KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 1,574,700 borrowers who failed to pay off their study loans from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) have been listed in the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) as of 10 November, Bernama reports.
Deputy Higher Education Minister, Datuk Dr. Mary Yap Kain Ching said today that the overall amount of the loans unpaid stood at RM32.07 billion.
Dr Yap said CCRIS is not a mechanism used by PTPTN to blacklist loan defaulters as claimed by some quarters, stressing that PTPTN had issued loans to 2.6 million borrowers until the end of their studies which involved an allocation of RM59.67 billion as of Nov.
“However, the loan repayment records in CCRIS is the best method available for all financial institutions to ensure that the borrowers make payments on a regular basis,” she told the Dewan Negara sitting here today.
She was replying to a question by Senator Datuk Ng Chiang Chin on the discount offered in the 2017 Budget and the latest number of loans given out by PTPTN.
“PTPTN has collected RM10.07 billion from 1.2 million borrowers compared to RM18.84 billion which was supposed to be collected from 1.9 million borrowers during the corresponding period,” she added.
Earlier, it was reported that only RM8bil has been recovered from the RM56.4bil given out in loans since its inception.
[Source:-MD]