I was holding three Mashreq credit cards and was offered a settlement by Mashreq of Dh20,000 to settle after I had lost my job. The bank did not even give me my credit shield, even after paying for the same for more than four years. I thereby paid the total amount of Dh20,000 to Mashreq as per their directive, but in the Credit Report the status is mentioned as “Write off”. Due to this, my credit rating has fallen and no banks are sanctioning me any loans, which is causing me a lot of problems as I am in need of funds for my daughter’s further education.

After having paid off the amount and obtaining a clearance letter from the bank as well, I fail to understand as to why the status is showing “Write Off”.

I approached Mashreq to have this matter settled but they have not been cooperative. I would appreciate if you could kindly look into the matter and help.

From Mr Karl Rodrigues

Sharjah

The management of Mashreq responds: Thank you for raising Mr Karl Rodrigues complaint to us for our clarification.

We reviewed his concerns in detail and as per our investigation Mr Karl was our credit card customer till last year.

He was not regular on his credit card payments and due to non-payment for over 6 months at a stretch, the credit cards were reported as write off to AL Etihad Credit Bureau.

Mr Rodrigues was contacted by our collections team for the settlement of his overdue in September 2016 as he had not met his financial obligations and purely on exceptional basis and compassionate grounds, he was offered a settlement amount of Dh20,000 as against an outstanding of Dh46,747.48, also acknowledged through emails by Mr Rodrigues in his complaint.

The bank took a loss of Dh26,747.48 in this case and therefore the amount was rightly reported as “write-off” to the bureau.

Al Etihad Credit Bureau, owned by the UAE Federal Government, is mandated to regularly collect credit information from financial and non-financial institutions in the UAE to aggregates and analyzes Credit Scores and produce Credit Reports that are made available to individuals and companies in the UAE. The information submitted to the bureau cannot be altered and hence Mr Rodrigues was denied the request.

We had contacted Mr Rodrigues and advised him to pay the written-off amount of Dh26,747 in order to explore a change in his credit rating from a “write-off” to “arrangement/settlement”, to which he refused. Therefore we were unable to make any changes in his credit rating. It will unfortunately remain as Write-Off.

We would like to also confirm that Mr Rodrigues did not submit to date the credit shield claim documents, which ideally need to be submitted to the insurance company within 60 days from the date of event in case of job loss. Moreover, our records indicate that Mr Rodrigues is self-employed and hence the job loss cover does not apply to him. The benefits of credit shield cover also includes medical expenses in case of hospitalization, death or disablement, for which he was well covered.

We would like to thank Gulf News in serving our community and for bringing customer’s issues to our notice.

Mr Rodrigues responds: Mashreq has been doing this with me for a very long time. They were the ones who gave me the settlement offer and not once did they tell me that the amount, which is not paid will be reported in the Credit Bureau. If this was done in the beginning I would have reviewed the situation and consequences. If that was the case how did they issue me a clearance letter stating that all my liabilities with the bank is settled, and why did they issue me such a letter.

Unless they do not know what the term settled really means.

This was a amicable settlement done with the bank so why this twist in their dealings.

With regard to the credit shield, does having a partner’s visa indicate that I am self-employed as they claim, hence they did not approve of the credit shield. I know of cases where the visa does not state your exact job profile. I had approached them with the same at the earliest with my claim. Nowhere in their contract given to me stated the reason of their claim. I even asked them to send me the documents I had signed.

I had even approached them before I asked for help from Gulf News if I could settle this amount for which they blankly refused stating that the account had been closed and that nothing can be done.

On a lighter note, why will I need an insurance when I am dead.

Is this the way Mashreq deals with their clients or it is just one of their unjust dealing to put a person into trouble fully well knowing the consequences that will be faced by the client?

Hoping for your assistance.

Mashreq responds: Thank you again for sharing Mr Rodrigues’ response.

I did review the case once again with our Collection’s Head only to divulge that Mr Rodrigues was offered a settlement figure as a gesture, since he had lost his job.

If the cards were not closed in our books, they would continue to attract penalties and interest on monthly basis and Mr Rodrigues was in distress, finding it difficult to coup with his debts at that point.

Mr Rodrigues in one of his emails humbly requested for the same and we granted.

There is no conflict to the fact that Mr Rodrigues owes the bank monies that were written-off to provide him the much needed settlement last September.

Hence we regret to inform that his status remains unchanged in the bureau as of now. If he is still willing to repay the overdue, accrued interest and penalties to date, we can arrange his meeting with our collections manager to take it forward, post which we can also approach the bureau with a request to amend his risk status if all dues are paid up.

As for the insurance claim, I had previously stated that Mr Rodrigues would not qualify for “job loss” claim if he is self-employed, which he is as per our records. Mr Rodrigues however has not even submitted the credit shield insurance claim document to date, which ideally should be submitted to the insurance company within 60 days from the date of event as is time bound. Despite the delay, we welcome Mr Rodrigues to submit his “job loss” credit shield claim with the required documents and we shall approach the insurance company on his behalf to exceptionally review his claim, if accepted by them.

We do regret the inconvenience Mr Rodrigues has faced but unfortunately his complaint is unjustifiable. We hope the above response explains our final stance in the matter.

Thank you once again Gulf News, to be the much appreciated intermediator as always.

(Process initiation: June 4. Response from organisation: June 4. Process completion: June 18.)

Editor’s note: Do you have similar issues that you would like to raise with us? You can write to us at readers@gulfnews.com.