Abu Dhabi A petroleum engineer is in shock after his bank drained his account to the last penny, taking not just his entire month’s salary but also the Dh72,000 he had borrowed from his company to fund his ill daughter’s treatment.
Omar Ahmad’s fault was that he had defaulted six times on a Dh5,000 monthly instalment to clear a personal bank loan.
The 31-year-old Yemeni, took a Dh250,000 bank loan a few years back. He was paying his Dh5,000 on time until last October when his one-year-old daughter suddenty fell ill and he ended up spending a large amount of money on her treatment.
The child was admitted to Mafraq Hospital and was on injections and painkillers for almost three months. “I was shelling out Dh13,000 a week on her treatment by taking advance salary from my company,” said Ahmad, who was forced to skip the loan repayments from October-April. From 250,000, only Dh90,000 remain of his loan and he still has several months to pay back the outstanding amount.
Sure enough, he was taken back when he found that the bank has taken away Dh72,000 he borrowed loan from his company along with his Dh9,000 salary.
“The bank is only entitled to take the pending dues plus the late payment fee. Recently, I made some payments for the defaulting months. Now I owe them Dh23,800. The rest is mine,” he said.
But the argument has not cut any ice with the bank. They have told Ahmad they will take his next month’s salary too to clear the remainder of the loan.
“I need money for my daughter’s treatment. I have to apply for her medical insurance, Emirates Identity. The bank has no right to take away the money that doesn’t belong to them,” said Ahmad, who has lodged a complaint with the Central Bank.
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