{"id":962,"date":"2023-05-17T18:48:33","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T18:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yallacompare.com\/blog\/?p=962"},"modified":"2023-05-18T11:46:48","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T11:46:48","slug":"banking-in-the-uae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yallacompare.com\/blog\/uae\/en\/banking-in-the-uae\/","title":{"rendered":"BANKING IN THE UAE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Opening a UAE Bank Account in the UAE<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Everything You Need to Know<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

New to Dubai, need a UAE bank account?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When to open an account<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Before opening a bank account<\/strong><\/a>, you will need your residency visa, which normally takes a few weeks to process after your arrival. We recommend in the interim you bring cash or maintain access to accounts held abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exceptions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Some major companies may have agreements with certain banks and help you start the process before your residency is finalised<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Some international banks allow you to open international accounts prior to arriving<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where to open an account<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 There are over 50 banks in the UAE so there no shortage of options!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 If you plan to open an offshore account also, it may make sense to open both accounts with the same institution, for ease of transfers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Use yallacompare.com to help you search and compare<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to know before you open an account<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The difference between Islamic and non-Islamic or conventional banking<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 In the UAE, there are both Islamic and conventional banking institutions available. We suggest you read our post comparing the two in detail but the key principle of Islamic Banking is that it is based on the Islamic faith and must therefore stay within the limits of Sharia law<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 While both systems offer the same financial products to customers, how they profit from that relationship is different<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 With Islamic banking, all forms of interest are forbidden\u2026 the bank works to profit rates rather than interest rates and the bank and the customer divide the profits<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Both Islamic and non-Islamic banking are open to expats so we recommend you compare like for like to identify which will best suit your individual needs
High credit card rates<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 There are extensive credit card products on the market but be warned, rates are high!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The average credit card rate in the UAE is around 30 to 35% compared to around 15% is the US or UK<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Not paying off your balance in full, will therefore be a costly affair so we advise careful consideration prior to applying for a UAE credit card<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protection from the Central Bank<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The Central Bank has various measures in place to protect consumers from corrupt lenders<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Since the financial crisis, which saw many having to flee the country because they were unable to repay their debts, new rules are in place to govern lending<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 There is a cap on the maximum fees banks can charge and there is increasing competition amongst banks so always shop around for the best deals<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Credit bureau on its way<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The Al Etihad Credit Bureau<\/strong><\/a> is due to open in 2015 and will have access to consumer financial records allowing banks a much clearer idea of a potential customer\u2019s credit worthiness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The system will reduce the huge amount of paperwork consumers currently need to take out a loan or credit card<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The Credit Bureau expects borrowing costs to fall by 30%, which could help reduce the current high credit card rates<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Consumers will need to be particularly vigilant in making repayments on time and not bouncing cheques however, to avoid black marks on their financial records<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opening a UAE Bank Account in the UAE Everything You Need to Know New to Dubai, need a UAE bank account? When to open an account Before opening a bank account, you will need your residency visa, which normally takes a few weeks to process after your arrival. We recommend in the interim you bring cash […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yallacompare.com\/blog\/uae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yallacompare.com\/blog\/uae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yallacompare.com\/blog\/uae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yallacompare.com\/blog\/uae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yallacompare.com\/blog\/uae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yallacompare.com\/blog\/uae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yallacompare.com\/blog\/uae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yallacompare.com\/blog\/uae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yallacompare.com\/blog\/uae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yallacompare.com\/blog\/uae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}