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I was working for seven years but lost my job in December 2019. I took out a personal loan of Dh128,000 while I still had a job and paid Dh2,671 in monthly instalments. When I was made redundant, my gratuity of Dh30,000 was used to pay down my loan.
I explained my employment situation to the bank and asked if it was possible to reschedule my loan and pay between Dh800 and Dh1,000 a month. However, they said they could only lower the instalments to Dh1,626 a month, which I cannot afford to pay as I am still looking for a job.
The bank’s collection department has been calling him continuously and asking for a single-payment settlement of Dh15,000 or to pay Dh2,000 per month.
Before the collection department started calling my brother, he also received an email from the bank that offered to convert the overdue amount into a 48-month loan. He replied to that email and I have also tried contacting the bank on his behalf to accept the offer, but we have been unable to reach anybody.
Is there any option to convert the amount into equated monthly instalments so I can at least help him settle the debt? Or would it be better to request a payment holiday under the Targeted Economic Support Scheme (Tess) to give us some breathing space and more time sort out this issue?