Hi All, I was living in Dubai for 8 years lost my job didn't get paid by them etc.. so i had to leave as i couldn't find another job. That was a year ago, since then i have received a couple of letters form IDR about my outstanding debts out there , 4 different banks totalling around 250 AED. I've replied to them by email explaining that i am unemployed on universal credit, no assets at all etc. I didn't tell them i am just starting a small buisness online. There reply was we will give you 30 days before they start with their collections. Any advice from anybody please who knows about what they can do like CCJs or min payments. would it be best just to go bankrupt and tell them that. Thanks very much.

Hi Guys Just joined the forum as had been looking for some advice regarding this issue. My partner is being pursued for a debt in Dubai in 2007. Until last week she had no contact with the bank since 2009, this being the year she left Dubai. We have just received a statutory demand from the infamous CWD which on advice we are going to set aside and dispute the debt they are saying is owed (over 180,000 pounds) from a c card debt of 18k. From what ive read many of you are in the same boat and we would just like a bit of advice whilst we share our experience to hopefully help some of you at the same time. Will keep you posted on how things go. My partner left Dubai in 2009 with around 18k of debt and until last friday had no contact with the bank in question. A guy came to the door and served a statutory demand on her and reading it we have 21 days to set it aside. I have read various threads on this forum and others and it seems there are hundreds of other people being chased by the same company (CWD). On doing a little research i have a few questions 1) as there is no reciprocal agreement between the UK and UAE can this be lawfully pursued 2) The timescale, can this still be pursued after 9 years ? 3) Will the setting aside of this demand require a solicitor to action this ? your help and advice will be truly appreciated thanks in advance

Left Dubai in summer 2016 having been made redundant, took wife and 3 month son to place of safety (not UK) fully intended to return to UAE and find new employment, as i had insurance against the loan. I never intended not to pay the loan. However. Bank immediately froze accounts, refused to process Involuntary loss of income insurance i had taken through them and demanded full settlement. This is an unsecured loan not a CC debt. They stated i had to be in the country to process the insurance? i asked them to send me the T&C which state this. They refused. I left enough cash in the account to meet payments for 8 months regardless, had they processed insurance a further 6. Usual story here, i continued to communicate with the bank directly by telephone and by email, they wouldn't accept any scenarios or payment plans other than full. I secured a new job offer in UAE and stated i could return and continue to make payments if they would confirm no court action had been taken They refused to do simply stating case filed. As i result i could not risk returning and being arrested, this would lose me the job and what then? no good for me or them. I returned with my family to UK in Spring 2017 having got a job, that job ended in June 2018 and still not working. (my wife is keeping us afloat) - I continued to email the bank asking if i could come to payment agreements, again they refused anything other than a full settlement! Crazy. i received a number of threatening calls to my work place from debt collectors in Dubai (coincided but i cannot prove with losing job) I started to then get emails and letters from IDRW including threats. I did not respond I have now had the same from CWD ... first emails and a letter, and now attaching a SD to an email. (i have not had this by post or served in anyway) They include the statements from the bank. They included a terms and conditions relating to credit cards (i had 2 but i settled these)they did not include and t & c for the loan as i can see. this was this week i have not responded. I own a property with less than 5k equity in it, which would be wiped out under the terms of the mortgage for a further 4 years yet. I have CC debt in UK which we are managing. Im not working through ill health now, but hope to be back fit some time soon From what i have read i should continue to ignore unless they serve the SD or take other court action? obviously a little stressed. Thoughts?

