# Debt in dubai



## rg1976 (Jan 8, 2012)

Advice requested of anyone who can assist me. Basically same story as many I left dubai because my father was sick (he passed away) and problems back in UK. I didn't want to leave my debt. I am paying back little as I can from UK to dubai as they started to call and email and basically I don't run away from debt. I'm hoping this is enough. Can anyone tell me any different if they know please


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## indoMLA (Feb 6, 2011)

1. Sorry for your loss. 
2. Good on you for trying to pay back what you owe, 
3. Call your embassy here and see if your passport number is on the banned/wanted list. Would be nice to know if you're a wanted person here before returning, right? Good Luck.

Good Luck.


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## Jynxgirl (Nov 27, 2009)

Are you asking if you can get in trouble in the uk, for debt here? Or are you wishing to return here, with the debt?


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## marc (Mar 10, 2008)

I'm sure they can place a CCJ (Country court judgement) against you in the UK as well as banning you from coming into the UAE. 

If your paying something back I don't think they would take to much drastic action, they have bigger problems at the moment. 

Take their phone calls and reply to their emails and re-negotiate a payment plan that works.


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## rg1976 (Jan 8, 2012)

Thanks for the update. I'm trying both I want to pay all off but with no problems here in uk but also to return one day as I have many friends I need to see. Another thing that I am pursuing is legal action against them using personal information to contact family and friends through social network sites which they are not allowed to do are they ?? I think it's very bad as I have not run away from my debt I want to pay


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## ccr (Jun 20, 2010)

rg1976 said:


> ...Another thing that I am pursuing is legal action against them using personal information to contact family and friends through social network sites which they are not allowed to do are they ?? I think it's very bad as I have not run away from my debt I want to pay


I guess most people voluntarily put personal information on the Internet (i.e. Facebook, etc) to allow easy connection, but also now a great mean for debt collectors to find you.

If you didn't give the creditors new contact information when you left Dubai with unpaid debt, then I tend to think (and I am not a lawyer) it would be fair game for them to track you however they can.

After you left Dubai, did you write to the creditors telling them what your intentions were ? Like going home due to medical issue, but planning to pay back, etc. If you didn't and simply left without letting them know, then it is easy to understand for them to assume that you ran away from unpaid debt.

I am sure there is more to your story, and I am not making a judgement but just deducting from what was written above.


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## Bigjimbo (Oct 28, 2010)

rg1976 said:


> Thanks for the update. I'm trying both I want to pay all off but with no problems here in uk but also to return one day as I have many friends I need to see. Another thing that I am pursuing is legal action against them using personal information to contact family and friends through social network sites which they are not allowed to do are they ?? I think it's very bad as I have not run away from my debt I want to pay




Hmmm. Let me get this straight. The call would go something like this?

"Hello, I am a debtor that has, for private reasons, left the country without paying my debt, and now wish to come for a holiday. I will pay a nominal amount of my debt, as little as I can afford, and I want you to be happy with that. Ok? Ah good! Also as a side issue,l I am going to sue you for using Facebook to try and find me. Ok? Good. See you Thursday"....................................

Good luck with that.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Legally a UAE bank has no hold over you in the UK and cannot force you to pay back debt whilst you are in the UK, nor can they claim your assets. There's no extraterritorial agreements between the UK and the UAE. The most the bank can do is to threaten, cajole and embarrass you into paying off the debt.

That said, until your debt is paid off you should not consider a visit to the UAE.


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## rg1976 (Jan 8, 2012)

Stupid answers are not what I'm looking for I'm afraid. Thanks for the update though from others I appreciate it. Basically by the middle of the year I will have paid off most of the debt which is good and yes I have to come back to dubai for Friends more than anything


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## Jynxgirl (Nov 27, 2009)

Have all receipts in hand that the debt is paid. A case may very well still be lodged and you will be thrown in jail and have to sort it once here (and in jail).


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

I may be wrong but I don't think you can have told the bank that you were leaving as you would not have been able to exit if you had. If you resigned from your job, your employer normally informs the bank when cancelling your visa. Good for you for paying the debt off, but I would give serious consideration to coming here if you have not paid the debt off and also if your visa was not cancelled properly (in which case you may have been reported as an absconder). Also, as a last point, if you come when you have paid off your debt, you need to be sure you get a clearance letter from the bank as you may find they don't remove the complaint against you from the records in Immigration.


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

If you're planning on coming back, take a loan out from a UK bank and pay off your debt in full, and get the settlement of your debt in writing.

If you're not planning on coming back, screw the local banks here, pay them nothing. Won't be a popular opinion, but they wouldn't think twice about doing something that leaves you and your family on the streets stranded in a foreign country. Do these "people" no favours whatsoever.


