How to complain about a bank in the UAE, and when to go to Sanadak

To complain about a bank in the UAE, write to the bank first: it must acknowledge your complaint within 2 business days and send a final answer within 30 business days. If you are not satisfied, take it to Sanadak, the free, independent ombudsman for banks, finance companies and insurers licensed by the Central Bank, once 15 calendar days have passed since you complained.

Key takeaways

• Always complain to the bank in writing first and keep the service request (SR) number it gives you.
• The bank must acknowledge your complaint within 2 business days and send a final answer with reasons within 30 business days.
• Sanadak is free, but may reject a complaint if you did not complain to the bank first and wait 15 calendar days.
• You have 3 years from the conduct, or 2 years from when you learned of it, whichever ends later, to go to Sanadak.
• Appealing a Sanadak decision costs AED 500, which Sanadak can refund if the appeal goes in your favour.

The route is the same for every bank and finance company licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE). For the rules lenders must follow, see your rights under the consumer protection rules and our other Borrower rights guides.

Step 1: complain to the bank

Every complaint starts with the bank: Sanadak may reject a case the bank has not seen.

How to complain

Use a channel that leaves a written record: the bank’s app, online banking, its complaints email or a signed letter at a branch. Every bank must show its complaints email and phone number on its website, on receipts and in its branches.

The bank should give you a unique service request (SR) number; quote it in every follow-up and in any Sanadak complaint. If front-line staff cannot fix a problem you raise in person or by phone, the bank must tell you that you can complain in writing. If you cannot use its official channels, it must help you record the complaint, and you can authorise someone to complain for you.

How long the bank has

The bank has 2 business days to acknowledge your complaint and 30 to send its final answer.

Bank's acknowledgement of a complaint

2 business days

A bank or other licensed institution must acknowledge a written complaint within 2 complete business days.

Bank's final response to a complaint

30 business days

A licensed institution must send its final written response to a complaint, with detailed reasons, within 30 complete business days of receiving it, or another limit the Central Bank sets.

The final response must accept or reject the complaint, in whole or in part, give detailed reasons for any rejection and explain how to escalate. If the bank misses the deadline, it must tell you in writing why. It must also tell you in writing of your legal right to go to Sanadak, with Sanadak’s contact details.

Step 2: take it to Sanadak

If the bank has not answered, or its answer does not settle the matter, take the complaint to Sanadak. The Central Bank set up Sanadak in 2023 as an independent ombudsman unit with its own legal personality. Filing is free for consumers and SMEs.

Who Sanadak covers

Sanadak covers every financial institution and insurer licensed by the Central Bank, and takes complaints about products such as bank accounts, credit cards and personal loans. You can file as an individual, a sole proprietor or an SME. The complaint must be about the institution’s conduct: how it provided or offered a product, a refusal on discriminatory grounds, or a loss caused by deceptive, misleading, fraudulent or unfair conduct.

When you can file

You must have complained to the bank formally and given it time to answer.

Wait after complaining to the bank

15 calendar days

Sanadak may reject a complaint if the consumer did not first complain formally to the bank or insurer, or did not wait 15 calendar days after raising it there.

After 15 calendar days, Sanadak’s eligibility checker accepts a complaint if you have had no written reply or are not satisfied with it. Sanadak may also reject a complaint that:

• is or has been before a UAE court;
• is identical to a complaint already filed;
• has already been settled between you and the bank;
• is outside the Central Bank’s regulatory mandate;
• materially relates to the bank’s risk management, internal pricing policy or anti-money laundering practices.

Time limits

You have 3 years from the conduct, or 2 years from when you became aware of it, whichever ends later.

Deadline to complain to Sanadak

3 years / 2 years

A complaint must reach Sanadak within 3 years of the conduct complained about or 2 years from when the consumer became aware of it, whichever ends later.

For conduct that went on over time, such as a monthly fee, the clock starts when it stopped. Sanadak can accept a later complaint if it considers that fair, for example where the bank did not tell you about your right to go to Sanadak.

How to file

Check your eligibility on the Sanadak website, then file online or in the Sanadak app; its submission page also mentions phone and in-person filing. Complaints about banks and finance companies go through a form at crm.centralbank.ae, linked from Sanadak’s site, and you can track progress online or in the app. Sanadak works in English or Arabic.

Sanadak contact number

800 72 623 25

Sanadak can be reached on 800SANADAK (800 72 623 25), by email at [email protected], or through its website and mobile app.

Include your complaint to the bank, any reply, the SR number and your evidence. Sanadak may ask either side for more information.

Sanadak's acknowledgement of your complaint

3 business days

Sanadak says it acknowledges receipt of a complaint within 3 business days and gives an initial response to the consumer and the institution within 15 calendar days.

Worked example

Credit card late fee of AED 300 against the AED 230 cap

The fee, the timeline and the bank’s working week are illustrations. The statement is assumed to show the fee before VAT.

1. Amount above the cap: AED 300 − AED 230 = AED 70 before VAT. The complaint asks for AED 70 back, plus the VAT charged on it.
2. Day 0: you send the complaint in writing and receive an SR number.
3. By the end of business day 2: the bank must acknowledge it in writing.
4. Calendar day 15: with no written reply, or a reply you are not satisfied with, Sanadak’s checker treats the complaint as eligible.
5. By business day 30: the bank’s final answer is due. With five business days a week and no public holidays, 30 ÷ 5 = 6 weeks.
6. You file with Sanadak free of charge, attaching the complaint, SR number, statement and any reply.

