The Debt Panel: ‘I applied for a Dh100,000 loan but the bank gave me Dh375,000’ – The National

The Debt Panel: ‘I applied for a Dh100,000 loan but the bank gave me Dh375,000’ – The National

The British teacher from Al Ain only received Dh300,000 of the loan amount and does not know where the missing Dh75,0000 is

















Illustration by Mathew Kurian 







I am a 52-year-old teacher from the UK and I owe Dh185,000 on a loan I took out in October 2018, which I pay off in monthly instalments of Dh11,340.



I explicitly told the bank I wanted a 12-month loan for Dh100,000 to cover my rent for a year - something I used to do with a previous lender. The two relationship managers kept informing me that a larger sum over a longer period would be better. I stood by my position and insisted they only give me what I had requested.

I was provided with a series of documents to complete. I was then told to only fill in my personal details and sign the document. I asked them about the remainder of the forms but the relationship managers said they could sort that out. I needed the loan for rent so followed their instructions.

I was then told that once everything was processed and the account opened, as well as the