the app, online banking and the 800-320-7262 service line. Ask about ATM surcharge rebates, which the Salaam pages do not state.
Compare providers in your state
See side-by-side comparisons of Shariah-compliant products, or let our matcher recommend the best options for your situation.
Does Stearns offer a halal mortgage or credit card?
No to both. Stearns states it does not currently provide Sharia-compliant financing for personal homes, although it finances commercial and investment property, construction, equipment and secured lines of credit for businesses and nonprofits. No Salaam credit card is listed; Stearns' credit cards are conventional. Use UIF or Devon Bank for a halal mortgage and keep Salaam for deposits.
