From what I heard once on the grapevine, Gulf banks used to write off bad debts because they were flush with cash and didn't really want to be bothered.
But with so many people fleeing with such large amounts owing, it is now cost effective, and financially prudent, for them to start pursuing debtors for increasingly smaller (if you can call 275,000 Riyals small) amounts of money.
If it was a few thousand, maybe it might be worth the risk (putting aside questions of morals, ethics and the law). But why would you risk potentially ruining the rest of your life by doing something as stupid as running off with that much money in unpaid loans?
The bank takes a copy of your passport for exactly this reason.
From what I heard once on the grapevine, Gulf banks used to write off bad debts because they were flush with cash and didn't really want to be bothered.
But with so many people fleeing with such large amounts owing, it is now cost effective, and financially prudent, for them to start pursuing debtors for increasingly smaller (if you can call 275,000 Riyals small) amounts of money.
If it was a few thousand, maybe it might be worth the risk (putting aside questions of morals, ethics and the law). But why would you risk potentially ruining the rest of your life by doing something as stupid as running off with that much money in unpaid loans?
The bank takes a copy of your passport for exactly this reason.