CAPE Complete Review Guide 2026–2027

4. Articles 5–6: Reissuance is notified by SMS; no objection for 14 days or activation signifies acceptance. Category, terms and charges remain unless the customer requests an upgrade or downgrade. Supplementary issuance needs an authenticated request and holder due diligence; the account customer bears its obligations and receives transaction notifications. Payment responsibility differs from who physically holds the card.
5. Articles 13–15: The agreement explains fees, limit, dates, repayment choices, risks, benefits and minimum-payment consequences. Annual-fee notice at least 14 days ahead allows cancellation without that fee. Term changes require 30-day advance notice; the customer has 14 days from notice to terminate with a proportional annual-fee refund. Ongoing promotional benefits cannot be changed before expiry; notice alone does not authorize every fee increase.
6. Articles 16–21: Payment by midnight on the due date is timely; system issues must be handled fairly. At least 25 days from statement issuance precede late fees. Minimum payment cannot be below 5%, and customers cannot be forced to pay only that amount. Minimum nonpayment for more than 90 consecutive days is default but does not permit punitive term-cost increases. After payment and authenticated cancellation request, attendance is unnecessary; clearance and record updating follow within 7 business days of cancellation.
7. Articles 22–26: The monthly statement arrives 25 days before due date and includes detail, APR and a minimum-payment duration/cost illustration. At least 30 days from issuance notification are allowed for objections, with completion contact within 7 days. Resolution follows within 90 days of completion, extendable to 120 with notice. Disputed sums are not demanded pending resolution. Valid disputes require financial and record correction; rejection requires reasons and proof.
8. Articles 28–38: Cash withdrawal cannot exceed 30% of the limit. Increasing it requires an explicit request and reassessment; exceeding it is prohibited. Reducing it requires advance notice and justification. Collection requires authorization or documented consent. Same-bank current/card transfers are credited that day without a transfer fee. Paid optional features require a request and fee consent.
9. Articles 39–44: Benefit expiry is notified 14 days ahead; reward points receive 30-day and 7-day notices. Loss, theft and unauthorized use have 24-hour toll-free reporting inside and outside the Kingdom. Reporting triggers immediate suspension, SMS and a reference. Unauthorized-use handling within 7 business days includes reversal; the issuer bears post-report operations. Do not confuse this deadline with ordinary statement disputes.
10. Articles 45–48: Disclose the fee table, term-cost example and approximate international-transaction calculator. For individuals, ATM/current-account cash withdrawal is capped at 3% and SAR 75 excluding VAT: SAR 1000 gives a SAR 30 cap; SAR 5000 gives SAR 75. Local purchases and the listed e-wallet recharge are free. Maximum international purchase fee is 2%; specified reissuance is SAR 15, late payment SAR 50, and invalid dispute SAR 25 excluding VAT. These are ceilings, not mandatory prices for everyone.
11. Articles 1–5: Refinancing repays existing finance with new proceeds; secured finance may pledge cash, assets or rights. Consumer Financing Regulations exclude lease, real estate and margin lending. Documents are Arabic; an English request requires both languages, with Arabic prevailing on divergence. Each party gets a copy and the customer receives a clear synopsis with documented receipt. The agreement includes amount, term, cost, total payable, assumptions, security and exit options, not only installment size.
12. Articles 8 and 11: Term cost is fixed and allocated on a declining balance. For individuals, current administrative charges on non-mortgage financing are capped at the lower of 0.5% of finance or SAR 2,500, excluding VAT. The mortgage cap remains the lower of 1% or SAR 5,000. Early partial payments of full installments or multiples are accepted. Prepayment removes future term cost; reinvestment compensation is capped at the next 3 months’ declining-balance term cost, plus qualifying documented unrecoverable third-party expenses for the remaining period. This does not mean three whole installments. Administrative-fee source: Guide To Financial Institutions Services Fees, Article 9, items 35–36, Circular 472038000.
13. Articles 18–21 and 23: Initial disclosure is clear and written before or at contracting, with acknowledgment of receipt and reading. Estimates are identified; retrievable and retainable electronic disclosure needs appropriate consent. State APR, term cost, recurring fees, accrual start and cancellation choices. Missing credits or agreement-inconsistent charges can be disputed; withholding the disputed portion and its cost pending satisfactory resolution does not cancel other debt.
