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28 March 2024

UAE's most popular: Car loan for Dh3k earners, rent loan for Dh10K earners

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By Staff

UAE residents are showing an increasing preference for products tailored to the more cost-conscious consumer, a new report shows.

This is evident in the latest ranking by financial comparison site Souqalmal.com analysing the most viewed products – credit cards, personal loans, car loans and home loans, over the period extending between April and September, 2015.

Reaffirming this consumer choice, Union National Bank’s house rent loan gets the top rank amongst the most popular personal loans in UAE. The popularity of this loan, available to those earning a minimum monthly salary of Dh10,000 with no salary transfer requirement, shows that consumers are searching for products that help them meet their day-to-day living costs more effectively, Souqalmal.com said in a report shared with Emirates 24|7.

A similar pattern emerged in the car loans category, which was topped by Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) with its Al Islami Used Car Finance offering, available to those earning Dh3,000 at a reducing rate of 5.14 per cent, followed closely by ADIB with its Used Car Finance Murabaha product.

This more frugal approach to personal finance was also demonstrated in the credit cards category, with three of the top five most popular credit cards available at Zero annual fee, the financial comparison site said.

The Cashback Blue card in fourth position from Majid Al Futtaim Finance (Najm) and the TouchPoints Titanium Credit Card with MyChoice from ADCB in fifth place also offer customers rewards on their spending, without charging any annual fee.

Also taking the top spot in the ranking was Amex, which saw its feature-packed American Express Platinum Credit Card leading the credit cards category. Available to those earning over Dh22,250, the card comes with an annual fee of Dh700.

For the fifth time in a row, Adib’s Home Finance for Expats product led the way on the home loans front. The Home finance product is available to those earning over Dh15,000 at a reducing rate of 2.99 per cent. This was one of five appearances made by the Islamic financial institution in Souqalmal.com’s latest list.

In a statement, Souqalmal.com said its team compiles the quarterly ranking from the most viewed products across the four categories: Credit cards, personal loans, home loans and car loans. Financial products only secure a placement on the top-five list if they receive the most number of views from Souqalmal’s website visitors, it noted.

“We release this list for exactly this reason – to find out the latest trends in the country’s retail banking sector and to provide greater transparency in the market overall,” said Ambareen Musa, founder and CEO of Souqalmal.com.

“Consumers are searching for products that help them to better manage their financial affairs at a time when the increasing cost of living is not being adequately matched by salary rises”.

This is the sixth list of its kind released by the financial comparison website – interestingly, only 10 financial institutions made the cut in this round, less than the 13 that were featured in the last half-yearly assessment.

“Evidently, some banks are becoming savvier at delivering products that customers actually want – upping their game in what they offer to ensure they garner the most attention from UAE customers,” added Musa. 

“Consumers always want to know what everybody else is buying into. So if a particular loan or credit card is attracting a lot of attention, others will want to find out about it,” she said.