Low-interest scheme for student loan defaulters

Education fund hopes 80 per cent of 200,000 blacklisted borrowers will switch to new scheme.

KOTA BARU: The National Higher Education Fund Corporation has set itself a target of persuading 80 per cent of its 200,000 blacklisted borrowers to switch to the new low-interest Ujrah scheme introduced in October last year.

Corporation chairman Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said the campaign had been extended to March 31. “To date, we are still not satisfied at the number (of borrowers) who are supposed to convert to this scheme,” he told reporters at a ceremony to hand over a flood relief contribution at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan Kota Campus, here, today.

Shamsul Anuar had previously said that 50,000 borrowers had converted to the Ujrah financing from October 1 to December 31. The scheme has a repayment service charge of one per cent compared to the 4 per cent interest rate in the old scheme.

Shamsul Anuar said PTPTN also offered an exemption from charges for borrowers wanting to replace documents destroyed by the floods. “A charge of RM90 ringgit is normally imposed for every set of documents. The SSPN-i card is also replaced free of charge,” he said.

PTPTN handed over aid totalling RM640,290 to 9,147 students from 55 schools in Gua Musang, Kuala Krai, Machang and Tanah Merah, and a contribution of RM100,000 to the university to buy new books for its library at the Kota Campus which suffered RM9 million in losses from the flooding.

– BERNAMA