Chairman: Buying new car not an excuse to postpone PTPTN loan repayment
SINTOK: Nat ional Higher Education Fund Corporation ( PTPTN) chairman Wan Saiful Wan Jan has hit out at some errant PTPTN borrowers for their selfish and irresponsible attitude in depriving others of the study loan.
He said some of them applied to postpone their repayment because they had to pay for their car loan instalments. Such an excuse is unreasonable, he said, adding that if they could afford the car instalments, they would also afford to make repayments for the PTPTN loan, which is as low as RM90 a month.
“There are many appeals. If they cannot pay ( PTPTN loan) because they are not working ( yet) or parents are sick, we can consider that, but if it is to buy a car, that is not fair,” he told a media conference at a programme at Universiti Utara Malaysia ( UUM) here yesterday. He said the situation reflected a selfish culture in society, with the errant PTPTN borrowers not knowing their priority.
“This concerns at t itude. What is their priority. They have benefited from PTPTN, completed their studies, got jobs and should settle the loan repayments so that others can also enjoy the benefit,” he added.
Wan Sai fu l said PTPTN bor rower s ea rning mor e than RM1,000 a month who had problems making their repayments through salary deduction of between two and 15 per cent could appeal to the corporation.
He said the scheduled salary deduc t ion o f the PTPTN borrowers would be implemented during the first quarter of next year, with briefing sessions on the matter to be conducted nationwide unti l end of the year.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, when tabling Budget 2019 in Parl iament last Friday, proposed the introduction of a progressive loan repayment schedule with a percentage ranging from two per cent to 15 per cent of the borrowers’ monthly income to those with at least RM1,000 in monthly income.