Look, let’s be real here – credit card debt is no joke, especially in a place like Dubai. You might have heard too many stories of people thinking they could just skip a payment here and there, only to find themselves in a world of trouble. Trust us, you don’t want to mess around with credit card debt and leaving the UAE without repaying it.
When Those Missed Payments Start Piling Up
According to the laws here in the UAE, if you miss three credit card payments in a row or a total of six non-consecutive payments, that’s considered a default. The banks don’t take that lightly at all.
Once you hit that default status, the bank can immediately cash any security cheques you gave them when you opened the card. If there’s not enough money to cover what you owe, they will file a legal case against you straight away.
The court can slap you with a travel ban, meaning you can’t leave Dubai. And if you still don’t pay up within 15 days, they can issue an arrest warrant for you.
What a Damaged Credit Score Can Do To You
Even if you don’t let it get to the legal default stage, just those late payments alone can damage your credit score.
With a crappy credit score, it is extremely difficult to get any kind of loan for things like a house, car, etc. The interest rates they’ll offer you will be through the roof. With a bad credit score, even getting approved for a credit card or utilities can be an uphill battle.
And it’s not just loans – a lot of landlords, employers, insurance companies…they all look at your credit score to judge how responsible you are. So a few missed payments can legitimately make your life way harder.
Additional Fees
The banks know you’re going to struggle once you start missing payments, so that’s when they start piling on the fees to make it even tougher to get back on track.
There’s the basic late fee you’ll get hit with each time. But if you go 60 days or more past due, that’s when they’ll often hit you with the brutal penalty APR. This high interest rate makes your debt skyrocket out of control extremely quickly.
So between the late fees, penalty interest, and whatever else they can tack on, your minimum payment just keeps getting more and more unreachable each month. It’s like a vicious cycle designed to drown you in debt that much faster.
Getting Professional Help for Credit Card Debt Management
At the end of the day, you have to take credit card debt seriously here, especially if you ever want to be able to leave Dubai and travel without major legal issues. Because this place does not play games when it comes to money owed.
That’s why if you’re already in over your head, it is best to call in professional credit card debt management help.
Lin International specializes in helping people deal with negotiating credit card debt situations.
The big benefit is they can help with credit card debt management. The banks will still definitely put up a fight, so having someone in your corner who knows how to wrestle with them is important. Trying to tackle this massively stressful debt situation entirely on your own is just asking for a mistake that can really harm you over in the long run.
Avoiding credit card debt altogether is obviously the ideal play. Don’t ever think you can just ignore it and it’ll go away, because that’s definitely not how Dubai operates. Get professional help early, and don’t let it snowball into a nightmare situation that literally traps you here against your will.