Hello all, First of all a slight intro, I have never been to Dubai in my entire life but my brother did live over there for a year a few years ago. I was at work in the UK earlier and received a call on my company (landline) phone, I was advised that it was a debt collection agency called Tahseel calling about my brother's apparent credit card debt. Initially I was baffled at how they managed to get hold of my company phone number but i'm sure my details are readily available online somewhere and they have obviously linked me to my brother in some way. They were asking for his contact information, phone, email and all sorts of stuff. I don't speak to my brother often and when we do it's over facebook messenger or something, usually around xmas time! As far as I know he isn't working at the moment and I told the agent this. I said that I don't have any contact details for him which is true. I have two numbers in my phone for him that are years old, neither of them work. I asked how much he owed and surprisingly they actually told me. They only said it was a credit card debt. he gave me his email address etc and asked me to pass it on to my brother when I see him which I suspect won't be for a while. My questions I hope someone can help with are: 1) Now I have somehow been linked to my brother's debt, if I were to ever visit Dubai would this cause me any problems? I don't want to find myself arrested at the airport in a country I've never visited before due to my brother's debt... 2) What will happen is this debt is not settled? Will I continue to be harassed until the end of time. I spoke to my mother who also confirmed that she regularly receives phone calls from this same company and tells them that she does not have contact with my brother, which is genuinely true. 3) Does anyone have any solid advice I can pass on to my brother when I eventually do speak to him? I could be wrong but I doubt he has any means of repaying this debt. Any help would be great guys.

Hi My son worked in Dubai until losing his job in January this year. Like many others here he left the country rapidly due to bounced security cheque leaving behind a debt ( years rental loan) of approx. £11k His Dubai bank account had money left in it and direct debit continued to service loan until April He hoped he would get a job back here in Uk and continue paying it off Unfortunately soon after securing a job here he underwent life saving surgery and was on sick pay for 8 weeks His contract was terminated and obviously he could no longer afford payments during this time CDW contacted him wanting full settlement of now £ 19k We sent them income expenditure which showed a negative balance ( he has no assets) but they have now sent a statutory demand for full amount If he files for bankruptcy ( I'm assuming as he has no assets they will not bankrupt him ) will the Dubai debt be included in the UK bankruptcy I would appreciate any advice you can give. Thankyou in anticipation Nicky ( worried mum)

Hi All, I left Dubai a year ago leaving behind approximately 75k (Stirling) in debts (loan and credit cards). I was basically put in a terrible position by my UAE employer and ended up taking the easy way out - probably not the right thing to do but I didn't really fancy seeing what the inside of a UAE jail looked like. On return to the UK we sold our home and moved to a different part of the country. I have recently been contacted by a DCA by email and I am now worried that I could be hit with court action / repossession etc. Can they touch our assets?

I returned from Dubai in early March having left behind 30 000 AED debt on an FB credit card. 12/07/16 I received a letter from CWD advising me:- "We have been instructed by our client to engage with you and to make arrangements for the repayment of your credit card debt to our client." The debt is apparently now 47 000 AED. I have to respond before 2nd August otherwise "a fixed legal charge of £1500 will be added to your account" Also "Once proceedings are commenced legal costs are charged on a time spent basis. I left Dubai penniless and have overdrafts and credit cards in the UK, and have no ready cash whatsoever. I am however a homeowner, which has a degree of equity. Are CWD able to force me to sell my home to satisfy this debt? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Dear unclebulgaria67, I've read several responses from you in this thread regarding debts in Dubai and wonder if you could offer some advice. My wife spent 18 (awful) months in Dubai where she secured a good job working for a company which was a subsidiary of the government. After 2 months she was unceremoniously sacked for no reason by her Emirate female boss. The job was very well paid and during that short time she had been offered and taken advantage of credit cards from her bank. It took a while for her to find another job but was then earning less than half of her original salary. Over a period of about 12 months she relied on the credit cards to cover rent, school fees and other living expenses. Her father was later taken seriously ill and she had to leave Dubai at short notice to look after him. She left debts behind of around £44k. This was about 6 months ago when she returned to the UK. She has recently started her own business and now has an income. As you can imagine the bank has been chasing her via email for a while and she recently responded offering to start repaying the debt. She offered to pay a small monthly amount to start and then increase the payment as her business becomes more successful. The guy she is corresponding via email with has been quite aggressive and all but laughed at her offer. She then offered to increase the amount but despite her offering to pay an initial £4k and then minimum monthly payments of £500, he is threatening to pass the case to interpol to track her down in the UK and take legal proceedings. Please can you offer any advice on what she should do about this as it's causing a lot of stress for her which she could do without following her awful experiences over the past 12 months. Thank you in advance.

