The National Higher Education Loan Fund Corporation (PTPTN) collected a significant 85 percent of the amount due to it last year, a leap from only 47 percent the year before.

According to its annual report that was tabled in Parliament yesterday, the corporation collected RM737.6 million out of the RM867.2 million due to it in 2011.

NONE This is a rise of RM99.2 million compared with the collection the year before, and is a massive 38 percent boost as the amount outstanding in 2010 is far greater - at RM1.36 billion.

"This uptrend is due to the rise in students who have completed their studies. It also shows that borrowers have understood their responsibilities to PTPTN," the report states.

In 2011, it said, 10,090 final warnings were sent to defaulters, while 10,109 letters of demand were issued.

"However, in order to extend the Ujrah offer, legal action has been put on hold for the time being," it adds.

Ujrah is a scheme offered to all borrowers, including defaulters, to change their loan terms from interests of three to five percent a year to one percent interest a year on their outstanding amount.

According to the report, the Ujrah offer was extended in 2008 and closed on Sept 30, 2011, seemingly as an incentive for borrowers to update their contact details.

Malaysiakini has reported sources as claiming that much of the RM45 billion in loans approved by PTPTN were disbursed to borrowers it could no longer trace .

Borrowers incommunicado

The report states that as at Sept 30, 2011, as many as 282,715 borrowers eligible for the Ujrah transfer have yet to update their contact details so as to take up the offer. The offer was renewed in January 2012.

NONE According to PTPTN, as at Dec 31, 2011, 144,452 borrowers who owe a total of RM881.39 million "have not given any feedback".

Other efforts taken by PTPTN to improve its collection rates are:

  • Holding briefings at campuses together with the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency and student representative councils;
  • Participating in the ‘Jom Heboh' carnival; and
  • Indoor and outdoor advertising, including on in-train side panels, newspapers and billboards.
While the frequently-asked-questions section of its website states that a National Education Savings Scheme (SSPN) account is not prerequisite for a PTPTN loan, the annual report states that it has been made compulsory from January 2012.

NONE This, according to PTPTN chief executive officer Agos Cholan ( left ) in his statement in the report, has improved SSPN's performance, on top of the RM6,000 tax break provided by the government.

The SSPN is designed by PTPTN to enable parents to save for the purpose of the higher education of their children.

SPPN's accumulated deposit sits at RM569.9 million as at 2011, an increase of RM142.2 million compared with 2010.