philmorris5

Thanks for your comments, I will put a little more detail into the previous situation with NBD, as I mentioned I missed 2 payments on a personal loan, the banks own policy and account marketing literature stated that missing 3 payments would lead to problems not 2. Arreas I paid immediatley. I was stuck in Dubai for approx 8 months with the case over me and finally couldnt accept being a prisoner of the state any more and escaped. I went over the mountains into Oman and was eventually caught at Muscat airport. On my subsequent return to the dubai police i was charged with bouncing a check, not once was i asked how i got out of the country. 4 months later I get out of central jail following the first 40 days or so in Bur Dubai police station. I got out on a thursday afternoon and had to wait till sunday to see immigration to establish if any other issues had arisen whilst i was inside. Once i had established i could travel i was on a flight by 11.30 on sunday morning via doha and heathrow. the time i did cleared the loan it was attached to, this situation has just come back to haunt me but as you can see the way the banks operate I am not giving them another penny. They have destroyed enough of my life as it is. Has anyone else had to deal with a letter chasing them now they have returned??? and what did you do about it???

your time and interest in my plight is appreciated

Phil.

Meow

Who told you that the time inside had repaid the debt? It doesn't work like that.

It's also very unusual for someone like ENBD to take out a police case after just two missed payments. Had you received a 'final' salary payment? Had you told them you planned to leave?

Blue Cat

how on earth did you escape out of Bur Dubai nick?

Kix

He didn't, he got sentenced.

philmorris5

Hi Meow,

What you think is pretty strange and surprising unless you where not around for the crash, you seem pretty bank sided and not sure your view is objective. If it happens like it did, and for many many others, as i have met them in that shit hole of Bur Dubai nick, is a nightmare and non negotiable. Why, because, and I stress with out being racist, the UAE banks employ idiot, non qualified Indians on a mission to collect..!!! No western banking logic and taking into account the global and local climate. This brute approach from the banks was horrific. I and other friends out there at the time had sometimes, and my record is 48 calls in one day from the bank. People used to block the bank number as they couldnt function with the pressue and stress, knowing the consequenses. You really need to understand how it was then, as I dont think you do or you moved in a non affected social circle. I have loads of friends who didnt get affected by this, shit happens but it did to lots of people.

P

philmorris5

Hi Dean,

Muscat airport didnt have any such list as i am aware of, thats not how I got nicked.

Meow

I have been here since well before 2009 and I know how the banks work and the law. That was why I asked. I offered to help as I have good contacts at most banks and write a weekly column for an AD newspaper in which I sort out many bank problems for readers, some of a very serious nature. Regular posters will know that I am probably the best placed to help someone in your situation.

I have been constructive and tried to help, but your patronising comments to me are not exactly encouraging...

Ash786

Phil, not that I claim to know anything about UAE law, but, if Meow is offering you help, the least you could do is appreciate it and take her up on the offer?.
The comment about "non-qualified Indians" seems a bit harsh. Why bring nationality into it? They are doing what they are paid (probably badly) to do. Banks will always try to recover their money, some more ruthlessley than others. That's part of life here so dont expect sympathy or western logic from them.

I hope everyone has read this post and the perils of working in the ME. Basic financial rules of living here

1) Live within your means as your job could go at any time.

2) Don't get a loan or credit card unless you absolutely have to. Even then think twice.

3) Don't buy sh!t you don't need as it's probably as big a headache getting rid of it when the time comes to depart.

I work in Saudi and my money is transferred direct to my UK account as I dont have a Saudi account. At first I was bit hacked off with this but it has turned out to be a blessing. If my job goes, I don't have the hassle of having to close an account etc. As I have no local credit card or loan here, I can't default on something I don't have. I have used my UK credit card here only once...and that was to buy a air ticket to go back for a few days in September.

Phil, I hope you get out of your predicament soon and I hope this has been a sobering lesson for everyone else

littlejimmy

Having been in a bad situation with a bank over there and having benefited from Meow's kind assistance when I got arrested in AD, I would say you would do well to listen to her.

Autonomy

I am sympathetic to your situation, and I guess you're not here to debate but to hear simple answers to your problem, however it wasn't like you state above.

