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49er

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  1. A not for profit organisation is exempt from registering with ICO. Not sure if the case with FCA.
  2. I will check if they are registered with an official UK body such as FCA and UK ICO. Maybe they are registered in Dubai and don't have to jump through the same hoops. They possibly are merely acting as middle men, maybe they have quite a passive role and perhaps I could have settled that 1,500 with the Dubai bank myself. I don't know how results would have been different had I just tried to settle directly with the bank. Even if they are skimming a bit and taking a slice of the pie I wouldn't mind if I was certain the debt would be over with. That's the worry. I pay and it's not over with. Regarding covering their costs/overheads....They charged me a fee to 'cover their time and costs' which I can understand. Maybe that will set alarm bells ringing but I can see why they need to do this to cover costs. I feel if they had conned people it would come up on a google search and on message boards. If they are doing minimal work and getting more money than they should then I don't mind so much. I'll carry on with more research on them though and check up on the clearance certificate. Thanks.
  3. So you think there's a chance they are in cahoots with the debt collection agency and the debt isn't actually being paid off (bogus debt?)? I am unable to find any bad reviews on them online. I feel I've researched this organisation well. Am I being too gullible? Edit: wrote this before I saw Uncle Bulgaria's last post.
  4. I appreciate your concern. I have not decided what I'm going to do. Hence, the reason I'm here. This company I'm dealing with have been in the media a lot. T he lady that runs it and who I'm in contact with has done interviews with news organisations (BBC, Al Jazeera) [removed] and I've seen them deal with cases in the written media too. They are a not-for-profit organisation but I did have to pay them a fee to cover their costs. I have not asked them to disclose the contract they will be striking with the Dubai creditor but thanks, it is something I should do. I really don't know much about the clearance certificate and who is issuing it. I guess I'm placing some trust in the lawyers due to the position and status I feel they have from dealing with cases I've seen in the media. Yes, correct, I'm a free man living in another country but at the same time I'd like some closure for fear of things escalating down the line. As I said, I've not made my decision and appreciate your advice on doing due diligence.
  5. The only way I can pay off the debt is getting in to some small debt. I would only do this if my new debt is manageable which I think it is. My debt with this Dubai bank is about 14,000 pounds. It has crazy interest and fees and has risen by 5 times in 2 and a half years! In a year it will probably be around 25,000 to 30,000 pounds! I am striking a deal with the debt collection agency where I only need to pay 4,200 pounds now. I am going to use the max of 3,300 pounds on my credit card. For that I can pay this off in about 8 months. I am afraid of the alternative of letting this debt carry on. I just want to take this deal. Bite the bullet in case things get worse. Uncle Bulgaria, you say it may not resolve my situation? I am going through a third party to do this. I am dealing with lawyers from an organisation called [removed by dx] They seem a credible organisation with lots of experience in this and have told me that they issue 'a clearance certificate to ensure no further travel restrictions or risks'. Let me know what you think. I feel it is my best option now. dx100uk, you also say it won't solve anything. Have you seen instances of this where UAE banks still hunt for debt after a deal like this? Would the fact that I'm going through lawyers not help me? Thanks for the help, guys!
  6. I'm not very good at financial specifics and wondering how much credit card fees/interest will add up. I've explained in a previous post on this domain how I'm in debt in UAE (as I said I'm not good at financial specifics). A couple of months ago they offered to settle for about 4,000 pounds. I don't have that available so need to try to borrow. Loans are hard to get where I'm living (Thailand) but got a credit card. Not used it yet but I'm thinking of using this to pay off my debt. Sounds a silly idea but I've not got many options. I know I'm going to be hit with interest and charges but I can live with that so long as it's manageable. http://www.krungsricard.com/en/Product/CreditCard/Exclusive/Krungsri-Signature.html (go to fees) I'm trying to figure how much it'll cost me. Credit usage fee is a total of 20%. I have 3300 pounds on the card. So at the end of each month I'll be charged 20% of whatever I'm overdue? And then this will be decreasing all the time as I pay it off. I've tried to figure out below what I'd be charged each month but not sure if I'm calculating it correctly or if I'm missing out in hidden fees. In the example given in the link above I find it confusing so trying to simplify it a bit. I'm dividing by 12 because I'm spitting it in to months. I know in the example it gives days but find it easier splitting it in to months. I'm assuming this won't make a big difference in the overall estimation of costs. Month 1 - 3300 x 20%/12 months= 55 pounds interest Month 2 - Pay back 300 pounds 3300 + 55 interest -300 = 3055 x 20%/12 months = 50 pounds interest Month 3 - Pay back 300 pounds 3055 + 50 interest -300 = 2805 x 20%/12 months = 47 pounds interest Month 4 - Pay back 300 pounds 2805 + 47 interest -300 = 2552 x 20%/12 months = 42 pounds interest ...and so on. Assuming this is correct and I have to pay 55 pounds per month in interest and this is decreasing each month then I think this will be fine. I'm wondering if I'm missing out on anything though. I have been told too about interest free balance transfers but not sure if it would or could apply to my case. I don't know much about them. Cheers for any help.
  7. removed Coyle White Devine scare me. I assume they only cover UK but it kind of shows that the bank can come after you anywhere and country borders don't count for a lot.
