A total 13,900 people have come forward to settle loans taken from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) to enjoy the 20 percent discount announced by the government, PTPTN chairperson Ismail Mohamed Said said today.

ptptn one stop centre kl sentral 260307 applicants He said these people settled their loans totalling RM47.94 million between Oct 1 and Dec 15. The amount repaid was RM38.36 million.

The discount, amounting to RM9.59 million, was a gift and an inducement for the borrowers to pay up.  

"A 20 percent discount is given to those who settle their loans in the period of Oct 1, 2012, to Sept 30, 2013," he told Bernama.

Ismail said that of the 13,900 borrowers who repaid their loans, 629 were those who had been blacklisted, with a total financing of RM4.07 million.  

Flat rate of one percent interest

He said PTPTN also gave a discount of 10 percent to those who made instalment payments on schedule for 12 months continuously or 12 months ahead from last Oct 1.

In the 2013 budget, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced a discount of 20 percent for those who settle their loans before Sept 30 next year.  

Those who failed to do so after that date but had endeavoured to make repayments on time for 12 months also qualified for a discount, of 10 percent.

Ismail said that in line with the announcement of the 2013 Budget, too, PTPTN allowed a flexibility in the changing of the 'ujrah', until the end of this month.  

The 'ujrah' system, which offered a flat rate of one percent a year, was based on syariah principles to ease the burden of those who failed to pay their loans.  

- Bernama