Need everyone's help
I have unfortunately defaulted in my SABB Credit Card, which now amounted to almost 7K SAR.
I take the full blame and responsibility, and I know that because of this I must face it for the sake of my conscience and avoid further complications.
for some reason this forgotten obligation haunted on me when last week I received a call from a landline in Riyadh which I answered thinking that it was just another call from someone (since it is landline I thought that it is a recruitment call from some companies I applied online)
Then all hell break loose. I was dumbfounded to learn it was a past due collection call. The caller introduced himself (I believe he is a local judging by his accent) as from SABB bank and the call is a reminder for me to settle my unpaid account with the bank, or else they will resort to "legal" action.
As a normal reaction, I got worried and since I do not have any means to pay it ASAP (the caller told me I should settle the amount within the day at the bank), what I had in my mind is arrange for a payment arrangement directly to the bank in my own workable terms.
Nevertheless, the caller insisted that I don't have sufficient time and proposed that I will be given a discount and will only have to pay 5,300 SAR and he will offset the remaining amount. Sounds weird. But I still visited the bank with the ff. results:
1. The bank rep told me that my CC info was already not available in their system. I have defaulted for too long way beyond my timeline and they already endorsed my account to Collections (which then explains the call).
2. The bank rep instead gave me collections toll free number (800 124 8822). But I was routed to a VCR which says there is a maintenance on the system and no further assistance can be given at the moment. However I think the most important thing is that I was able to notify the bank about my intent to solve my issue and settle my obligation. So I gave myself another day to reach them and refused to entertain the barrage of calls coming thru my phone from that collection agent
I receive a personal text message from that agent (thru SMS - which is again, weird) telling me to stop my attempts contacting the bank directly for settlement and just pay my o/s debt immediately, advising me that I have to be careful and that it will be my last chance with them before they resort to legal means.
True enough to his threat, I received an SMS the next day, which appears to have been sent by SABB (there is a SABB headliner recipient) which notifies me that "due to non payment, they will cancel all my services including residence ID renewal and travel bans and will send a letter to my work according to Article 46".
My questions then for those who can help me:
1. is this a legit SMS from SABB bank? The bank rep didn't advise me anything about legalities. I was under the impression that it came from the collection agency
2. Any idea what is article 46?
3. Can they really suspend my Iqama services? I was confused what do they mean when they say "cancel all my services"
4. How can I proceed to make settlement when it got me nowhere while I visited the bank and even referred me back to their collections department whose toll free line is not working?
5. Can I settle without going thru the collection agent? They are more interested in securing the money devoid of human consideration and will likely pressure you to settle right away vs. payment arrangements?
6. Can they jail you for credit card debt?
Appreciate if you can help me shed light on this problem of mine
Thank you.