KUALA TERENGGANU: Those who have yet to settle their National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) study loans should not feel that they are in dire straits, assured Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh.
The Higher Education Minister went a step further to say that anyone who felt "victimised" could approach him directly to voice his or her grouses without fear.
“I will personally look into their matter with urgency and not let them be victimised for failing to settle their study loans.
“This I can assure them. And I have instructed my officers to this effect.
“In fact, I have directed my officers to look into ways to assist the borrowers to settle their study loans and not attempt to burden them further, as they are already saddled with other payments, like for housing and vehicle loans,” said Idris.
The minister said this is to alleviate the financial burden faced by study loan defaulters, the majority of whom already have other commitments and faced difficulty in securing jobs to repay the outstanding debts.
“However, those who have taken study loans must repay them, just like for any other loan. We are not writing off their study loans and they must adopt the attitude that their loans must be settled,” he said after opening the 18th International Conference for University Administrators 2016 at the Primula Beach Hotel here.
Idris added that the corporation has its way of recollecting a sizeable sum of the outstanding study loans with a target of RM3 billion towards the year’s end.
He assured all that the study loan recollection showed positive signs, with an increasing number of defaulters beginning to pay up, thanks to the initiative of his officers.
The corporation, Idris, said had managed to recover some RM2 billion and was on its way to recollect another RM1 billion by December this year.
It is learnt that PTPTN had disbursed study loans amounting to RM56.4 billion to 2.49 million students until July this year since its establishment in 1997.
The corporation has managed to recover only an estimated RM8 billion over the past 20 years, resulting in about 1.3 million defaulters being blacklisted under the Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS).
This has brought about hardship to the defaulters as they are unable to secure loans for other purposes, let alone jobs to repay the outstanding debts.