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## LONGGOOD BYE (Dec 26, 2011)

There was an article in Time out Dubai that talked about people who leave with Debts,they said the company contacts collections agencies in your home country and they hound you to get the money and go by the laws in the country you are in.

There is no way I would come back here if you owe money,they put people in Jail from what I understand.


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## ccr (Jun 20, 2010)

LONGGOOD BYE said:


> ...the company contacts collections agencies in your home country and they hound you to get the money and go by the laws in the country you are in...


If I understand your post correctly, I can't see how the laws of the country where you are now could be used to enforce the debt you still owe in UAE - unless there is an agreement between these 2 countries, which is very unlikely IMHO.


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## LONGGOOD BYE (Dec 26, 2011)

This is what I read in the timeout Dubai magazine last years.I don't know if you can post links here but I just found the article,Search time out magazine, Debt in Dubai


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## ccr (Jun 20, 2010)

Gavtek said:


> Won't be a popular opinion, but they wouldn't think twice about doing something that leaves you and your family on the streets stranded in a foreign country. Do these "people" no favours whatsoever.


This won't be a popular reply either, but to me it boils down to responsibility - not favor.

If one takes care of one's responsibility, then no one will have to think twice about stranding you in a foreign country. If people live within their means and take care their financial committments responsibly, there is no issue.

If someone wouldn't think of deliberately defaulting on a loan in their own country (and get prosecuted), why should it be ok for them to do it in another country just because they can get away with it ?


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## LONGGOOD BYE (Dec 26, 2011)

This was one part from the article Calum McClure is managing partner for Decol Debt Collections, a company with associated credit offices in 105 countries. Not surprisingly, business is booming. ‘The phone is red hot, it’s on a scale like never before,’ he says. ‘When you think about the amount of credit cards, personal loans, mortgages and auto loans out there, what we’re seeing now is just the tip of the iceberg. When you get house prices dropping by up to 50 per cent, who is going to cover that?’

He says new tools will be introduced that will make it far easier to trace individuals overseas. And with more and more money at stake, it won’t be a case of debtors ignoring a few toothless warning letters. ‘You’ll be on record and the laws of that country will be applied in order to reclaim the money,’ says McClure. ‘In some countries like Jordan, for example, you go to jail till you can pay, so you are really in trouble. But I will send that notice everywhere. German law doesn’t let you get away with anything. And if I need to find you, you’ll be found, unless you’ve got an awful lot of money and get plastic surgery in Brazil. I’ll hire private investigators. It’ll be a skeleton in your closet for the rest of your life.’


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## ccr (Jun 20, 2010)

LONGGOOD BYE said:


> ...Search time out magazine, Debt in Dubai


Thanks, I found and read it.

HERE

Again, unless I misinterpret the article, it was meant to threat and didn't state clearly as fact that the debt will follow you to any country.


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## LONGGOOD BYE (Dec 26, 2011)

If probable easier now days to avoid them with cell phones,blocking calls ect ,but I had a friend in the past that was hounded by the Idiots even though she was trying to pay them back and I wanted to go hit them all with baseball bats and more,so it not fun when they do get after you.


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## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

Gavtek said:


> If you're not planning on coming back, screw the local banks here, pay them nothing. Won't be a popular opinion, but they wouldn't think twice about doing something that leaves you and your family on the streets stranded in a foreign country. Do these "people" no favours whatsoever.


+1

I've heard of people here being screwed over by the banks while actually trying to do the right thing. Not to mention people being hounded in the phone to pay back debts they are actually making the agreed repayments on.

It's a fallacy that people absconding make it worst for the rest of us, funding stupid world shaped sand plains in the sea is what's knackered things up not a load of unpaid cars at the airport.


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## rg1976 (Jan 8, 2012)

Thanks I have already seen that yes. I have done alot of research also and checked on the dubai police site and a fiend who's in the government also at the moment nothing. The bank called my mother she told them quite simply to F off  an speak to me. I have contacted them all ad they have my details passport number etc so don't know why they call other people


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## LONGGOOD BYE (Dec 26, 2011)

They are bothering other to try and embarrass you,that is what they do.They will try any number they have,Family,friends,work.

If you come back here good luck,because I would not when you are safe at home now.


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## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

LONGGOOD BYE said:


> And with more and more money at stake, it won’t be a case of debtors ignoring a few toothless warning letters. ‘You’ll be on record and the laws of that country will be applied in order to reclaim the money,’ says McClure. ‘In some countries like Jordan, for example, you go to jail till you can pay, so you are really in trouble. But I will send that notice everywhere. German law doesn’t let you get away with anything. And if I need to find you, you’ll be found, unless you’ve got an awful lot of money and get plastic surgery in Brazil. I’ll hire private investigators. It’ll be a skeleton in your closet for the rest of your life.’


