Reader complaint
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  • Bank offered deferral of loan payment since the customer is paying on time
  • Deferral request has failed as the customer does not have direct debit standing order
  • Bank has resolved the matter after Gulf News intervention

I have car loan with Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) since 2014 with no payment failure whatsoever and the payment was direct debit from Emirates NBD. I moved my salary to First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) three years ago and ever since, I am paying the car loan at the machine each month.

I requested for a payment deferral in July, which they offered to me since I am paying on time and this was perfect timing for me as I was going on vacation. I went to the Mall of the Emirates branch and submitted the request. I also paid the Dh100 fee and the employee confirmed to me that it is done and no need to receive any SMS or email as it is system process. Hence, I used the money to pay for my vacation charges. After a week of submission of the request they called me and said it has failed as I do not have direct debit standing order, which does not make sense since I am paying them on time and they have the full record.

I paid the Dh100 fee and the employee confirmed to me that it is done and no need to receive any SMS or email as it is system process.

- Mr Amir Asaad Ibrahim Bacha, Dubai

I was not able to pay as I mentioned that I used the money and they refused to refund the Dh100 fee and there was no time to rearrange the money or to raise the complaint to their management to find a solution as the due date of loan installment was next day.

I complained after that many times and they keep on sending me payment reminders that my account has outstanding balance and not a single action was taken from anyone at DIB, which is very disappointing. Poor customer service and this will affect my credit record as a defaulter.

I need them to remove the penalty, confirm the deferral and remove the non-payment record from my statement.

From Mr Amir Asaad Ibrahim Bacha

Dubai
 

The management of DIB responds: DIB would like to confirm that its Customer Support Excellence team has been informed about Mr Amir Asaad Ibrahim Bacha’s situation. We are pleased to say that the team has contacted Mr Bacha and the matter has been resolved. We now consider the case to be closed and look forward to helping Mr Bacha in any other way we can.

At DIB, we greatly value our customers and ensure that their requests or concerns are addressed and resolved in the best possible manner.
 

(Process initiation: December 6, 2018. Response from organisation: December 30, 2018. Process completion: January 2, 2019.)
 

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.