No longer on travel blacklist but not off the hook

MORE than 400,000 National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan defaulters have been removed from the Immigration Department travel blacklist as part of Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s efforts to fulfil its 100-day manifesto.

However, this does not automatically wipe their slate clean from the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS), China Press reported yesterday.

PTPTN deputy chief executive Mastura Mohd Khalid said the corporation has only removed the loan defaulters’ names from the immigration travel blacklist but not the CCRIS “blacklist”.

She said the loan defaulters’ negative references with CCRIS will affect their personal credit rating, adding that they will know the significance of a poor CCRIS score when they apply for bank loans in the future.

“In other words, they (those who have taken PTPTN loans) should continue to service their loans. It doesn’t mean that they can put their loans aside now that there is a new government.

“PTPTN aims to help students fulfil their wish to pursue higher education, and having had their dream fulfilled, those who have benefited from the study loans should be grateful enough to repay the loans,” she said.

PH had pledged before the 14th general election that it would remove the names of PTPTN loan defaulters from the immigration travel blacklist.

Mastura told China Press the move to put loan defaulters on the travel blacklist was not a very effective measure in loan recovery as not many of them travel abroad.

Asked if the move to allow borrowers who earn less than RM4,000 a month to defer their loan repayment would push up the amount of outstanding loan payments and affect its ability to lend to new borrowers, Mastura said the corporation encourages repayment by giving discounts.