KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 — The government has announced that borrowers, individuals or micro enterprises, having trouble honouring their loan will be able to apply for postponement or reduced installments to settle their debts from their respective banks.
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz made the announcement of the initiatives as part of Budget 2021, saying it will apply for borrowers currently listed as Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) recipients, for loans of up to RM150,000.
“The first option is to postpone monthly installments for three months, or the second option is to reduce the monthly installment by 50 per cent for a period of six months,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul said borrowers eligible for the latest initiative need only contact their banks to choose either option and complete required documentation.
Those within the middle 40 per cent (M40) household bracket are also able to apply for the assistance, where they would need to make a declaration of the reduction in their wages to secure the repayment assistance.
The loan assistance programme was introduced amid calls for the government to re-implement a blanket loan moratorium as it did for a period of six months that ended in October during the movement control order.
Following the moratorium lifting, those with trouble servicing their loans were offered the Targeted Loan Repayment Assistance that took effect on October 1.
To date, Tengku Zafrul said more 650,000 applications for the repayment assistances have been made to banks nationwide, with an approval rate of around 98 per cent.
"At the same time, banks have reported that 85 per cent of borrowers have resumed repayment of their loans without seeking assistance since the end of the automatic moratorium period,” he said during his speech today.