14. Articles 2–8: A lease is written or electronic and registered with amendments. A lessee specifying the asset bears the consequences; lessor approval binds only within its scope. Direct receipt requires written authorization and a condition record; supplier refusal to sign permits refusal of receipt. Personal non-use does not remove rent, but loss of benefit caused by the lessor is excepted. Operational maintenance belongs to the lessee and basic maintenance normally to the lessor; agreed reassignment excludes inherent defects. Alterations need specific written approval.
15. Articles 9 and 11–20: The lessee bears loss only for intentional act or negligence, measured at value at loss net of insurance. Lessor-caused loss and force majeure fall on the lessor, which also obtains insurance. Assignment needs its approval and pledge needs written approval. Sale to a third party transfers the asset encumbered by the lease. Registration and amendment endorsement matter against third parties. At expiry, return the asset in agreed condition unless ownership is elected under the contract.
16. Articles 22–23: Total loss terminates the lease with entitlements settled under applicable rules. Impairing partial loss not repaired or acceptably replaced allows termination or agreed continuation with adjusted rent. Official prevention of full use not attributable to the lessee terminates the lease and stops rent from prevention. Lessor bankruptcy does not automatically cancel all leases; the lessee may continue under the contract, or return the asset with receiver/liquidator approval. For economic total loss of a vehicle financially leased to an individual, rely on a report from a valuation facility licensed by the Saudi Authority for Accredited Valuers and exercise due diligence to preserve continued use before treating it as an economic total loss. Source: Circular 472055832, 17 May 2026.
17. Articles 8–10: A real-estate product needs SAMA non-objection before offering and applicable standard-contract compliance. Variable-cost contracts explain the pricing formula and changes and show installment examples at initial, higher and lower costs. They identify the property, title/integrity verification and warranties. Borrower inspection acceptance does not remove financier verification responsibility. The preamble summarizes basic information with receipt documented; read both synopsis and contract.
18. Articles 1–9: APR equates present values of disbursement and repayment and includes mandatory access costs such as third-party charges, insurance, valuation, related tax and services required for marketed terms. It excludes breach penalties, early settlement and unrelated costs such as the registration example in Article 8. It uses 365 days and assumed contractual performance. Unquantifiable variable cost is held at its initial level for calculation without guaranteeing future actual prices.
19. Articles 3–5 and 10: The standardized method covers advertising, offers, agreements, statements and any APR disclosure. Use the SAMA reference calculator, maintain controls/audit, validate automated results against it and update the website tool. Card APR assumes one year and 12 equal monthly principal/cost payments; this is a comparison assumption, not a promise every customer clears debt in a year.
20. Sections 3–5: AER reflects compounded savings return; LTV is finance divided by market property value. Calculators/tables show amount, maturity, price, installments and residual value where applicable. Published prices are examples that may vary with creditworthiness, explained in writing. For products covered by Section 4(d), if a calculator is impossible give at least three examples; observe the specific card and mortgage calculator requirements in Sections 4(e) and 4(k). Review prices monthly and reflect changes within one business day with an update date. Ads must match tables/calculators; explain floating prices and reasonably justified N/A fields.
21. Principles 1–9: Protection spans the entire relationship: fair treatment, extra care when needed, and explanation of rights, charges, risks, alternatives and termination effects, plus useful education. It requires fraud prevention/detection and incident response, data privacy with specified purposes, and a clear effective complaint mechanism. Outsourced service provision does not move responsibility away from the institution or remove the customer’s ability to compare.

Common mistakes in this chapter

• ✕ A smaller installment does not prove lower cost; it may extend maturity or conceal a residual amount.
• ✕ Acceptance of reissuance is not permission to change card category and fees without a request.
• ✕ Paying the minimum does not clear the balance; understand duration and cost.
• ✕ An automated APR calculator is not validated merely because the screen works; compare results with SAMA’s tool.
• ✕ Numbers in disclosure examples are not regulatory limits for every customer or guaranteed personal offers.
• ✕ Do not replace the current 365-day APR basis with an older annex’s 12 equal months.
• ✕ A dispute does not erase undisputed debts. Outsourcing does not remove the institution’s consumer-protection responsibility.