What is Credit Bureau Report (UAE)?
Отчёт Al Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB) с кредитной историей физического лица: займы, задолженности, платёжная дисциплина, необходим банкам ОАЭ для принятия ипотечных решений.
Description
Al Etihad Credit Bureau is the country's only federal credit bureau, established in 2014 under Federal Law No. 6 of 2010. Banks, finance companies, telecom operators and some government entities report to it, so the file a mortgage underwriter opens is the same file you can open yourself.
Two products matter to a property buyer. The score on its own is available through the AECB app for AED 10.5. The full credit report, which lists every facility and the payment behaviour behind the number, costs AED 84 to 105 depending on the product.
- Personal details and Emirates ID information
- Every active facility: mortgages, personal loans, car finance and credit cards
- Payment history, late payments, defaults and bounced cheques
- Legal cases and accounts referred to collections, including telecom and utility arrears
- The score itself, on the 300 to 900 scale
The bands UAE lenders work to are consistent across the market. Above 700 is read as good and reaches the sharpest pricing. Between 650 and 700 an application is usually approved on weaker terms. Below 650 is where declines cluster, and no amount of deposit reliably fixes it inside a live application.
How to interpret
Pull the report before any bank does. Errors on UAE credit files are not rare, disputes are raised with AECB directly, and a correction takes weeks that a live mortgage application does not have. Six months of lead time before you apply is the working rule, because a settled balance also needs a reporting cycle to appear.
Read it the way an underwriter does. The score is the summary; the facilities list is the substance. A closed card that still shows a limit, a car loan two payments from settlement, or a loan co-signed for a family member all consume borrowing capacity before the mortgage is even priced.
The score gates pricing as much as approval. Two buyers with identical income and deposit get different rate offers on the same unit if one sits at 780 and the other at 660, which is a larger long-run cost than most negotiating wins on the purchase price.
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The AECB file feeds the affordability test as well as the credit decision: UAE banks apply the Central Bank debt burden ratio cap of 50% of gross monthly income to the liabilities reported on it, so an unused but open credit card can shrink the mortgage a Dubai apartment purchase can carry.
The bureau only opened in 2014, so files are short by international standards. An expat two years into a Dubai posting has a thin record rather than a bad one, and banks compensate with salary level, employer profile and assets. Six to twelve months of a UAE credit card paid in full each month is the standard way to build the history before applying.
Non-resident buyers usually have no UAE file at all. Banks that lend to non-residents assess passport, six months of home-country bank statements and proof of income instead, but any UAE facility already held, including a telecom account left unpaid after a previous stay, will surface on the AECB record and has to be cleared first.
Frequently asked questions
Through the Al Etihad Credit Bureau app or the AECB website, using your Emirates ID or passport details. The score on its own costs AED 10.5. The full credit report, which shows every facility and the payment history behind the score, costs AED 84 to 105 depending on the product.
Above 700 on the 300 to 900 scale is treated as good and reaches the best mortgage pricing. Between 650 and 700 approval is usually possible on less favourable terms. Below 650 is where UAE banks tend to decline.
It can. Below 650 most UAE banks decline outright, and between 650 and 700 the offer typically carries a higher rate. Because a correction or a settled balance needs a reporting cycle to show, the time to check is six months before you apply, not during the application.
Yes. A thin file is not a bad file. Banks lean on salary level, employer standing and assets as compensating factors, and six to twelve months of a UAE credit card settled in full each month builds the record that the next application will be scored on.
Raise a dispute with AECB directly through its official dispute process, with the statement or settlement letter that supports your version. Do it before submitting a mortgage application: the correction has to work through the reporting cycle before an underwriter sees the amended file.
Yes. An AECB check is standard on every UAE mortgage application, and the liabilities it reports are what the bank runs through the Central Bank 50% debt burden ratio cap when sizing the loan.
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