ITP is not in cahoots with banks here to stitch up expats. The banks maybe, but not ITP. I also think it wasn't too smart to name your employer publicly. Especially a media company.

The year cheque is madness agreed, but there are ways around that - just too many people drank the kool aid and took credit to the hilt.

My advice - you spent it - sort out a repayment scheme and get rid of this. The bank's salespeople may well have a special place in hell, but the end of the line is you took the cash, spent it and didn't repay it. Simples.

Re: advice and Meow's in particular - we're trying to give advice here - if you don't like it, no worries to us. But I'd really think about swallowing what is left of your pride and either listening or thinking about what has been said.

By the way - I arrived here in 2004 with 2 suitcases and no job - worked for a media company - I understand some of your problems, but still....

philmorris5

Hi Ash786,

Very much appreciated.

P

lost cause

Hi all,
Have not been to the UAE or heard from anyone of the banks since i left in 2009. Just got back on my feet financially and would like to pay off my loans, will the banks be willing to accept instal-mental repayments or would they insist on full payment.

Equestra

Not trying to be funny here..... I do understand folks that have to shell out a years rent upfront therefore take a loan.....but hell this is TAX FREE living and if a personal income / expenditure budget can't be managed then I really wonder how a day to day job to a competent level can be achieved?

Even if a job is unexpectedly lost then surely there is a plan B in terms of a few months worth of committed payments stashed in an offshore or UK bank?

Surely we are all here for the money (& the sunshine) not clock up debt! Maybe I'm being unsympathetic, pls feel free to shoot me down in electronic verbal flames if warranted......

Sorry, I havent managed to add anything of value to this thread ...... just needed to do the 'just saying' thing .....

OriginalSunshine

They don't but they knew he didn't enter Oman legally (as that would have alerted UAE authorities) so he wouldn't have been able to leave Oman without an entry passport. They check all passports thoroughly. When it becomes obvious he entered illegally they check the stamps in the passport for residency, and deport to the most recent stamp.

(As an aside - I had this issue with my youngest when numpty DHL lost my son's original passport with the visa & entry stamp in it - we couldn't leave, but he couldn't stay.... oh my.....).

lullabelle

It is tax free living but the set up costs for a family arriving from abroad can be mental. If you then lose your job after 6 months you can be totally buggered. I had a work colleague run - he had to. The company we worked for were late paying school fees (supposed to be up front but actually were coming every six months - that's a massive chunk) and shut down with a couple of weeks notice. Hs debts were a car loan and a housing advance as our housing was paid monthly, we were in Abu dhabi and back in early 2010 housing was expensive and not available in multiple cheques there. His final salary didn't cover and he absconded. He sent his family home on the first plane out after we got the call the company was to close.

I took advice from this board and bided my time about buying a car, taking out a loan. I managed to get a monthly rent through my company - a great apartment but they weren't telling everyone about them for some reason. And it was only for the first six months. By the time they closed the company I'd moved to Dubai and had a yearly rental hanging over my head. Initially they we only going to give us a month's money - i would have been shafted at that point as well. I remember reading the email and feeling sick... After 8 months, no school fees (women - no matter how senior - got theirs YEARLY) and paying out for four months rent in advance I didn't have a nice wedge in a bank account to get me home or get me out of trouble. In the end we got a payout which enabled me to have time to find another job - but it could have gone spectaculary wrong.

I get the bit about people not acting like twats and running up huge debts, but the guy above is not the only one I know who got into trouble and none of them were fur coat nae knickers types. just after I left some friends had to move in with another family after both lost their jobs with no notice and no payout. I found life for a family really damn expensive and even in the good times I wasn't saving as much as I thought I would have when I naively did Rose tinted calculations on the back of a napkin on a smelly commuter train into London...

I feel I was lucky, I had a decent but mental time in the UAE, worked for
some dreadful companies and managed to end up hating my job for the first time in my life... But i left without throttling anyone, or having huge debts. I admit though that if I was in a similar situation to my work colleague I would have run too.

There are people in jail who didn't get there by being arses but by their companies being lying, cheating, immoral twunts. That's pretty disgusting.

I'm not trying to defend the credit card cash cows but there is a dark side to debt in Dubai.