This is just BS, all debt collection agency operate off fear and misinterpretation. Debts get sold down a chain like any other "asset", often by the time it's gone down a few companies it's as little as 5-10% of the original amount. Which goes to show you how much the original lender or the agencies are actually bothered about retreiving the amount.

Debt are like loans, each debt has a points based profile on the likelyhood of it being paid, the higher the points to more valuable the debt. Companies then operate a scatter gun approach in trying to retreive them.

In the UK the only people that can legally send balliffs to your home are the council (always pay your community charge) and the courts, and only then once you have defaulted on a CCJ or small claims. 

All the rest try to instill a "we break thumbs" image but it's all just intimidation and borderline illegal rhetoric.


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## Guest (Jan 10, 2012)

rg1976 said:


> Thanks I have already seen that yes. I have done alot of research also and checked on the dubai police site and a fiend who's in the government also at the moment nothing. The bank called my mother she told them quite simply to F off  an speak to me. I have contacted them all ad they have my details passport number etc so don't know why they call other people


A fiend? LOL Yep, that's probably what you need


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

ccr said:


> If one takes care of one's responsibility, then no one will have to think twice about stranding you in a foreign country. If people live within their means and take care their financial committments responsibly, there is no issue.


It's not always as black and white as that though. You often hear about people who leave their job for whatever reason and the bank immediately freezes their bank account which means they can't do anything, even doing things like selling a car to pay off an existing loan becomes a difficult drawn out process. It is extremely easy to do absolutely nothing wrong, and sometimes not even be in any debt and still be on the wrong end of these vermin.


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## Bigjimbo (Oct 28, 2010)

Gavtek said:


> It's not always as black and white as that though. You often hear about people who leave their job for whatever reason and the bank immediately freezes their bank account which means they can't do anything, even doing things like selling a car to pay off an existing loan becomes a difficult drawn out process. It is extremely easy to do absolutely nothing wrong, and sometimes not even be in any debt and still be on the wrong end of these vermin.


^^Agreed^^

I know of one person who paid all debts off, and was arrested at the airport because the bank tried to cash his garauntee cheque for the whole amount. 2 days in a cell, and had to get a friend to go to the bank to get an NOC. Disgraceful.


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## ccr (Jun 20, 2010)

Gavtek said:


> It's not always as black and white as that though. You often hear about people who leave their job for whatever reason and the bank immediately freezes their bank account which means they can't do anything, even doing things like selling a car to pay off an existing loan becomes a difficult drawn out process. It is extremely easy to do absolutely nothing wrong, and sometimes not even be in any debt and still be on the wrong end of these vermin.


Sure, I understand that. However, I still don't believe that is the norm for all of the bad debts.

Even though we may never know, it would be interesting to have the percentage of the cases like you wrote above in comparison to the amount of people simply left the country during the down-turn. I would guess a low % 

Anyway... my original point was if someone left without notice first (to ensure a safe passage home), did they contact the lenders afterward to try to pay back the loan, or simple ignore the lenders until getting harrased when tracked down via Facebook ?

We can argue all day if unpaid cars left at airport is significant or not, but at the end of the day, bad debt is bad debt and someone has to pay for it. General cost of living in UAE has increased significantly since I first came 8 years ago.


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## rg1976 (Jan 8, 2012)

My situation was I had a very well paid Job and my father had a heart attack. My senior boss was German and he would not allow me to go back until Ramadan. So instead I took the opportunity on my days off to get a flight back hoping to return in 3 days piss him off a little. When I arrived home my father died so am sorry I'm glad I came home. Anyway when I called to say I was going to return he had been fired himself and the new owner reorganized the business but I found out of a friend if I came back they would strike me off. I took my chances and stayed home thus leaving my debt. I emailed 2 banks that I have money with an explained to them no answer. I sent money to my friend he paid of a few months of my credit cards but they I could not afford it simply. After that I paid little amounts and then I started to get calls now. This is what I don't understand they have my details why contact others ????!!!!!


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## LONGGOOD BYE (Dec 26, 2011)

As I said Earlier collection agencies are shark and will do all they can to try to get you to pay[call your friends,call family,call your work ect]anything to try and embarrass you to pay.I do strongly believe in paying your bills but many of those places go overboard. 
My friend who got harassed years ago had a hospital bill and was trying her best with a low paying job and they were always after her.


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## ccr (Jun 20, 2010)

rg1976 said:


> ... This is what I don't understand they have my details why contact others ????!!!!!


Sorry to hear about your situation.

You have been here, so you must understand how unorganized this place really is. They must have lost (or never bothered to look in the file) for your past emails and contact - or might even assigned your debt to another collection agency without your past emails attached.

Anything could have happened...


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