1. Number
PPH
C M Y K
Saturday August 13, 2016
http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my
Sabah RM1.20
http://ebrowse.bluehyppo.com
223/04/2013(032167)
16533
SPORT
Eain Yow captures world
junior squash title
High jumper Nauraj
wants to be first
M'sian in finals
=E
@EI=FFEJA@
DEI
FHA@A?AIIH
?K@A@ MEJD
FEJE?=
AAEAI
– F=CA
+1, ?DEAB
LAH
E@ELE@K=I
=A@
E '5FA?E=
F +=J=I
' – F=CA #
.=H
MHAH @EAI
=BJAH AEC
IJKC O
DK@HA@I B
DHAJI
– F=CA
)AHE?=I
+DEAIA
=JE=I
@E=JA
.HAI' $ EIJ
B HE?DAIJ E
JA?D – F=CA %
WORLD
Four dead
as string of
blasts hit
Thai tourist
resorts
Canadian
woman sues
Pokemon Go
creator for
invasion of
privacy
.4-- .4 ,-*65
By S. SHAMALA
KOTA KINABALU: Around 10, 705
Malaysians have successfully freed
themselves from the tangling web of
debts worth RM437.4 million after
enrolling in the Debt Management
Programme (DMP) conducted by
Bank Negara’s Counselling and
Credit Management Agency
(AKPK) as at June this year.
Currently, a total number of 155,147
individuals are enrolled in the DMP with
Sabahans constituting 10 to 15 per cent of
the number, the central bank’s Sabah
regional head cum credit counsellor Idris
Kasim (pictured) told New Sabah Times in
an exclusive interview.
Idris revealed AKPK, which is a wholly
owned subsidiary of Bank Negara, re-
ceived an average of 300 clients per month
throughout Sabah, who sought advice and
financial counselling provided by the
agency.
The services are absolutely free of
charge and comply with the PDPA (Per-
sonal Data Protection Act).
“The agency works as the middle person
between the public and financial insti-
tutions, namely banks to strike a deal on
restructuring their loans, whether secured
or unsecured.
“Once the agency intervenes, the loans
can be rescheduled to up to 10 years. Some
can even be settled earlier,” Idris said,
adding that discipline is the key element in
clearing the debts.
He also said that the agency was able to
request the banks to lower the interest rate
of the loans, depending on the cases.
The AKPK, he added, would deal with
each and every financial institution in-
volved to come up with a comprehensive
solution for the clients.
He recalled that a client, a taxi driver was
debt-ridden when he approached AKPK.
“He had seven credit cards and was
earning around RM3,000 monthly.
However, the credit card payments take
up more than half the amount of his
earning.
“Therefore, we advised him to resched-
ule his payments and requested for lower
interest rate. He was able to clear his
outstanding within four years,” Idris said.
However, Idris admitted that there were
certain criteria that individuals needed to
fulfil to be eligible for the service offered
by the agency.
“Firstly, they must not have been de-
clared bankrupt. Secondly, if there are
loans under advance litigation stage,
whether the bank has proceeded with
bankruptcy, garnish or seizure or the bank
had proceeded for judgment, they are not
eligible to be enrolled in the DMP.
“Thirdly, the individuals have to prove
that they have some excess amount of
money from their net income, called net
disposable income, that can be used to
settle the loans,” he said.
However, he said consideration would
be given if clients were able to negotiate
with the banks to withhold all legal pro-
ceedings.
Another pre-requirement for DMP is the
financial institution that provided the loans
must come under Bank Negara’s
purview.
Currently, there is one full AKPK branch
in the Bank Negara building in Kota
Kinabalu and three counselling offices -
one each in Sandakan, Tawau and Beaufort
- operating in other bank premises.
“In Sandakan, we are at Maybank at
Harbour Square, in Tawau we are using
RHB Bank and in Beaufort, we are at Bank
Simpanan Nasional,” Idris said.
“The office in Beaufort can be visited by
those in Kuala Penyu and Labuan instead
of travelling all the way to Kota Kinabalu.
It is even visited by Sarawakians from
Miri, Limbang and Lawas who find it
nearer than Kuching office,” he added.
There are also plans to open branches in
Ranau, Labuan, Keningau and Lahad
Datu.
The agency was set up 10 years ago in
view of the swelling number of non-per-
forming loans in the country.
“Bank Negara’s objective is to inculcate
the culture of prudential personal financial
management besides trying to create a
robust banking environment as the bank-
ing sector was facing loan recovery prob-
lems.
“The percentage of non-performing
loans was increasing year by year, hence
this agency was conceived to aid the
public,” Idris said.
The core services offered by AKPK
included financial education, counselling
and the DMP.
“Financial education is more on creating
awareness. We give about 10 to 15 fi-
nancial talks every month all over Sabah.
“We have a few syllabuses to suit the
different needs of different categories of
people. For example, students of higher
learning institutions, those who just enter
the workforce as well as retirees,” Idris
said, adding that a programme called
POWER Programme was designed to
equip individuals with essential financial
knowledge and ability to make responsible
financial decisions.
According to statistics provided by
AKPK, 51 per cent had financial woes due
to poor financial planning; failure or slow-
down in business (15.2 per cent); high
medical expenses (11.7 per cent); job loss
or loss of breadwinners (9.6 per cent);
struggling due to high cost of living (9.3
per cent) while 3.1 per cent due to other
factors.
Over 10,000 M’sians back on their feet again after enrolling
in Bank Negara’s Debt Management Programme since 2006
Idris
Reasons for debt problems