The UAE’s federal credit bureau will start work in September after a number of false starts. Al Etihad Credit Bureau said it will begin to issue consumer credit reports to financial institutions from the beginning of September, having previously been scheduled to start operations last year and then earlier this year. The credit reports will include records about consumers’ debt levels, financial obligations, credit payments, history of default payments and late payments. To date, Al Etihad Credit Bureau said it has completed the process of uploading six months of credit data and information collected from banks and financial institutions to its credit reporting system. Banks and financial institutions will have access to their customers’ up-to-date credit reports and will be able to evaluate them before making any lending or financial decisions Until now, banks in the UAE have often been unable to access data on consumers at other financial institutions when making lending decisions. Borrowers could obtain money from many lenders and run up debts they sometimes could not repay.
