How to Get Your AECB Credit Report in UAE?

AECB Credit Report: How to Get Yours and Fix Errors

If you're applying for a loan, a new credit card, or even a post-paid SIM in the UAE, the bank or telco is pulling your AECB credit report before they say yes. Honestly, most clients only discover what's on it after they've been rejected — which is the wrong order.

Quick answer

The AECB credit report is your official credit file held by the Al Etihad Credit Bureau, the federal bureau established under Federal Law No. 6 of 2010. You can buy a copy directly from AECB through the mobile app, the website (aecb.gov.ae), or at a kiosk for AED 84 (report only) or AED 105 (report plus credit score) as of 2024. Turnaround is instant via the app. The score runs from 300 to 900 — anything above 700 is generally considered healthy by UAE lenders.

What's actually in an AECB credit report

Your report pulls live data from banks, finance companies, telcos (Etisalat/du), and utilities (DEWA, SEWA, ADDC). It lists every active and closed credit facility for the last 24 months, payment history month by month, outstanding balances, credit limits, any bounced cheques registered, court judgments where reported, and your AECB credit score.

It does not show your salary, your employer's opinion of you, or your visa status — those come from other sources. It also won't show informal debts, family loans, or that AED 3,000 you owe your cousin.

One thing people miss: telecom and utility late payments do show up. A du bill ignored for 90 days can drag your score down as much as a missed credit card payment. Frankly, this catches a lot of expats off guard when they're trying to clean up before a mortgage application.

How to pull your report

Three routes, all run by AECB directly:

The AECB mobile app (iOS and Android) is the fastest. UAE Pass login, pay by card, PDF delivered in under five minutes. This is what I tell clients to use.

The AECB website at aecb.gov.ae works the same way but is clunkier on mobile. Useful if you want a desktop PDF for a lawyer or a mortgage broker.

Customer happiness centres and kiosks still exist in Abu Dhabi and Dubai if you want a printed copy. You'll need your Emirates ID. Bring patience.

Fees published by AECB (2024): AED 84 for the credit report alone, AED 105 for the report bundled with the credit score, AED 157 for a company report. Avoid third-party "credit check" websites — some are legitimate resellers, most are not, and you have no reason to give your Emirates ID to a middleman when the bureau itself takes 10 minutes.

Fixing errors on your AECB credit report

This is where it gets practical. If your report shows a loan you've already settled, a credit card you closed two years ago still marked active, or a payment marked late that you actually paid on time — you have a right to dispute it under Article 11 of the AECB Law.

The process:

1. Raise a dispute through the AECB app or website. You'll need supporting documents — bank statement, settlement letter, closure confirmation, whatever proves your version.
2. AECB forwards the dispute to the data provider (your bank or telco). They have 30 days to respond.
3. If the provider confirms the error, AECB updates your file within a few working days. If they reject it, you can escalate to the Central Bank of the UAE's Consumer Protection Department.

In my experience, the bottleneck is almost always the bank, not AECB. Closure letters from banks in the UAE are notoriously slow — get one in writing the day you settle anything, and keep the PDF forever. Don't rely on the bank's word that "the system will update."

A warning: clearing a defaulted loan does not erase it from your report. It updates the status to "settled" or "closed," but the history of late payments stays visible for up to 24 months from the last reported activity. There's no legitimate way to scrub negative history early — anyone offering that service is selling you nothing.

When to pull your report

Pull it at least once a year as a baseline. Pull it again 60 days before any major application — mortgage, car finance, business loan — so you have time to fix surprises. And if a bank rejects you, ask them in writing whether the AECB report was the reason; under Central Bank consumer protection rules they should tell you. Then pull the report and see what they saw.

For broader context on banking disputes and consumer rights, see our banking law overview.

Citations

^[1] Al Etihad Credit Bureau, official services and fees, aecb.gov.ae (accessed 2024). ^[2] Federal Law No. 6 of 2010 Concerning Credit Information, as amended. ^[3] Central Bank of the UAE, Consumer Protection Regulation and Standards, centralbank.ae.

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