  8. It says it is 15 years but this refers to UAE courts. It probably depends which country I'm living in, does it? I just hear of UAE banks coming after people in the UK and enforcing them to pay the debt so I'm not sure how much borders count for. Maybe I could message [removed by dx] and ask about the consequences of ignoring the debt. What can the bank or debt collection agency do? What's the story with it becoming statute barred? How long is it for? I'm not sure how likely it'll be that I can come to a deal with the bank. As I said, they'll have to freeze interest as it's impossible without that. It'll need to be in installments as I don't have a lump sum lying around (apart from the 600 quid I saving for [removed by dx] ).
  9. Thanks for the help. I last had contact with the bank 2 years ago. I read online they have 15 years before it comes statute barred, and when I last make contact with them it would be reset again. So that'd leave 13 years now. I have already acknowledged the debt in my emails to them. As I said, the last one was 2 years ago. At the moment it may be very unlikely that I'll see any court enforcement living here but who knows what the future brings. I don't know which country I'll be in in two, five, or ten years. I don't know which laws will be in place regarding all this. Since it doubles every year then even the Sultan of Brunei would have trouble paying it in ten years. I'm liking your optimism and would like to go along with what you're saying but I'm also fearing the worst.
  10. I don't intend to return to Dubai or any Emirates. I don't have to fly through there though sometimes it is cheaper and convenient to use UAE as a stopover when returning to Europe. I'm not worried about the credit card number being used. Pretty sure the card is cancelled. I just think it's unprofessional of them to disclose my personal details like that. Wondering if there's anything I could do about it. This company seems legit (removed). Check their website and you'll see videos of them on the news. I think they would be able to negotiate a better deal than me. I wouldn't know where to start. I am wanting to get it over with. At the moment I am not too stressed about it but when they were calling my workplace it was stressing me out. I may be safe now but who knows what the future brings. In five years time the debt will be crazy. It was 14,000 AED 2 years ago. It is 56,000 AED now. So it seems to double every year. Things may be different in a few years and maybe they could catch up with me. It's that fear that's making me want to come to some deal. It's impossible to pay a one-off settlement though as I don't have the money. I would need the interest frozen as it is out of control. I would need to pay in installments of an achievable amount and would hope I can get a reduction in the amount to pay.
  11. I contacted a company called [removed by dx] A not-for-profit organisation that deals with legal matters in UAE. They said they will try to negotiate for me to pay back the loan where interest would be freezed and I could possibly pay off in installments. They said they often get 40%-80% reduced of what the debt is. They are charging me 600 pounds to cover their costs in the negotiating. They seem legit. The woman in contact with me has been on the news and tv programmes discussing cases quite a few times. I'm going to go with them to take away all the stress that this is causing. Don't like them contacting my work. Afraid it'll just get worse in the future. What do people think?
  12. An update. The debt collection agency has been sending faxes to my place of work. They are asking my place of work to get involved. It seems like very dirty tactics to me. They've publicly given what I owe and my credit card number to a third party. My place of work is in Thailand though I'm an Irish citizen. I can't post links or images yet as I need 10 posts and only have 4 so far. The top of the letter was contained my name, credit card number and credit card debt. XXXX XXXXX is my name and AED XX,XXX is the amount. I'm not disclosing it here but they did disclose it. Here is what they said.... We are acting on behalf of our client Emirates NBD who has instructed/authorized us to recover from your employee XXXX XXXXX the entire amount of AED XX,XXX in settlement his/her dues. We seek your assistance in recovering the outstanding amount contractually/lawfully due from XXXX XXXXX to our client in settlement of his CreditCard dues and request you to kindly provide us with any information that you may have or can obtain, which could be of help to us in reaching him. Furthermore, we also request you to please suspend the process of canceling XXXX XXXXX's visa and setting his End of Service Benefits until he gets a "No Objection Letter" either from ourselves or from our client. We look forward to receiving your positive response and cooperation in this regard. Thanking you in anticipation, Yours sincerely, They have also sent faxes to the school addressed to me asking for me to pay up.
  13. Ok, maybe they don't have an agreement now with Irish solicitors but perhaps they could in the future? That may affect me? Is there a way to find out if they have agreements with Irish solicitors? I feel they're looking for a reply for some reason. Their emails seem very enticing as if there is some good offer available. Also, when they called my place of work they said they were a University and wanted to get in touch and the same day I got a strange email about jobs in UAE. I googled the company name and it didn't exist. They repeatedly called my workplace so it was obvious it was the bank rather than some University. It was strange that they were using these tactics. They are trying to get in touch some way and I'm not sure if I should or not respond. Thanks for your help.
  14. Thank you. Yes, it was a UAE issued credit card. It was with Emirates NBD Bank. I already conversed with them through email about 2 years ago where I admitted the debt. Does that mean I should still not admit the debt in future correspondence? I said I would do my best to pay it off but couldn't at that time as I was not working. That was no good and they wanted a one-shot payment of 16,000 AED. As they would not bend I figured there was no point in corresponding to them anymore. There was no way I could pay as I was not working and could not get my hands on that. That was two years ago. I've since got work but my debt has more than tripled! I could make payments now but I would need them to work with me. The most I could afford now per month would be gobbled by interest and penalties so I would be going nowhere. I'm actually not a UK citizen and don't have a UK address. I'm Irish if that makes any difference with debt recovery. I'm confused by their email. In it they mention things about freezing interest and paying in installments but it's very badly written. I'm not sure if it means they would come to some payment plan.
  15. I don't know and don't know how I'd find out.
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