Unfair to remove defaulters from blacklist, PTPTN told

PETALING JAYA: The blacklisting of PTPTN defaulters should be maintained because removing them is akin to punishing those who have been faithfully repaying their loans, say other National Higher Education Fund Corporation borrowers.

Kavi Arasu Tanjong Malai, 28, is one of those who are against the decision to remove defaulters from the Immigration Department’s travel blacklist.

“Everyone should be responsible for the loans they take out,” said the events executive.

Speaking from experience, as he was also blacklisted, Kavi said he learnt the importance of settling his debts when he was denied the chance to travel overseas.

He also said that because of the lackadaisical attitude of defaulters, the current generation could not take full PTPTN loans to further their studies.

“The terms and conditions are stricter now and the amount disbursed is also smaller,” he said.

In 2014, PTPTN reduced the amount of money available for new student loans, regardless of whether they attend private or public institutions of higher learning, by 5% to 15%.

On Tuesday, newly appointed PTPTN chairman Wan Saiful Wan Jan announced that all 429,945 PTPTN loan defaulters had been removed from the travel blacklist.

He said the entire exercise to “whitelist” these borrowers was completed on June 8, a week earlier than scheduled.

“This also fulfils the Government’s 100-day manifesto for Malaysians,” he said.

Advertising executive Jesslyn Tan concurs with Kavi.

“Not a right move because they will either take their own sweet time to pay back or they will never ever pay back,” she said.

Tan added that if someone could afford to travel overseas, then it “means they do have the money to pay but just don’t want to”.

However, she said that having all borrowers listed in the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) would help PTPTN recover the money.

She said the fear of having a bad credit record could coerce Malaysians into settling their debts.

Nathaniel Kang also agreed. “PTPTN should not encourage this by removing defaulters from the travel blacklist.

“Unless you really don’t earn enough, you should be paying back,” he said.

But there are other Malaysians who support the removal of the blacklisting.

Karishma Segaran, 28, for instance, said this was a step in the right direction.

“At least people can travel, especially if they just got a job and need to attend training and stuff like that,” she said.

However, she said just because the defaulters could now travel overseas did not mean that they should shun their responsibility to repay their loans.

“The Government should still do something to make sure serial loan defaulters pay up,” she said.