morning, I am about to leave Dubai- I will not be able to clear my debt but will continue to pay. I have been told they will try and cash my security cheque, which will bounce, and then make a police report. You have said on one of your posts that transit through Dubai International will not be a problem. There would only be a problem if you clear Dubai customs and enter the UAE- is there any way I can verify this fact? My new job will mean a lot of flights and Dubai is a natural hub. Many thanks

Hi, Thanks in advance for any help and advice! I left Dubai in July 2010 and had a car loan. I took the car back to the dealer and spoke to the bank about the remaining amount due on the car loan before I left. I was leaving relatively quickly and had about 3 weeks to sort all of this out. The value of the car was about the same as the amount left on the loan. I think there might have been AED 10,000 difference . I spoke to the bank and had to wait two weeks to get a letter with the remaining loan amount before I could settle. Unfortunately the bank was late with this letter and I got on my flight and left this behind. This was possibly a little naive. 5 and a bit years later I have received a letter from a debt collection agency asking for AED 169,000 (approx £25,000). I think they have sent the letter hoping they have the correct address as I do not think they are 100% sure that I live here. Can i ignore the letter or should I respond? I am worried about responding as the amount is so much! I really cannot aford £25,000 - we'd have to sell our home to pay such a debt.

Hi there, I'm in a similar situation. Are you definitely sure regarding your last point? If so, this is very informative. Thanks and kind regards.

Dear CAG, I am a UK citizen who is resident in Dubai, UAE. I lost my job a couple of weeks ago and am not having success in finding employment. I have a personal loan for AED 180,000 (around 30k Sterling) and in 10 days, the next payment will default. I am acutely aware of the penalties of this. My security cheque will be bounced criminalising me and making me eligible for a prison term. I have booked a flight back to the Scotland and I am looking for some advice. I have been crawling the web for the last week non-stop to find any case of a UAE bank successfully recovering a debt from a UK citizen when they have returned home. I have recently started emailing UK debt collection agencies under the guise of representing a (non-disclosed) UAE bank to probe their powers in collection but have yet to receive a response that tells me they have any legal jurisdiction. They tell me that they have 'legal rights to pursue' but that just sounds like they are allowed to chase the money, not actually legally recover it through a court. Can anyone confirm this? I know this question has been posted before, but I would like to provide more detail. I am an Emirates NDB customer and they are one of the largest banks out here. Has anybody been in my situation with this bank before? I am fully aware that once I return to the UK, my debt will most likely be sold to a collection agency. Does the UAE bank have any other option to recover the monies? Once the debt is sold, what is the best course of action to get the debt collectors off my case? I will be moving back to my elderly mother and I don't want them turning up making threats. Any advice on this would be hugely appreciated. A worried Scottish gent. JR

Any follow up to this? Looking for advice on how to tackle CWD myself. Thanks

Can anyone provide advice on the thread title, please confirm and I will provide chapter and verse through private message to ensure I do not prejudice my case Many Thanks in advance

Hi, without going into details, the why and how etc due circumstances within and without of my control I have recently returned to the UK after living in Dubai for several years. I have left behind Mortgage debt, loan and credit card debt as a last resort, anyone who knows about Dubai will understand why. What are the legalities with regard to recovery? I understand if I return to the UAE I'll be jailed until the debt is cleared but if I don't can any debt incurred in UAE be recovered in UK? I'm looking for advice only, please don't judge as I understand my circumstances to be far from unique. Comments and advice is appreciated, thanks

I have recently returned to the UK and have approx £3k debt on my credit cards over in Dubai, I have explained that I am now having to declare bankruptcy in this country and is there anything that I should do on their behalf i.e. include the debt in my paperwork!! All they keep saying is call this number to make a payment!! Going round in circles !!!

