So you think you can finally breathe a sigh of relief after settling your long pending study loan?

Think again, as a balance of as little as one sen can balloon up to a few hundred ringgits if you do not receive the settlement receipt, and the debt is listed as unsettled.

This is what happened to school teacher Fateema Dzulkfli, reported lifestyle portal SAYS.

Fateema wrote on Facebook that she received a warning email from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN), that she risks legal action over the RM515 debt she had accumulated in the last six years.

The email came as a shock as Fateema had settled her student loan in a lump sum payment using her Employees Provident Fund (EPF) in July 2015.

According to her, however, EPF had dealt directly with PTPTN on the settlement, and she did not receive a PTPTN release letter afterwards.

She even forgot about it when she moved to Terengganu.

Fateema contacted PTPTN after receiving the warning email and they replied on June 19 that the accumulated balance was due to interest, overdue fees, and other costs. In fact, the one sen had been mistakenly deposited back into her account for Takaful services, due to the clerical error by an officer.

However, it all ended well for Fateema after she filed an appeal to PTPTN over the matter, and the latter dropped the possible lawsuit. She also finally received a debt completion letter on Monday, June 21.

When contacted by SAYS, Fateema urged PTPTN borrowers to recheck and beware of their loan status and balance, and hold on to their important documents, as such debts reflect on a borrower's Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) record, and can affect their financial status.

Following a query by SAYS, PTPTN also on a statement posted on its official Facebook page urged borrowers to regularly update their personal information on the website, and insist on debt completion letters when they have fully repaid their loans, so that such incidents will not recur.



Source: SAYS
Photo source: Astro Awani