I have a personal loan and four credit cards with two different banks. Since April, my salary of Dh5,305 has been reduced by 50 per cent because of the pandemic and I am no longer able to pay my liabilities.
My salary is transferred to my bank and it automatically deducts my personal loan repayment of Dh2,295, which left me with just Dh357.50 to live on and pay my other debts after my salary was reduced.
Thankfully, my bank recently approved a payment holiday on my personal loan and my instalments resume again in October. This is a relief, but I still don’t have enough to pay the remainder of my liabilities, send money home to my family and pay for my daily expenses.
My debts are:
- Personal loan: Dh70,126 (Dh2,295 monthly instalment)
- Credit card 1: Dh4,759.53 (Dh1,336.19 minimum payment)
- Credit card 2: Dh3,747.93 (Dh638.80 minimum payment)
- Credit card 3: Dh6,339.59 (Dh487 minimum payment)
- Credit card 4: Dh21,918.92 (Dh 937.67 minimum payment)
I have also requested the second bank to defer my payments for my other two credit cards, which I have not been able to make any payments towards since my salary was reduced in April.
They have rejected my request on the grounds that credit cards are not eligible for a payment holiday as they say it only applies to personal loans, home loans and car loans. I am now being harassed by their collections team and they are threatening to lodge a legal case against me.
I want to resume my monthly payments and do not want to run away from my liabilities, but I am unable to do so at the moment. I am also struggling to send money home to my family.
Is there a company or a bank that would offer me a debt consolidation for all my liabilities so I can reduce my monthly payments and continue supporting my family in the Philippines? GP, Dubai
Debt panellist 1: Phillip King, head of retail banking at Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
Over the past few months, the Covid-19 pandemic has continued to present challenges to the livelihood of individuals and families. Understandably, having your income reduced by 50 per cent must have been be a great financial setback, however, we commend your sense of accountability and commitment in meeting your financial obligations.
A number of banks offer consolidation loans so it may be worthwhile researching the best one for you and your personal circumstances.
Firstly, we advise you to proactively communicate your situation with your lenders. Provide the bank with proof of your salary reduction and emphasise that this has placed you in a very difficult situation, leaving you with no means to pay for basic necessities.
It would also be worthwhile to reiterate, in writing, that you intend to diligently meet your repayments and that you remain fully committed to clearing the outstanding dues.
It is in the bank's interest to mitigate any risks of default, so they may be more forthcoming in working out new repayment terms. Therefore, I urge you to request your bank for a debt restructuring or consolidation plan that will enable you to aggregate all your existing liabilities into a new loan with a longer tenure and lower financing rates.
This will help in substantially reducing your monthly instalment payments and allow you to service the loan with your lower salary.
Alongside liaising with your lenders, there is no better time than now to extensively review your budget and rethink your expenditures. Avoid spending any further on your cards and consider contacting any friends or family for temporary support as you weather these challenges and regain control over your situation.
It may also be helpful to explore new job opportunities that will allow you to meet your repayments every month. Understandably, this may be a difficult time to secure a new permanent job.
Debt panellist 2: Ambareen Musa, founder and chief executive of Souqalmal.com
Managing your financial commitments with just half of your regular income is going to be incredibly difficult. Unfortunately, there are many other UAE residents facing the same predicament during these challenging times. Qualifying for a payment holiday is going to be very helpful, but you will need some more support from your banks to manage your finances.
You must approach your credit card providers and request them to restructure your credit card debt. This can be done by converting your outstanding credit card balance into a fixed-interest, fixed-tenure loan. However, you must also request for this repayment arrangement to be brought into force once your original salary is reinstated.
This type of restructuring will help plug the financial drain being caused by heavy credit card interest rates and penalty fees, especially now that you're unable to even keep up with your minimum monthly payments. Approach the banks armed with proof of your reduced salary and current debt obligations.
Another option is to approach your primary lender to consolidate your personal loan with all the other credit card debt. Ideally, this would help reduce your interest payments and make the combined debt a lot more manageable. However, this may be a long shot since the bank would be taking a lot more risk by offering you this facility.
You should also look into your own financial resources to see if you can liquidate some savings or assets back home to relieve yourself of some of this financial stress. If you do have some readily accessible savings or some financial aid from your family and close relatives, you could use these funds to settle and close some of your credit card debts.
Alongside liaising with your lenders, there is no better time than now to extensively review your budget and rethink your expenditures.
Further, you could consider taking on some additional freelance or part-time work opportunities to supplement your current income, and free up some more cash to meet your debt repayments.
If all else fails, you could consider getting some pro bono legal help. The Philippine Consulate in Dubai and the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi both run free-of-charge legal aid clinics every month, where lawyers offer free counseling for Filipino expats dealing with various legal issues in the UAE, including debt-related matters.
You could also seek guidance on the financial insolvency option under the UAE's new laws, and whether this legal route is a sound option for you or not.
Debt panellist 3: Stuart Ritchie, chartered financial planner at AES International
You have done the best thing possible in requesting a payment holiday for your personal loan. This allows you to use the money you’ve freed up to pay your living expenses for the next few months.
Based on your current minimum payments, however, even your full salary would not be able to cover these. A consolidation loan, therefore, will be the greatest help as it will consolidate all you owe into one affordable payment.
A number of banks offer consolidation loans so it may be worthwhile researching the best one for you and your personal circumstances.
Following this, take time to address your underlying spending issues. Based on your salary, you are struggling to afford all the repayments, send money home and cover your everyday expenses. See where you can cut back on your spending in order to alleviate some of the financial pressure you’re feeling right now.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
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Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.
Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.
"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.
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"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."
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Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)
Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)
Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)
Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)
Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)
Best Women’s Goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)
Men’s Coach of the Year
Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)
Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
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if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Seoul from Dh3,775 return, including taxes
The package
Ski Safari offers a seven-night ski package to Korea, including five nights at the Dragon Valley Hotel in Yongpyong and two nights at Seoul CenterMark hotel, from £720 (Dh3,488) per person, including transfers, based on two travelling in January
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Visit www.gokorea.co.uk
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How to turn your property into a holiday home
- Ensure decoration and styling – and portal photography – quality is high to achieve maximum rates.
- Research equivalent Airbnb homes in your location to ensure competitiveness.
- Post on all relevant platforms to reach the widest audience; whether you let personally or via an agency know your potential guest profile – aiming for the wrong demographic may leave your property empty.
- Factor in costs when working out if holiday letting is beneficial. The annual DCTM fee runs from Dh370 for a one-bedroom flat to Dh1,200. Tourism tax is Dh10-15 per bedroom, per night.
- Check your management company has a physical office, a valid DTCM licence and is licencing your property and paying tourism taxes. For transparency, regularly view your booking calendar.
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