I repaid my PTPTN loan in full earlier this year, which was reflected in my online statement issued by the PTPTN website in March 2010. However, I was refused a letter of discharge by PTPTN because, apparently, there is an error with the online statement and now I have another RM920 to pay.

I have tried contacting PTPTN numerous times but I have yet to receive an official letter or a revised statement concerning the extra amount I owe them. The administration staff I spoke to over the phone told me that the online statement was ‘not official’ and was subject to changes. According to them, their system ‘cannot be perfect’ and ‘they have many loans to oversee’.

Unable to sort out the matter via phone or through the Internet, on Sept 6, I made a trip from Kedah down to the PTPTN head office in Chase Perdana, Kuala Lumpur.

But once there, I was informed that I could not make any payment on the spot because the RM920 had accumulated interest since March and they ‘needed more time’ to recalculate the remaining debt value.

So as I write this, I am waiting to hear from PTPTN about an unknown amount of money that I owe them (which continues to accumulate interest, by the way). And yet, my online statement still says I have paid off my loan in full.

If the system is ‘imperfect’ why is it still being utilised? And why am I the one being made to fork out extra money and make cross-country trips just because there are errors with the PTPTN system?

This experience has left me wondering - while each year PTPTN hands out thousands of ringgit each to thousands of students, how can they afford to use such an incompetent system?