AKPK resolves 11,000 cases totalling RM477m

KUALA LUMPUR: The Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK) has successfully solved some 11,672 management and financial restructuring cases amounting to RM476.6 million through its Debt Management Programme (DMP) up to Oct 30, 2016.
DMP was set up by AKPK to help borrowers improve their financial standing by restructuring their loans such as housing, vehicles and personal loans including outstanding credit card balances.
AKPK Chief Executive Officer Azaddin Ngah Tasir said that a total of 97,215 bankruptcy cases were recorded until September this year.
"Out of that, 22,581 individuals who were declared bankrupt consisted of Generation Y, with 1,157 cases involving those below 25 years of age," he said in his speech at the Gathering of Intellectual Minds luncheon organised by AKPK here, today.
He said the main reason for the bankruptcy was failure to repay loans for hire-purchase of vehicles, which constituted 27.6%, followed by personal loan defaulters at 22.8% and housing loan defaulters which made up 19.4%.
He said a total of 492,793 individuals had obtained counselling and advice from the agency as of October this year, out of which 164,272 cases were successfully resolved through the DMP.
Azaddin said that the lack of education and poor financial planning were the main reasons for failure to control their finances.
According to the Asian Institute of Finance, the financial education level among youths is low, with only 28% of them confident of managing their finances, while 58% have moderate financial knowledge. — Bernama