No plans to target PTPTN defaulters through debt collectors, says ministry – Bernama
The Education Ministry does not intend to use debt collection agencies to recover unsettled amounts from 170,000 loan defaulters from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN).
Deputy Education Minister P.Kamalanathan said this was because the methods used by the agencies to recover debts were not customer-friendly.
"They (the methods) would tarnish the reputation of the education ministry," he said in response to Senator Datuk Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah's question at the Dewan Negara today.
Mohd Suhaimi wanted to know if the ministry would utilise third party debt collectors in its efforts to recover bad debts.
To an additional question, Kamalanathan said some 134,000 PTPTN borrowers with total loans of RM2.4 billion had been blacklisted by the Immigration department since October 30.
"Of that total, some 48,430 borrowers repaid their loans amounting to RM244.5 million, while more than 170,000 borrowers have been fined," he added.
Kamalanathan said since the ministry announced it would list the names of loan defaulters under the Central Credit Reference Information System from January 2015, the loan repayment amount had increased.
Following the announcement, RM74.85 million was collected between November 1 to 30, compared to only RM58.11 million in October. – Bernama, December 8, 2014.
