As part of ‘The Debt Panel’ discussion, The National published an article about a banker living in the UAE who dedicates over 80 per cent of his monthly salary to paying off loans and credit card balances he collected after his sibling’s failed business.
I work in a bank and over 80 per cent of my Dh9,500 salary goes towards paying off my loans and credit cards. In total I owe Dh183,500 on three loans (two in the UAE and one in India) and six credit cards. Every month Dh8,000 goes on the repayments with just Dh1,500 for me, my family and the repayments for the loan in India. I built up this debt after my brother’s business failed due to fraudsters and he was left with outstanding debts. I took out credit to help him as he had court cases against him and at one point was jailed; he is now back in India and still struggling to get back on track as he is suffering from depression. I am finding everything very difficult as I am the only member of my family working and I take care of everyone. My liabilities are:
Bank loan 1: Dh65,000
Bank loan 2: Dh21,400
Credit card 1: Dh10,800
Credit card 2: Dh12,000
Credit card 3: Dh14,500
Credit card 4: Dh5,900
Credit card 5: Dh5,900
Credit card 6: Dh18,000
Bank loan in India: Dh30,000
I have approached my banks for buyouts but because I work in a bank and my debt burden ratio is quite high I have been turned down. So how can I clear my liabilities?
Ambareen Musa, Founder , CEO of Souqalmal.com and one of the debt panelists had the following to say about this.
The first step is to figure out how to bring your debt burden ratio (DBR) down from the existing 80 per cent to well within the 50 per cent threshold mandated by the UAE Central Bank. Since you work for a bank, you already know the implications of having a DBR that’s too high…
For full article go to The National