The disputed amount is AED 70 before VAT, and the complaint can go to Sanadak from calendar day 15.

What Sanadak can and cannot do

Sanadak upholds, partly upholds or rejects a complaint, with written reasons. If it finds for you, it can direct the bank to put things right.

What Sanadak can direct a bank to do

Directions to put it right

If a complaint is upheld in whole or in part, Sanadak or the Appeals Committee may direct the institution to review, rectify, mitigate or change the conduct or its consequences, explain it, change a practice, or recommend that it pay a reasonable amount for actual loss or harm; the institution must comply within the set period, and a refusal is reported to the Central Bank for enforcement action.

Grounds for upholding a complaint include breaking a Central Bank regulation, deceptive, misleading, fraudulent or unfair conduct, and failing to give a satisfactory explanation. The bank may not try to recover its costs of the process from you.

What Sanadak does not do:

• Argue your case. It can help you understand the process, but it does not advocate on your behalf.
• Second-guess pricing or risk management. Complaints that materially relate to a bank’s risk management or internal pricing policy can be rejected. Breaking a Central Bank regulation, such as charging a fee above a cap, is a ground for upholding a complaint; a complaint that a price is simply too high may count as pricing policy instead.
• Take over court cases. It can reject a complaint that is or has been before a UAE court, or one it thinks a court should decide.

Appeals

Either you or the bank can appeal Sanadak’s decision to its Appeals Committee.

Fee to appeal a Sanadak decision

AED 500

Appealing a Sanadak decision to its Appeals Committee costs AED 500 per appeal; Sanadak can refund the fee if the decision goes in the appellant's favour.

Deadline to appeal

30 business days

Either party may refer a Sanadak determination to the Appeals Committee within 30 complete business days of its issue; if no appeal is made in that time, the determination is final and enforceable.

Sanadak’s FAQ says the committee aims to decide within 20 working days of receiving all documents, which may be extended, and Sanadak calls the committee’s decision final. The Chief Ombudsman can waive fees for complainants with little or no means.

Step 3: the courts

For complaints against banks and finance companies, Sanadak is optional: you can go straight to court instead. Insurance complaints are different and must go to Sanadak first.

Choice of route for bank complaints

Court or Sanadak

For complaints against banks and finance companies, consumers can go directly to court instead of Sanadak; Sanadak can reject a complaint already before a court.

The order matters: Sanadak can reject a complaint that is or has been before a court. Court procedures and fees are outside this guide.

Complaining to the Central Bank

The Central Bank’s consumer page tells you to take a complaint about a licensed bank, finance company or insurer to Sanadak.

Where the Central Bank directs complaints

Sanadak

The Central Bank tells consumers with a complaint about a licensed financial institution or insurance company to go to Sanadak (sanadak.gov.ae).

So the “CBUAE complaint portal” is the form at crm.centralbank.ae, reached through Sanadak’s website, and the email for questions is Sanadak’s: [email protected]. Sanadak’s FAQ says complaints that were open with the Central Bank’s Consumer Protection Department are transferred to Sanadak with the same reference number.

The Central Bank still supervises how banks treat customers: if a bank does not cooperate with Sanadak or comply with its decision, Sanadak reports it to the Central Bank for enforcement action. Card fraud and disputed transactions have their own first steps, covered in card fraud and disputed transactions.

How to write a complaint that gets answered

A specific, documented complaint is easier to resolve and to review later. Use your bank’s own channel; this is a checklist, not a template.

• Who you are and which account. Your full name, contact details and the loan, card or account (the last four digits are enough).
• Dates. When the problem happened, when you noticed it and any earlier contact, with reference numbers.
• What happened. The facts in order, with amounts in AED.
• The rule you think was broken. A fee table item, a clause from the table below or a term of your contract.
• What you want. A refund of a stated amount, a correction, a closure or a written explanation.
• Copies. Statements, letters, emails, screenshots and a log of calls with dates and times.

Note the date you sent it and the SR number, then mark calendar day 15 and business day 30 in your diary.

Common complaints and the rule to quote

Each of these problems has a specific rule you can quote, with its clause.

Fees. Caps are stated before VAT, which is added on top.

Maximum credit card late payment fee

AED 230

The late payment fee on a credit card is capped at AED 230.

Fees outside the Central Bank's table

Prior approval

Banks and finance companies may not charge commissions, fees, charges or fines other than those in the Central Bank's fee table without the Central Bank's written approval; a new uncapped fee, or a change above 5% to an uncapped fee, must be notified to and approved by the Central Bank in advance.

Card closure. The bank should also freeze the card once you ask. See card closure delays.

Time to close a credit card account

45 days

A bank must close a credit card account within 45 calendar days of the request and confirm it in writing, unless a balance is still outstanding; the card should be frozen once closure is requested.

Collections. Callers must give the bank’s name, a contact number and their own name. See collection practices.

Hours for collection contact

9 AM to 8 PM

Lenders and their collection agents may phone or visit a consumer about arrears only between 9 AM and 8 PM.

Credit report. The clock starts when the lender becomes aware of the error; if you ask it to correct the data and a correction is needed, it has 7 complete business days from your request. See how to spot wrong data on your credit report; disputing errors directly with the credit bureau is covered in a separate guide we plan to publish.

Lender's deadline to correct credit bureau data

7 business days

A licensed institution must correct errors in the data it reported to the credit bureau within 7 complete business days of becoming aware of them.