UAE: How can expat pay credit card dues from home country after residence visa cancellation?

Question: I will cancel my residency visa and travel to my home country soon. I have some outstanding credit card dues, for which I intend to make monthly payments from back home. How do I do this?

Answer: Pursuant to your queries, it is assumed that you are closing your bank accounts and travelling to your home country for good and do not intend to return to UAE on a residency visa. Therefore, the provisions of Notice No. 3692/2012 of the Central Bank of the UAE about General Terms & Conditions and Loan Agreements texts drafted and approved by the Emirates Bank Association are applicable.

In the UAE, a credit card facility provided by a lender to a borrower may fall under the provisions of rules and regulations governing the terms and conditions of a personal loan. When a credit card facility is granted to a borrower, a lender may obtain a signed loan agreement or application form from the borrower, which contains the terms and conditions related to the credit card facility.

A holder of a credit card who fails to pay three consecutive monthly payments or six non-consecutive payments of credit card may be considered an event of default. This is in accordance with Article 4(4) of the Personal Loan Agreement format of Loan Agreements Formats Approved by the Central Bank of UAE, which states, "The loan elapses and all the instalments, interests and any other fees and expenses become due and payable immediately without having to give any notification or any court ruling and without prejudice to any other rights of the bank according to this agreement or in accordance with the law - in the event that the borrower failed to pay three consecutive instalments or six non-consecutive instalments of the monthly instalments without approval of the bank."

Based on the aforementioned provision of law, you are obligated to repay the instalments which are due to the lender. In the event of non-payment of instalments of your credit card, your lender may file a civil case against you in court to recover the outstanding debt plus costs. If the final judgement is not in your favour, the lender may proceed to file execution proceedings against you, and that may include a request to impose a travel ban and issue an arrest warrant against you.

Therefore, as you are travelling outside the UAE you may approach the lender from whom you availed the credit card facility and inform that you will be travelling outside the UAE and will not return to UAE. Furthermore, you may also inform the lender that you will promptly settle the credit card payments on or before the due date while you are in your home country.

Based on the same, the lender may advise you on the payment options related to instalments to be paid to it if the lender accepts your proposal to pay the due amounts from your home country. You may pay the credit card instalments to the credit card account/card number through your other bank account which you have in your home country. Alternatively, you may choose to pay by having a telegraphic transfer (TT) made from a bank or financial institution in your home country to the credit card account/card number and notify your lender about the same.

Furthermore, it is recommended to obtain a clearance letter/no-due certificate from the lender once you pay all the instalments due to the lender related to the credit card facility availed from it.

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