Ok, where do I start. I need advice / guidance on my current situation. I was living, working in Dubai UAE for the past 8 years. Everything was going extremely well until I invested in a gold mining company which turned out to me a huge global [problem]. Unfortunately, I was tied into this [problem] for a few months before it went bad, I thought it had potential so took a loan to increase my share amount, 2 months later they stopped paying dividends and I was stuck with a substantial loan... I continued to pay regardless over the next 2 months only to be dropped with the news my job was on the line due to company restructure. Now I really started to panic, if I lose my job I wouldn't be able to pay anything... This is when I started to evaluate the possibilities, unfortunately one of the scenarios was been arrested and my passport taken from me for been a flight risk for missed loan payments. I took the decision to at least keep my freedom, get out of Dubai while I still could and look to find a job back home, where I could look to start a repayment plan. I left Dubai in January and still I'm finding it hard to pay my monthly living costs, let alone pay off my Dubai debt totaling around 100,000 Pounds Sterling... I was in communication with one of the lenders about my situation, I told them I was in the uk looking for work. Then everything went quiet until I received an email from a UK debt collection company threatening me... Now the second lender, citi bank for one of my credit cards have started. I have also been in contact with them as regular as possible updating them with my situation. Now they are saying my case is in the court (where i don't know) and I will have a global travel ban as the crime is regulated under international law Sec. 188 and will be arrested in the country I reside? Now I haven't got a clue where I stand, worried, no money to pay them and now it looks like the problem has now got worse. I want to take control of this situation and don't know where to start; I tried to Google international law advice and was directed to this site. So I hope someone can reply, and put me in touch with a good lawyer to represent me and give me accurate information of what will happen and how I can move forward. I have no assets and really am starting to worry someone will come knocking soon. I want to take control before this happens. Look forward to hearing from someone soon

Hello, I've been reading about this topic offline with a lot of interest and there's been some really sound advice. I was hoping the same people could offer some help in my predicament.... I've worked in Dubai for about 5 years, got a personal loan with a local bank to pay for a development project. The project when belly side up. I refused to pay due to the fact nothing was being built, and even after it would have been built, there would be no infrastructure (water, power, sewage lines) to make it habitable. There was also no way to get my money back despite legal action. The developers have since done a runner too. Despite this, I continued paying off the loan. When I was made redundant, I went to the bank to discuss about changing the payment plan, and offering the property investment as collateral. Unsurprisingly they turned it down. In the end, the banks, the infrastructure developers all fall under one roof, I had enough, it was time to go back to the UK. I wasn't happy leaving debt behind. I did want to pay as much off as I could. I left enough money in my UAE account to pay for a year's loan repayments. After 3 years of leaving the UAE, my parents receive a letter today from a UK based law firm that claims to be representing the bank. They claim they have "international jurisdiction" - does that even exists? They are requesting that I reply within 21 days with a plan of how I intend to repay them. Note I have not lived with my parents for more than 16 years, however I still have UK bank statements sent there. Does this implicate them? What should I do about the letter? Ignore it? Return it? Tell them I no longer live there, if anything at all? If they can not contact me, are they able to issue a CCJ without me knowing? And how nasty could this all turn out? I noticed a lot of similar threads deal with DCAs, but I'm being approached by a law firm.....what does this mean? By virtue of hindsight, yes I know it was stupid to invest in Dubai, and yes, very stupid to take out a loan and leave it behind. And yes, the injustice that locals get their loans wiped clean whilst expats get sent to prison (which I think is counter productive), and a bigger injustice that so called investment companies are allowed by the UAE to get hard working people to invest, only for them to get screwed and the big bogus investors do a runner themselves with no repercussions....huff, had to get that rant out the way.... But what's done is done..... I'd be lying if this isn't causing me sleepless nights. Would appreciate any sound knowledgeable advice. Ta.