Co-op loan settled, yet some civil servants blacklisted by bank

 

Salmi Said holds up a copy of the police report she lodged after discovering that she had been blacklisted by a bank despite having settled her loan with Kowamas.

PETALING JAYA: A co-operative that provided loans of up to RM200,000 to civil servants has come under fire by borrowers who were blacklisted by a bank despite having settled their debt.

The group of over 20 civil servants is now unable to obtain loans to buy houses or get access to medical treatment.

One civil servant who wanted to be known as Aida Abdullah said records showed that she had settled her loan with Koperasi Wawasan Malaysia Bhd (Kowamas) in 2019.

She was shocked to discover two years later that she had been blacklisted for missing payments for 10 months.

Aida said she only found out about the arrears she supposedly owed when she applied for a loan for her husband’s dialysis treatment.

“Today I am forced to borrow money from friends to help with my husband’s treatment,” she told FMT.

The 40-year-old also claimed that Kowamas had failed to respond to her calls and emails. She said it had not entertained her when she visited its headquarters in Kelana Jaya.

“I travelled back and forth from Alor Setar to Selangor on a bus, with my child, to ask them when my problem would be resolved, but I have been let down,” she said, adding that she has since reported the matter to the Cooperatives Commission of Malaysia (SKM).

Another borrower, Salmi Said, found that she had been blacklisted when she tried to consolidate her loans with several co-operatives.

The 39-year-old also discovered that she had “missed” payments for seven months.

“I called Angkasa and I was informed that my salary had been deducted (to service the loan) without fail,” she said, referring to Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Bhd, an umbrella body that represents 14,000 cooperatives in the country.

“So maybe the co-operative (Kowamas) received my instalments but they did not settle it with the bank.”

She, too, reported the matter to SKM and lodged a police report.

Salmi also urged the authorities to investigate what had become of her payments, a question that has been asked by many others on social media.

Both Aida and Salmi showed FMT official documents from Angkasa, confirming that they had settled their loans.

FMT has contacted Kowamas and SKM for comment. - FMT