Disposing of the interest on money deposited in riba (usury or interest) banks

Question:
A questioner says: A person has interest on money deposited in a bank without his choice. Does he take this riba interest and give it to a poor person who needs it? Then, does he inform him that it is forbidden money, or what does he do with this interest?

Answer:
The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them), such as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and others, have detailed this matter. They said that if a person deals in riba (usury or interest) and has accumulated wealth from riba (usury or interest), he must get rid of it by placing it in general projects, not as charity, but as lost money that he has no right to, from which he must extricate himself. As for the wealth that is not his, the riba (usury or interest) that is not his, which is in the banks or in the debts of people, he preserves it and does not take it. If it belongs to you, or if you are not oppressing or defaming them, then if they have riba (usury or interest) debts on people or a balance in the banks from riba (usury or interest), he should fear Allah if it is not sufficient for him and he does not take it.

The presenter:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh,