Court tells Dh25,000-salary worker: pay your Dh1.2 million loans

The Abu Dhabi Commercial Court has rejected a lawsuit filed by a employee seeking to reduce her monthly loan repayments, ruling that the deductions made by each of the four banks involved did not exceed the legally permitted threshold.

In its ruling, the court said that while the woman had accumulated more than Dh1.2 million in loans and credit card debt, the instalments charged by each bank individually did not exceed 50 per cent of her monthly salary, which stands at Dh25,000.

The plaintiff asked the court to urgently order the banks to stop deducting more than 25 per cent of her income, to refund what she described as excess payments amounting to Dh100,000, and to cover legal fees, Emarat Al Youm reported.

According to court documents, the claimant had taken out a Dh555,000 personal loan from the first bank, with a monthly instalment of Dh10,419, in addition to two credit cards. From the second bank, she borrowed Dh368,000, with a monthly deduction of Dh6,996, along with a credit card. She also obtained a Dh230,000 car loan from a third bank, with monthly payments of Dh4,358, and held another credit card with the same lender. A fourth bank had issued her a credit card, from which she borrowed Dh81,000.

The claimant told the court that she had no source of income other than her salary, which was also subject to other deductions, leaving her struggling to manage her daily expenses. She argued that the banks had no collateral beyond her salary and were therefore required to strictly adhere to borrowing regulations and judicial principles.

However, a court-appointed expert found that the total outstanding balance on her accounts stood at Dh1.146 million after reconciliation. The report confirmed that each bank’s deductions, when considered separately, remained within the 50 per cent cap.

In its reasoning, the court said the woman had failed to clearly specify which deductions she wanted to be halted, or which accounts were involved, rendering her request legally ambiguous. The court dismissed the lawsuit and ordered her to pay court fees and Dh200 in legal costs.