Tabby and Tamara in Saudi Arabia: iqama, limits, fees

Who can sign up: Saudi ID or iqama

Tabby states its Saudi conditions in five lines on its KSA help centre: you must be at least 18, a resident of the Kingdom, hold a valid National ID or Iqama, link a valid debit or credit card that will cover the payments, and have a good credit history (Tabby KSA help, "Am I eligible to use Tabby?"). Nationality is not a condition; residence and a valid Saudi-issued identity document are.

Identity is checked once through Nafath. You enter your ID details when you sign up, Tabby shows a number, and you pick the same number in the Nafath app to approve. If a Tahaquq check rejects the sign-up, Tabby's support pages say you must re-verify your phone number and link it to your National ID or Iqama, for example at an Absher machine; we saw that page only in a search preview, so treat the exact steps as not confirmed.

Tamara's FAQ asks for more general conditions: over 18, a valid and verifiable mobile number, a valid ID and a valid payment card issued in Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Kuwait, with ID verification on the first order. Tamara's support article on Nafath, as shown in a search preview, says the check accepts a National ID or Iqama plus date of birth and works only inside the Kingdom. We could not load that article directly, so iqama acceptance at Tamara is not confirmed from a full read, although the conditions Tamara does publish make no distinction between citizens and residents.

One Tabby product is limited to citizens: Tabby Save, a savings and investment portfolio, is "currently available for citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" under its KSA terms. It is not the pay-later service, so it does not affect whether a resident can split a purchase.

Spending limits: why there is no single number

Neither company publishes a fixed SAR limit per person. Tabby says the amount you can spend depends on your payment history with Tabby, your remaining balance and unpaid orders, the value of the basket and other approval factors. Tamara's FAQ lists a basket above the "allowed purchase limit" as one reason for a decline, without saying what that limit is, and its Saudi terms leave transaction limits to the user to respect.

The numbers you will actually meet are set store by store. eXtra accepts both providers from SAR 200 to SAR 50,000, and caps Tabby at SAR 1,500 for shoppers aged 18 to 21. Trendyol accepts both from SAR 100 to SAR 5,000. Max Fashion takes Tabby pay-later from SAR 50 to SAR 1,000 and instalments from SAR 50 to SAR 5,000. Faces splits Tamara into 3 payments between SAR 100 and SAR 1,500 and into 6 payments between SAR 1,500 and SAR 3,000.

Larger plans arrived in 2026. On 29 June 2026 Tabby announced SAMA consumer finance and SME finance licences that let it offer Murabaha plans of up to 12 monthly payments on purchases over SAR 2,000, up to SAR 50,000, rolled out to eligible customers in stages. Tamara's Saudi site advertises paying in up to 24 months.

Fees and what happens if you pay late

Tabby's Saudi fee page is specific: paying in 3 has no fees or interest; paying in 4 adds a one-time 1% processing fee; plans with more than 4 monthly payments can include a Murabaha profit shown before you agree, with no late fees and no compound interest. On a SAR 1,000 basket, that is SAR 0 extra in 3 payments and SAR 10 extra in 4.

If a Tabby payment becomes overdue, Tabby blocks new purchases until it is paid. Its Saudi help page adds that an unpaid amount moves the account into bad standing and a one-time Shariah-compliant legal processing fee applies to reactivate it; the page does not state the amount, so we cannot give one.

Tamara's Saudi terms say Tamara does not impose interest or late payment penalties, and its site carries the line "no late fees". The same terms allow "varying fees" as permitted by law, shown on its website, and the pages we read do not list a Saudi fee schedule. eXtra's own Tamara terms say a processing fee applies from 4 payments up, and its Tabby terms from 6 payments up, which differs from Tabby's own 1% fee on 4 payments; check the amount shown at checkout before you confirm.

A late payment can follow you. Tamara's terms allow late payments to be reported to credit bureaus and its site warns that repeated delays can suspend the account. Tabby's support pages, as seen in a search preview, say it updates SIMAH weekly, which we mark not confirmed.

SAMA licensing: how to check it yourself

Both providers are licensed finance companies under the Saudi Central Bank. SAMA announced it had licensed Tamara Finance for consumer finance and buy-now-pay-later services, bringing licensed and permitted finance companies to 65 (SAMA news page dated 3/3/2025). It later announced a buy-now-pay-later licence for Tabby finance, bringing the total to 68.

The footers name the legal entities. Tabby in Saudi Arabia is Tabby Financing Company CJSC, commercial registration 1010614810, licence No. 106/أ ش/202510. Tamara is Tamara Finance Company, licence No. 95/A Sh/202502. In both announcements SAMA asks people to deal only with authorised institutions and to check its list of licensed and permitted entities on sama.gov.sa; any instalment app that is not on that list is outside SAMA supervision.

Which of our stores take Tabby or Tamara

In our facts table of 60 Saudi stores, read on 9 November 2026, 28 name both providers at checkout or in their help pages, among them Amazon.sa, SHEIN, Namshi, eXtra, Jarir, IKEA, Nahdi, Nice One, Golden Scent and flynas. Three name only Tabby: Home Centre, Max Fashion and HungerStation. Three name only Tamara: Al-Dawaa, flyadeal and The Chefz. For the others, including noon, neither provider is confirmed; noon offers 0% bank instalments above SAR 1,000 instead.

Store rules can cost you money. Alsaif Gallery does not return or exchange discounted items paid with Tabby or Tamara. Nahdi charges its express delivery fee on Tamara orders whatever the basket value, although the fee is otherwise waived from SAR 150. Ounass, per its published terms, does not allow either provider on pre-order items.

Codes, deals and refunds

When a store accepts a voucher code, the lower order total is the amount that gets split, but store and provider offers do not always stack. Tamara's Exclusive Deals, for example, work only in the Tamara app, need you to have no pending late payments, and cannot be combined with store codes; a return can also drop the order below the deal's minimum. Almatar's published terms say instalments cannot be combined with its other offers or wallet points.

Refunds on these orders run through the provider: Tamara's terms leave refund decisions to the merchant, and, according to their published terms, Crocs and VogaCloset send Tabby and Tamara refunds back to those accounts. On flynas, per its Tabby page, the instalment plan stays in place even if the booking is cancelled, with the refund returned through Tabby.

Questions shoppers ask