As part of ‘The Debt Panel’, The National published an article about an accountant living in Dubai who invested a loan of Dh 140,000 in a business project, and is now struggling with the repayment. This was due to the failure of the project to bring back it’s capital, thus resulting in a major loss.
I am an accountant and have a loan of Dh140,000 and am struggling to pay the EMI of Dh6,200. I earn Dh7,000 a month, which does not include accommodation, and I asked the lender to reconstruct my loan but still the EMI is too high. I also have another loan from another bank and on that I owe Dh33,000 I have been in Dubai in 12 years and built up this debt after investing in farming in my province in the Philippines. Due to various calamities, I wasn’t able to recover the capital – it was a big loss. I tried applying to a debt settlement facility but I was rejected because the required salary is Dh10,000; a second bank rejected me because my company is not listed. I have now defaulted on one payment for the biggest loan; I have asked them to restructure but they are demanding another security cheque – which I have already given them. They claim they will discard my first cheque when they receive the second one. What should I do?
Ambareen Musa, Founder , CEO of Souqalmal.com and one of the debt panelists had the following to say about this.
The repayments towards both your loans are way too high, bringing your debt-to-income ratio to nearly 100 per cent. Given this high Debt Burden Ratio (DBR) and the fact that you started at the new job less than three months back, debt consolidation is out of the question. The low salary bracket and working for a non-listed company don’t help your case either. It’s now time to take things into your own hands and figure out a way out of this.
First of all, you need to handle the security cheque situation with your lender..
For the full article go to The National
