Banks to notify hire purchasers on loan moratorium procedures

PETALING JAYA: The Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) and its member banks will be notifying their respective hire purchase customers on the procedures for the six-month loan moratorium announced by Bank Negara.

This follows a Bank Negara statement yesterday saying borrowers can expect to be notified via SMS, email or registered mail by their respective banking institutions.

ABM said hire purchase customers who had already notified their banks about continuing payment since March 25 do not need to take any further action.

It said those who wished to take up the moratorium were now required to formally confirm this with their respective banks upon receipt of communication from their banks for the moratorium from April 1 to Sept 30 this year.

ABM’s member banks will communicate with impacted customers via email, letters, website information, as well as SMS and push notifications. They will state the procedures to take up the moratorium, and available options of payments after the six-month moratorium is over.Those who chose to take the moratorium would have two options for repayment, the statement read.

The first option is to “pay the accumulated six months’ deferred instalments together with their October instalment without being charged any additional interest”.The second option is for customers to “continue the repayment of these instalments post-October of this year with an extension of six months in repayment period after the original maturity date.”

But the interest is dependent on the contractual rate and will be charged based on the amount of delayed instalments that are outstanding until repaid by the end of the extended six-month period.Customers who do not officially confirm their acceptance of the moratorium when notified by their banks will be considered as not taking up the moratorium and must continue to pay their monthly instalments according to their original schedule.

ABM said they would not impose any additional interest charges or late payment fees for instalments that remained outstanding for April and May this year if customers had deferred their monthly instalment payment, provided that payment for April, May and June were made by June 30. Late payment charges would only start from July onwards, it explained.

In light of the current movement control order, ABM said it strongly encouraged customers to use online banking platforms where possible to accept or deny the moratorium and agreement to its terms, and to be cautious of any messages that seemed suspicious.

Customers can contact their banks directly regarding matters relating to the moratorium and for any applications for financing under the stimulus package or Special Relief Facility announced by Bank Negara.