The Debt Panel: Sharjah resident plays hide and seek with bank chasing credit cards and loan

The employee says the bank was insulting him in front of his co-workers when they urged him to pay up.

Clockwise from top left: Ambareen Musa, founder and CEO of Souqalmal.com, The National columnist Keren Bobker, Rasheda Khatun from Financial Life Planner, and Jamel Alvi, chief credit officer of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, during a roundtable panel discussion on why people are getting into excessive debt, how this situation can be resolved and where they can turn for help. Ravindranath K / The National and Marwan Alhammadi / The NationalShow less

I live in Sharjah and have been working for a company in Dubai for the last six years. I have six credit cards and also a bank loan. For some personal issues I have been irregular in making payments to the banks. The bank people used to come to my office and urged me to pay up or else they will call the police. They were insulting in front of other staff members. It was happening many times so I started taking time off work. My company warned me to attend work or they will complain to the Ministry of Labour. So I rejoined but then the bank started turning up again, like they did before. Again I started hiding and stopped going to the office. My company asked me to come and rejoin but I didn't go. At the time my family's visas expired – I did not renew them and let them go back to India. Then my company made an absconding case against me. So now I have had the company case against me and the bank says that it has also filed a case and I cannot go to India. In the last two months, my father died and I could not go to the funeral. Now my mother eagerly wants to see me as I have not been to India for the past four years. Please help me to go to India to see my mum and my small daughter and my wife as well as I am missing them a lot. I hope you will help me with your influence and help me to get a good job also. AM, Sharjah

Debt panellist 1: Rasheda Khatun Khan, a wealth and wellness planner and founder of Design Your Life

First things first, you need to address your current situation. Do you want to still live in the UAE or relocate back to India? Look at what options you have available. Can you re approach your company to get your job back? Contact them and explain your situation. Perhaps they are able to offer some help. What contacts do you have to help you find another job? Have you updated your CV? Brainstorm and come up with a list of different jobs you can do and who you know that may be able to help. Think of ways you can raise the funds to go visit your family in India. Ask your community for help, here and in India.

Secondly, address the bank or banks directly. Find out what options they are able to give you. Try to come to an agreed payment plan. Also address the ‘visits to your work’. Sharing confidential information to the public at your place of work is against data protection. Go direct to one of the bank’s managers to explain your situation and ask for help. Working with your banks is essential. Take the proactive approach not the reactive one. See if one bank can consolidate all your outstanding debt.

Thirdly, look into your current spending. Spending more than you earn regularly builds up debt very fast. Understand why you are in this situation. It is really important to establish the cause of the debt so that you can avoid such problems again in the future. Personal issues come up all the time – we must set aside an emergency fund to help us with cash flow during these times. Spending more than you earn is the most common reason for debt – having a good monthly budget ensures we are able to plan ahead and avoid the easy route of taking on debt.

Debt panellist 2: Keren Bobker, The National's On Your Side columnist and an independent financial adviser with Holborn Assets

I do not know what bank this is but I really hope that no bank employee made a public scene in a customer’s place of work as that would be highly unprofessional behaviour and very inappropriate. It sounds as if AM has borrowed more than he can comfortably afford to repay and the responsibility lies with both him and the banks. The situation of banks lending too much is being addressed by the Central Bank restrictions but adults also have to take responsibility for their own actions.

When a person takes out a loan or a credit card they sign a legal agreement that states they will make the repayments, usually on a monthly basis. If a person fails to make the repayments they are in breach of contract and the bank has the right to take action and request payment of the monies owed. That is why they follow up when a person misses payments and does not communicate with them. Avoiding a bank when payments are missed is not going to make the problem go away and failing to go to work will only lead to other problems and make the situation worse.

If an employee does not turn up for work an employer has the option to file an absconding case. It is unclear whether any ban has yet been applied but AM needs to communicate with the employer as well as the bank. As he has six credit cards and a loan, it is likely that more than one bank will want to take action for non-payment and this will be by way of a police case which means there will be a travel ban. Until such time as the debts have been repaid, or there is at least a good track record of payment, no bank is likely to rescind a police case due to the risk of a person leaving the country and never repaying what is owed.

While I appreciate that it is hard to be away from family, if monies are borrowed, they need to be repaid. It appears that the only course of action at this time is for AM to either make amends with the current employer and return to work or find a new position and then start making payments. He may need to review his personal financial situation to see where he can make savings to repay what is owed each month and in time put himself in a better position. Communication and action is key.

The Debt Panel brings together four financial experts: Jamal Alvi, the chief credit officer at Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB); Ambareen Musa, the founder and chief executive of the comparison website Souqalmal.com; Rasheda Khatun Khan, a wealth and wellness planner and founder of Design Your Life; and Keren Bobker, The National's On Your Side columnist and an independent financial adviser with Holborn Assets in Dubai. Together they answer queries in a weekly online column to help readers better tackle their debts. If you have a question for the panel, write to [e-mail].

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