StublueKPL

No i didnt provide a security cheque. But if you default on a loan/card etc then as far as I am aware, you are still committing an offence so they could still file a report.

I owed roughly around 50k.

But i agree with what has been said about no-one really knowing. Its all about personal experiences and all i am saying is that **** all has happened to me.

Smacked

You must be one of the lucky ones then, I think the security cheque is a worse offence than no cheque and jsut c card failed payments. Who knows hey!

StublueKPL

I dont really know mate TBH. Mines was credit cards etc.

Anyway, I was nearly going to start paying it back a few months ago. Nearly

marty&vonnie

Hey

I left Abu Dhabi nearly 2 years ago I had a very small debt with mashreq bank roughly 8k dhs They never came after me they had my UK address I even emailed them to arrange payment got no reply!

Now I am not advocating skipping I did and there are times I regret it but I was in a sh!t position.

Thats in hindsight I should have went to the labour ministry to sort out but I was so desperate to get out of the position I was in I didnt think straight my priority was go home and forget all about the UAE and not to be as stupid again. However as time went by I realised I made a huge mistake and Now terrified to even fly anywhere near the UAE.

I have thought about coming over and paying my debt when I arrive but my company apparently could put a debt on me as I didnt complete my initial 6 months. So I may have that to deal with as well and knowing them it could be a whopper of a debt not a piddly wee 8k + charges I assume.

Plus my husband as now been offered a job in Bahrain which I might not be able to join him as I cant get a definitive answer if I am barred from all GCC countries!

I understand the desperation of some wanting to leave but think how you will feel back in horrible grey uk and with the stupid PM we have and the bloody politics here...... give me Abu Dhabi anyday hindsights its a bloody marvellous thing isnt it!

Squirty Cream

How could you be barred from all GCC countries? Surely it would not be possible to implement something like that, and why? I would imagine it to be highly unlikely.

With regard to debt - it does have to be paid off and the best way to do it is to have someone check out the court for you to see if the debt is lodged and what the costs are. Then they would need to make arrangements to pay off the debt and have a clearance issued. My ex husband skipped out of Dubai some years ago thinking the debt would disappear. In the end, once he got sick of living in the real world after several years and he wanted to return home, his cousin went and cleared it for him.

In Time Out Dubai, (w/e 19 Feb edition) there is an article about 'skipping' out of the UAE and they have interviewed a debt collector - very interesting as the chap said he would pursue all debts wherever the debtor goes in the world. From what I could gather, the collection agencies are big organisations with offices across the world so they would have the ability to chase up.

For anyone in the position of owing money to banks here in the UAE, and then losing their job it must be a nightmare. I think in Britain there are insurance schemes to cover loss of employment/earnings, isn't there anything similar available locally - it would be worth paying a premium for such cover in the current circumstances.

marty&vonnie

Thanks squirty cream I understand what you say about all eu countries but I just want to make sure. Read a few threads on here that say yeah you can move and no you cant.
I will do the court thing might actually go to the embassy here see if they can find out for me really dont want to risk jail!

Smacked

With regard to debt - it does have to be paid off and the best way to do it is to have someone check out the court for you to see if the debt is lodged and what the costs are. Then they would need to make arrangements to pay off the debt and have a clearance issued. My ex husband skipped out of Dubai some years ago thinking the debt would disappear. In the end, once he got sick of living in the real world after several years and he wanted to return home, his cousin went and cleared it for him.

S Cream,

Did your husband find that he had to pay a lot of charges when clearing his loan, I mean the interest on a loan must be a murder if left uncleared for a while. I am sure this has to be considered too, how long the debts has been outstanding for.

Saying this we had a £4 outstanding with Barclays once, forgot to close the account and when I checked the account few years later we owed a whoping £800.Ouch!

themckernans

christ £800 for £4 I wouldnt pay that its stupid!

Smacked

Well, that the catch, we didn't pay it, we only had to pay around £100 after 8 letters of negotiation.

kbryant

If you have a friend who is a local / GCC national you can 'sign your debt over' to them before you leave. Have a friend who did that before he left to the US, he just deposits sufficient money into his mates bank account every month to cover paying for the debt.

AnotherWorld

Look, collection agencies can be tasked to recover debt, thats what they do. They WILL chase it around the world, that is their job. The thing is though and I have pasted the link to the article in another thread here, the collection of debt does depend on jurisdiction. You cant just waltz into someones country and demand one of their citizens to pay something. If I remember correctly, the article said something along the lines of the foreign country recognising court decisions on recovering debt in a foreign jurisdiction. Thats putting it as simple as possible. You would want to ask a pretty clued up lawyer to clarify this...

Keep in mind also, do you really think anything would be written in a local paper or locally hosted website stating that debt left behind in the UAE would be wiped off your record or never chased? This is not exactly "press freedom" country here.

I also believe someone else posted a first hand story about a debt collector contacting him a couple of years down the track in the UK or something regarding debt left behind in the Gulf. So as you can see there are so many stories going around.

As for coming back in the future, wouldn't you be better off first contacting your embassy, then the UAE embassy in your country, then a lawyer in the UAE to determine if there are any outstanding issues?

busybee2

also the banks will talk to other banks around the world, they will know where you are if they want to track you down by your passport, and for eg if you bank with hsbc for eg, and left this country with a big debt, do you not think that they will talk to thebank in theuk and if nothing else will black list you there.

AnotherWorld

Yeah but you gotta be careful with the "will do this" type statements on these issues unless you know for sure. "Could do this", "will probably do this" might be better.

Did you see the article about some Emirati's son writing cheques from NBAD to a casino in the UK for a gazillion pounds. The casino phoned the bank who said they will cover the cheque and he has sufficient funds to pay it. The cheque bounced, the Emirati was arrested and the casino has sued the UAE bank for fraud and to recover the money.

The bank claims they couldn't conceive the fact that this rich "sheikh" would not have enough money in his account.

Reciprocity anyone?

garygnu

Been in the UAE joint for unsettled personal loans served 23days for 1 case of 60K aed, and another 23days for another 60k aed, both local banks. News is, credit cards are coverd with insurance, no point reporting to Interpol considering fees they have to pay at Dubai Court, same is true with collection agents in mother country, that is if the loan amount is less that 50K. These info is from the joint.

Cnt go back to UAE though, was deported coz of Absconding case filed by sponsor due to 46 days n d joint, now am home but i still have 3 CC left n uae. No case was filed at the time of departure. So Forced to skip not by choice. Maybe they have filed by now. Not sure yet/

Now, I have a job offer in Qatar, managed to get new paspport as well, just worried if GCC coordination includes transfer of information among UAE banks and Qatar airport immigration officials. Is there any link?, there are sovereign juridiction concerns I think. This is tricky, information could appear in the system. Could this be possible?, d u hv info.

Handsome

to be honest, I am not sure. The information sharing infrastructure within GCC is not so strong but they do share information so make sure that you dont get intro trouble. Good luck and all the best.