How to complain about a UAE bank — the two steps, with a template

To complain about a UAE bank, you write to the bank first and escalate to Sanadak — the Central Bank's independent ombudsman unit — if it is not resolved. Both steps are free, neither requires a lawyer, and skipping the first is the most common reason a good complaint goes nowhere: Sanadak only looks at a complaint after the institution's own process has failed. Here is what to say at each step, and what makes a complaint work.

What you can complain about

Complaints are about conduct and process, not about how much you owe. Under the Central Bank's Consumer Protection Regulation and Standards, a bank and anyone collecting for it may not:

• Contact you outside reasonable hours — roughly 9am to 8pm — or call so often that it amounts to harassment.
• Threaten you with arrest, prison or a criminal case for an ordinary unpaid debt. It is a civil matter.
• Disclose your debt to your employer, your family or your neighbours to pressure you.
• Pose as the police, the courts or a government body.
• Come to your home or your workplace without your consent or a court order.

Beyond conduct, these are legitimate complaints too: a charge you believe is above the published cap, a refusal to confirm an agreed arrangement in writing, a hardship or restructuring request that was never actioned, or a credit-bureau entry the bank will not correct.

What is not a complaint: that you cannot afford the debt. That is a request, and the deferment guide has the wording for it. Keeping the two apart — one email asking for relief, another complaining about conduct — makes both stronger.

Step 1: the bank's own process

The internal complaint is not a formality to get past. It is the record everything else rests on, and banks resolve a great many complaints at this stage because the alternative is a regulator reading their file.

Three things make it work:

1. A dated log. Date, time, the caller's name, the number used, and what was said. Five lines of that beat five paragraphs of how it felt.
2. One specific ask. "Stop calling my office and confirm in writing that you will not contact my employer again" is actionable. "Do something about your collectors" is not.
3. A reference number. Ask for it explicitly and keep it. Without it, step 2 has nothing to attach.

Steal this: the complaint to the bank

Subject: Formal complaint — conduct on account [number]

Dear [Bank] Customer Care / Complaints team,

I am making a formal complaint about how this account has been handled. I am not disputing the balance in this email.

What happened: on [date] at [time], [name / an unnamed caller] from [bank or agency name] [what happened — called my employer's landline / said I would be arrested / called at 9:40pm]. This has happened [number] times; the full log is below.

Date	Time	Name	Number	What was said
[date]	[time]	[name]	[number]	[summary]

Under the Central Bank's Consumer Protection Standards, my debt is confidential and I am not to be threatened with arrest over a civil matter.

What I am asking for: [one specific outcome — written confirmation that my employer will not be contacted again / all further contact by email only to this address / the charge of AED [amount] reviewed].

Please confirm receipt with a complaint reference number, and the date by which I will have a response.

Kind regards, [Name] · [Emirates ID] · [phone] · [email]

Send it from the email address on your account, keep the sent copy, and put the reference number in the same folder as the log.

Step 2: Sanadak

If the bank does not resolve it, or the answer does not address what you asked, the complaint goes to Sanadak — the independent ombudsman unit the Central Bank established in 2023 for banking and insurance complaints, linked from the Central Bank's own consumer pages. It is free for consumers, and it exists precisely because "the bank looked into itself and found nothing" is not an outcome.

Two practical points. It will not take a complaint the bank has not had a chance to answer, which is why step 1 matters. And it deals in evidence: the same log, the same reference number, the bank's reply, and one clear statement of what you want. Check the current process, time limits and what Sanadak can consider on its own site before you file — those are its to change, and a filing that misses a window is a filing wasted.

Steal this: the escalation summary

Keep it to one page. An ombudsman reads many of these.

Complaint summary — [your name], account [number] with [bank]

What I complained about: [one sentence.]

When I complained to the bank: [date]. Reference: [number].

What the bank said: [one or two sentences, or "no response received by [date]".]

Why that does not resolve it: [one or two sentences — the specific thing that was not addressed.]

What I am asking for: [the same one outcome you asked the bank for.]

Attached: the contact log, my complaint email of [date], the bank's reply of [date], and [statement / screenshot / letter].

Notice what is not in it: adjectives, accusations of criminality, or the story of the debt. A complaint about conduct wins on the timeline, not on the tone.

What not to do

• Do not allege a crime. Describe what happened and name the standard it falls short of. A complaint that accuses a bank of illegality gets answered by its legal team rather than its complaints team.
• Do not stop paying to make a point. A conduct complaint and an unpaid instalment are separate; combining them hands the bank an easier reply.
• Do not complain by phone only. If it is not in writing, step 2 has nothing to read.
• Do not send everything you have ever felt. One page, one ask, evidence attached.
• Do not wait to see if it happens again. Log it now; the log is the asset.

Frequently asked questions

How long does the bank have to respond?

The bank sets out its own service standard, and it should tell you when you file. Ask for that date in the complaint itself, as the template does, so "we are still reviewing" three months later is measurable against something.

What if the caller will not give a name?

Note that instead: "male caller, refused to give a name, number ending 4471". A refusal to identify the institution and the caller is itself part of the complaint.

Can I complain about my credit-bureau record?

The bureau handles disputes about what is on your file, and the lender that reported the entry handles corrections. The how-to-check guide has the dispute wording. A complaint to the bank is for when it reported something wrong and will not fix it.

Does any of this reduce what I owe?

No. It changes how you are treated while you deal with it, and it is often the thing that makes a bank engage seriously with a restructuring request. The timeline guide covers the debt side, stage by stage.

Sources, and when we last read them

Every figure in this guide comes from one of the sources below. The date is when we last read the guide against them. Processes change without notice, so check the primary page before you file.

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When the log lives with the numbers

Hisab keeps every debt, balance and payment on one screen, so the account you are complaining about and the figure you are proposing come from the same place. It also drafts the letters in English, Arabic, Hindi or Urdu. Free, no account, records on your phone.

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