DXBtoDOH

I have a UAE credit card and bank card with ENBD along with about 6k left in the account (all other monies were transferred shortly before leaving the country). I left the card and account open for various reasons. In January I will be returning to DXB for a weekend and intend to shut down the account and formally cancel the cards.

Can this be done in one day (probably not but tell me the bad news). I haven't used the CC since leaving DXB and there's no charges on it.

What's the best step? Try to cancel the card remotely then closing down the account on the day in question after withdrawing everything? What should I be aware of?

scrubbedexpat141

I'd take the money out first.

DXBtoDOH

Yeah.

I'm tempted to withdraw the remaining cash then dump the cards on the teller's desk and tell her to sort it out.

scrubbedexpat141

My mate asked to close his account here and they said they would not release the last 1536 or something (it was an odd figure, not a round number) 'in case any more charges were coming'. Then after he'd left the country they promised to get in touch and give him what was left after X period of time.

Fortunately he told them not to worry, emptied the account and went back the next day. No request for any cash in case of anything happening.

Bizarre. But I'd do it with nothing in rather than something.

IKnowNothing

Leave say 300 in for misc charges, take the rest out.

They charge 100 for a clearance letter for example,

jam25mack

Don't do that. I seem to remember someone going in and closing an account and then several years they got pulled up for owing a few grand. Apparently they hadn't actually closed it down and there had been some monthly charge levied on it. As such, make sure you get a closure confirmation letter or whatever. Make sure that puppy is dead!

CeeBee

This makes me a touch nervous. I left 5 years ago and kept my HSBC account (basic one) open. All of my cards and loans were cleared and i left a small (very small) amount in but it might still be open. They haven't chased me for anything though in that time.

Brains1983

if there was only an online service where you could check to see if you were being charged a monthly fee...

CeeBee

The user id system has changed years I no longer have access. I've emailed them for info anyway. I'm sure they would have chased my previous employer or emailed me if there was anything outstanding.

They managed to track me down when they told me they owed me money following a review of credit card T&Cs

norsk

I cancelled two ENBD credit cards last week. Simple process really, but not as formalised as I expected and it takes a lot of time as they assign the case to a retention team who call you after about 4-5 days. As my application stated I'm leaving the country there wasn't much retention possible and the chap on the phone said the cards would be closed after 2 working days.

I also filled in a form to close my current account and left it with the customer service guy in Marina Mall branch who was actually very helpful. He said he would submit it after a couple days

The only issue is you get no confirmation of closure. He said the best way to check is to log into online banking or call the bank. I'm not filled with confidence, but should be okay I think.

DXBtoDOH

Ah, useful.

I'll be taking periodic R&R weekend trips from Doha so can take the long and slow process, if needed.

norsk

Logged onto the app today and everything is closed

Standanista

I did it when I left Dubai in October with ENBD. The process is different for both.

CC: I called them, they said they'd call me back within 5 days, they never did. I chased them, said I was on the point of leaving the country there and then, they cancelled the card on the spot by phone.

Bank account: Went into ENBD office at Emirates HQ, saw cashier, emptied account, went to customer service, they sent me to see a lady in the corner office, she closed the account there and then, whole process took less than 20 minutes.

Meow

Anyone closing any accounts I recommend that you get formal confirmation in writing from the bank, rather than relying on not seeing something via an app or online banking.

Over the years I have dealt with too many cases where someone had thought they had closed a bank account or cancelled a credit card only to find out a few years later that it hadn't been closed properly and were liable for annual fees and charges. I've had some cases overturned but there are no guarantees without the right confirmation and no one want to find out that a police case has been registered against them when passing through the UAE.

The banks can provide a standard letter of confirmation for something like AED 100 upon request.

Big_Show

I am far too paranoid about things in this region to not get a letter - I've got all this kind of stuff to do over the next couple of months and I want written confirmation of EVERYTHING. Possibly even up to a letter confirming I requested a letter.