KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 — Newly appointed National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) chairman Wan Saiful Wan Jan said today that 429,945 loan defaulters have been taken off the Immigration Department’s travel blacklist.
Wan Saiful, a Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) member who was appointed PTPTN head on June 18, said the defaulters who failed to repay their loans for tertiary education, however, would remain listed under Bank Negara’s CCRIS system that collects credit information on borrowers.
“A travel blacklist is not really a typical way that financial institutions use to collect repayment,” Wan Saiful told Malay Mail.
He also said PTPTN would conduct a review of its business model, which could take between four and six months.
“We need to instil a little bit more discipline so we behave like proper financing institutions,” said Wan Saiful.
National newswire Bernama quoted PTPTN deputy chief executive Mastura Mohd Khalid as saying in April 2017 that some 1.3 million PTPTN borrowers have actively made repayments for their loans, but RM7.9 billion was still owed by about 600,000 borrowers who have to yet to make repayments.
