Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

Hi,

I'm going to have to open a bank account, and would like to get a credit card along with it, since my US bank charges ridiculous fees for overseas transactions.

That said, I'm curious about the credit card thing here in the UAE. Is identity theft an issue? I am constantly assured about how easy it is to get a large loan here (up to 22 times my salary??)...how secure is the banking? Would it be easy for someone else posing as me to take a loan in my name?

That being said, do people abuse credit here? I suppose I'm talking about expats simply because they can leave. I remember in college, foreign students would take out credit cards, max them out, and then leave the country--and there's nothing the company can do about it. Does that happen here?

All right, enough questions. I'm off to pick a bank.

Hey Elizabeth,

People asconding has been a big problem, which is why the banks require quite alot of information, salary certificates, contract copies etc etc.

Sometimes you're required to have at least 3 months salary go into your bank account before they'll give you a credit card.

My credits cards even have my picture on for ID which is pretty good.

I’m new to the whole credit/banking thing in this area myself but I’ll gve you a personal experience I had with credit in this country.

A while back when I first decided to get a car I went in to a car dealership and they had a bank finance guy there. The guy offered me a loan for a ridicules 350,000. I don’t even have a bank account in the country and was at my job for only a couple of months. My salary although adequate is less than the median western expat salary and is no where close enough to justify this amount for a car.

Like many I moved here to try and save a little bit of money by avoiding taxes and to pay off some debt that I incurred earlier in life.(student load/credit card). Dubai can be a very big pit for salary, it is very very easy to over extend yourself here so my advice would be to be careful.

Also from my research so far I’ve found that banks can ask for a blank check when taking a loan/credit card clear any arrears if you miss payments, etc. Since bouncing a check is a criminal act in the UAE I’d be very wary about skipping town unless you plan on never ever coming back.

Another side note is I’ve heard phishing and hacking are becoming more and more prevalent here and many banks are not prepared to handle this appropriately. Banks are rapidly improving but just something to keep in mind. (I’m not in banking so this is just something I’ve heard, not sure the validity)