PTPTN uses CCRIS to ensure that loan takers settle their dues accordingly

PETALING JAYA: It’s an acronym that loan takers of the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) should be aware of.

CCRIS, or the Central Credit Reference Information System, has a list of their names to ensure that these borrowers repay their loans accordingly.

“If they are good paymasters, borrowers will have a good record (in the CCRIS). They will have no pro­blem when they apply for new loans.

“Their names will be taken off the list once they have fully settled their PTPTN loans,” PTPTN deputy CEO (Policy and Operations) Mastura Mohd Khalid (pic) said.

CCRIS is a database used by financial institutions to evaluate those who apply for loans.

She said all PTPTN borrowers would be listed in the CCRIS once it is time for them to start paying back, which is six months after graduation.

Mastura said PTPTN started to use CCRIS in June 2015.

 

When a borrower accumulates more than 12 months of PTPTN arrears, she said their names would be sent to the Immi­gration Department which would bar them from leaving the country.

“Having your name on the CCRIS does not amount to a ‘punishment’. Instead, it is a tool that ensures borrowers are disciplined in repaying their loans,” Mastura said.

PTPTN has provided various means to make it more convenient for borrowers to settle their loans.

On April 1 last year, the corporation announced the option of repaying the loans through online withdrawals of the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Account II.

Of the RM680mil PTPTN collected in January and February, repayment through this option made up 12.9% or RM87.94mil.

Mastura said this was done in 48,911 transactions.

Currently, the amount of arrears owed to PTPTN is about RM7.8bil.

“I believe borrowers would choose to repay their loans through their EPF Account II to clear the arrears before they restructure their loan to ensure they have a clean record in the CCRIS,” she said.

Prior to the option of online withdrawal from their EPF accounts, borrowers had to take out their savings by filling up forms at EPF offices.

In a statement on Friday, PTPTN chairman Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said: “There is indeed a significant increase in the amount of repayment received through borrowers’ EPF account II in October, November and December 2016.

“This came up to more than RM100mil each month.

“Overall, from RM3.4bil in repayments received last year, only 32% of it was repaid through borrowers’ EPF Account II.”

Shamsul’s comments was in refe­rence to EPF’s 2016 annual report, which stated that withdrawals for “education” was at RM1.4bil last year, up 152% from RM578mil previously.

EPF chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said much of the increase was due to the settlement of education debts, adding that he was watching this trend closely.

“A lot of the increase primarily has been for the settlement of education debts.

“This is because of PTPTN’s big push to get their borrowers to pay up,” Shahril said at a briefing on Thursday.