Extend loan repayment moratorium to December, says Fomca

The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) has urged the government to consider extending the six-month moratorium on bank loan repayments until December.

Fomca president Marimuthu Nadason said this is because the public will be having difficulties picking themselves up after suffering loss of income and losing jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“At the same time (the public will have to) pay up for all the debts accrued throughout the movement control order (MCO), enhanced MCO and conditional MCO ordeal,” he said in a statement today.

He said banks should lend a hand and extend the moratorium as there is a possibility that the MCO and conditional MCO might be prolonged if there is a spike in the number of infected people.

He said a longer moratorium would give affected workers space to get back into the job market, either with their existing employers or new ones if they have lost their jobs.

On March 25, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced a six-month deferment of loan repayments and restructuring of credit card balances to ease the people’s burden in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.

The six-month moratorium took effect on April 1.

- Bernama