AKPK has helped 11,700 people

KUALA LUMPUR: The Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK) said close to 11,700 of its clients have completed its debt management programme as of October this year, after paying off debts worth RM476.6 million.
AKPK CEO Azaddin Ngah Tasir said in his speech during a luncheon talk, “Gathering of Intellectual Minds”, here yesterday that 492,793 individuals have attended its counselling services since the agency’s establishment in April 2006 until Oct 31, 2016, of which 164,272 clients applied to enrol into its debt management programme.
He also emphasised the importance of financial education to students at the tertiary school level and encouraged higher learning institutions to collaborate with the agency in reaching out to students across the country.
“For 2016, we have reached about 700,000 (students) for our financial education (programme), and in 2017, we are targeting to increase it to one million (students),” he added.
Azaddin said according to the Insolvency Department’s records, close to 22,600 Malaysians from Gen Y, defined as those below age 35, have become bankrupts between 2012 and September this year.
Among the main reasons he cited for the bankruptcy cases were their inability to settle loans for cars, followed by personal and housing loans.
“Most of them admitted the lack of financial education and good financial management skills were reasons for their bankruptcy status,” he added.
Azaddin said in order to address the issue of indebtedness among youth, AKPK offers a personal financial management programme that can be adopted by local higher learning institutions.
In the programme, he said, students will gain knowledge on the required financial skills in managing their money wisely and learning to live within their means, while achieving their financial goals.
The course outline would also emphasise being in control of one’s finances regardless of whether they are facing financial problems or not, adding the students will be exposed to basic financial tools, including banking products and services.
To date, he said, 30 higher learning institutions nationwide have adopted the programme in their curriculum and over 50 other institutions are in discussion about adopting the programme.
The luncheon talk was attended by 200 senior management members from over 100 higher learning institutions.