PTPTN loan cut will not affect borrowers before Nov 1

LENGGONG: The National Higher Education Fund Corporation’s (PTPTN) decision to cut its loan amount by five and 15 per cent, will only affect approximately 200,000 students who receive the loan from Nov 1, 2014, PTPTN chairman Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said.

As such, he said some 400,000 existing PTPTN borrowers, who have been receiving their loans before Nov 1 this year, would not be affected.

“Parents and existing borrowers need not worry because PTPTN will hold on to our commitment, there will be no reduction in the amount of loan given to those who receive it before Nov 1,” he told reporters after presenting PTPTN Loan Advance to 77 polytechnic students here yesterday.

The PTPTN had recently announced that, beginning Nov 1, the amount of loan for students of public institutions of higher learning (IPTA) had been reduced by five per cent, and 15 per cent for students in private institutions of higher learning (IPTS).

This was made as a result of funding constraints caused by an increase of 50,000 potential new borrowers and the reluctance of PTPTN borrowers to repay their loans after completing their studies.

Meanwhile, Shamsul Anuar, who is Lenggong member of Parliament, said the move to list the first 173,985 PTPTN defaulters in the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) from Jan 1 next year, was not an extraordinary move.

“We are firm on going ahead with the plan because we have taken into account all the aspects. We have sued and blacklisted errant borrowers from going overseas, but those actions didn’t really work,” he said.