As part of the Debt Panel, The National published an article on a resident struggling with debt and Ambareen Musa’s response on how they can handle the issue.
I am have worked for an IT company since 2007 and my current salary is Dh9,000 with company provided accommodation. I have four credit cards with total limits of around Dh150,000 (the four cards are full) and also an auto loan for which I pay Dh1,500 monthly. I am the eldest son of my family, so I have huge responsibility to take care of my mother back in Bangladesh. I lost my father in 1995 and have to send a certain amount of money to my home country every month. My wife lives with me in the UAE and is now in her last trimester of pregnancy. I am paying even more than my salary just to cover the minimum payment on my cards. If I pay these minimum amounts, then I cannot send money to my mother and also cannot cover my wife’s treatment expenses.
Here is what one of the debt panellist – Ambareen Musa had to say:
The first step to getting rid of debt is acknowledging the problem and then reorganising your finances to find a solution. As your company is paying for your rent, there is no way for you to save on this but one option is to ask them to provide you with a housing allocation and you can find a place which will allow you to save on rent.
For full article go to The National