Loan sharks harass man despite fully paid off loan

KUALA LUMPUR: A borrower is baffled as to how he can still have an outstanding of RM17,500 for a loan that he fully settled last December.
The borrower, who wished to be known as Yong, said his ordeal started when his father received a call from a debt collector for the loan he took from a loan shark in August 2015.
"When I called up the person to find out the actual situation, I was informed that they did not receive any of my monthly payments and demanded that I pay up the remaining of the loan including interest amounting to RM17,500.
"To make matters worse, the debt collector refused to acknowledge that I had fully settled the loan despite me agreeing to show him all the bank slips of the repayment amount," Yong said to reporters during a press conference today.
Yong added that he was also informed by the debt collector that the loan shark is no longer working with them so no one is able to justify or prove what Yong is saying.
Afraid that the debt collector might be a conman, Yong approached MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong for assistance.
Chong revealed that Yong's case is not the first which his department had received as there were at least four other cases with a similar modus operandi where most of them were asked to settle a loan they have fully paid off.
"The only solution now is for the loan shark to come forward to clear the situation as we are unsure if what the debt collector is saying is the truth or he is just making up some story to cheat Yong's money.
"At the same time, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar is aware of these cases and he has agreed to look into the matter once we submitted all the relevant report to him," Chong said at the press conference.
For now, Chong urged the public to go to licensed money lenders if they need financial assistance to avoid any risk of extortion or harassment.