Ambareen Musa, Founder and CEO of Souqalmal.com, shares her thoughts on credit reporting in the UAE, how long bad debts stay on credit reports and how this compares with other countries:
Missed debt payments stay on your UAE credit report for five years, according to the Al Etihad Credit Bureau.
The bureau confirmed the five-year cut off point after The National asked whether UAE banks are aware of previous defaults once a specific time period has elapsed.
“Credit reports include default information only for the last five years,” the bureau said.
Initially the bureau requested a two-year financial history of banks’ customers when it launched in late 2014. At the time the organisation said that the credit reports would include “consumers’ debt obligations and payment behaviour patterns for the past 24 months”.
Ambareen Musa, the founder and chief executive of the comparison website Souqalmal.com and a member of The National’s debt panel, said the new time scale means credit offences will continue to cast a shadow on an individual’s credibility as a borrower during the five-year period…
For full article go to The National.
