“Dear Steve,
Two (2) years ago I moved here in Canada from Dubai, UAE leaving around AED 85,000 of credit card and personal loan liabilities, which now has an outstanding balance of AED 110,000. I accumulated this amount of credit since I lost my job twice. The first one is for six months and second one is for seven months.
Just recently, they were able to trace my location and were do I work here in Canada. A certain person, whom he represent himself as bank personnel in legal department sent several e.mails to our company’s mail and even send via fax my account with stamp from the police that my account is approved for a police case.
He sends me messages and threatens me that Dubai CIDG will hunt me here in Canada since they already know my location and deport me to the Philippines if I will not pay my total liabilities. I want to settle my accountabilities, and negotiated for installment payment, but to no avail. I don’t have money to pay it one-time.
Would they be able to deport me in the Philippines and lose my permanent residency status here in Canada?
What is the worse case scenario that they can do against me?
What is the best thing that I need to do now, considering my financial situation?
Looking forward for your feedback. Thank you so much.”
Don’t miss our free Get Out of Debt – “How To” Guide Series on a number of topics, for loads of practical advice, tips, and help to beat back debt. – Click Here
The Answer
Well it sounds like we have a couple of different issues. The first is the debt you left in Dubai. In a perfect world it would be a good idea to make some arrangement to repay that debt and clear it. Dubai does not have a process for consumer bankruptcy. If you can afford a repayment plan you can contact the lender or an attorney in the UAE to represent you with the creditors.
The second part about being approved for a police case sounds plausible and like a collections trick. in Dubai the police are buried in cases for bad debt. And it is true that people do get sentenced to jail in Dubai for delinquent debt. But I’ve never heard of anyone getting deported back to Dubai to stand trial or face jail.
I would seriously doubt that there is anything they can do now to impact your residency status in Canada. According to the Canada website, someone that is convicted of a “serious crime” could be deported. – Source
For consumer debt, and especially the amount you owe, about $30,000 USD, it would be very unusual for your case to be considered “serious.” It’s a cvil matter between you and your creditor. The only situation I’ve heard that is even remotely possible would be if you had an active police case against you and you then went to a GCC country around Dubai. Those countries do cooperate with each other.
Please post your responses and follow-up messages to me on this in the comments section below.
Get Out of Debt Guy – Twitter, G+, Facebook
If you have a credit or debt question you’d like to ask just use the online form. I’m happy to help you totally for free.
