How to choose the right bank: Your best bet is to rely on word of mouth. To find out what bank to choose, go around your office or ask some friends and see what their preferred bank is. Yes, you will come across many different opinions but after asking enough people you’ll get an idea of what bank they lean more towards. You can check out the bank’s website or even visit one of their branches and speak to a representative but the truth of the matter is you will never have a bank, or any company wishing to profit, tell you the truth about their services.

Below are a few preferred banks given to us by www.bestinme.com:

ME Bank* * * * *
I went to Me Bank for their online facilities. But I find the bank overall very user friendly and ready to work with consumers. I like their loan features and their cards have a lot of added benefits that come in handy for travel.

AK, Deira

RAK Bank* * * *
I love Rak Bank. They are less formal than the other banks, and try to make my life easier with all the aspects of my banking needs. I enjoy a low rate for loans and credit card is free! RakBank is constantly coming up with features to help me and my family.

YGB, Dubai

Dubai Bank* * * *
Dubai Bank's services and products are wonderful, and I think that their offerings are world class. I wish they had more branches around the city. .

SW, Jumeirah Beach

Mashreq Bank* * *
AMM painted our office with a whole team in 2 days, and they did a good job. The manager is a good man who knows to pick good paint at good price. The workers cleaned up everything and we were pleased with the service.

Home Financing Tips
If you are considering buying a home in Dubai with the aide of the abundant home financing services this country has to offer here are a few factors to consider:

Banks offer many different modes of home financing at different rates and percentages but there is always a little catch. When you read an advertisement that says a certain bank is willing to finance 90% of your home they mean 90% of the market value of your home. Therefore if you purchase a home through a broker or a previous owner the bank will not offer you 90% of the amount on your sales and purchase agreement. They will send a professional to your dream home that will then evaluate what he would expect the market price to be on your home. Given brokers have certain fees for helping you find a home, the market value is normally less than that of the sales and purchase agreement. If you really want to hold banks to their word, it’s recommended that you purchase your property directly from the developer as the developer would have no reason to sell the property above market value. In that case banks do not even bother to send an evaluator and consider the price on your sales and purchase agreement market value.

Self employed applicants are normally considered wealthy prospects with higher chances of repaying back their loans but in the U.A.E they are considered a bit of a risk factor. It is easier and requires less documents for an employed applicant to obtain a loan than a self employed applicant. It is essential to bear this in mind when considering taking out a loan.

Listed below are the documents generally requested to take out a home loan*:

Self employed & Employed applicants:
-Passport copy and copy of UAE residency
-Salary certificate (Employed only)
-Personal bank statements (For employed these statements must show a consistent salary transfer for 6 months). The bank statements must be original or copies that have been stamped by your bank.
-Pay slips for 6 months to show the breakdown of your salary. This is in case there are any salary discrepancies in your bank statements
-If you have any other loans outstanding you must submit a liability letter from the bank lender.

Self Employed:
-Company bank statements
-Copy of trade license
-3 years audited company financial statements

*Documents required vary from one bank to another

As a last little note, make sure you have good credit. To speed up the process of obtaining a loan keep these in mind:
-Make sure all the information you submit to the bank is true and valid. Do not hold back any financial information that is requested of you because this may cause discrepancies which will require more documents to explain the inconsistencies.
-If you have questionable credit and you have a valid reason for it, explain this to the bank before they ask for an explanation. Tell them up front so that if it’s not possible to offer you a loan they can tell you from the beginning and no one’s time gets wasted.
-From personal experience it is recommended to go directly to a bank in terms of obtaining a loan. Do not go through brokers. After signing a three month contract with the brokers I only obtained my loan after 8 months. I paid for their services so they could facilitate the process for me but they only seemed to complicate it.

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