The provision to enable withdrawal of contributions from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), via the second account has greatly benefitted members.

For Khairunissaa Abdul Rahim, 28, a finance executive in the private sector, she was able to settle her outstanding National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) education loan within a short time.

"Initially, I was quite desperate as I was almost blacklisted by PTPTN and prevented from travelling abroad for failing to settle an unpaid loan amounting to about RM10,000.

"The arrears were because I did not receive warning letters from PTPTN as I had shifted, and the letters were sent to my old address," she told Bernama.

She became aware that her name was on the verge of being blacklisted from travelling overseas upon checking her status at the Immigration Department website when she needed to go to Bangladesh, about two years ago, on official matters.

"I am thankful to EPF for assisting me to settle my outstanding loan and in the end, I was able to go to Bangladesh as soon as the Immigration Department removed my name from its travel blacklist," said Khairunissaa.

She said to settle the education loan using the EPF's second account, the borrower had to open an EPF i-Account at any EPF office or kiosk.

"We can register using the thumbprint and identity card and activate the i-Account via its website www.kwsp.gov.my within 30 days," she said, adding that the contributor could meet a PTPTN employee at any PTPTN office or counter to discuss the amount of arrears needed to be settled.

After the discussion, the contributor would be informed by EPF in a week on the status of application via short messaging system (SMS), she said.

"The contributor also needs to go to a nearby EPF office to send the statement of academic completion in two weeks, and when all documents are verified, the EPF employee will hand over the withdrawal application confirmation document in 15 minutes.

"In less than a month, PTPTN will send a letter to the contributor that withdrawal had been made to settle the arrears."

Meanwhile, a Sime Darby R&D engineer, Syed Mohd Hadi Syed Hilmi, 30, said withdrawal from the second account for house purchase had helped many contributors to own houses before their retirement.

"If in the past, contributors were only allowed to make withdrawal after their retirement, now they have the choice to buy their own houses before their retirement," he said.

However, he reminded EPF members that it would be better for contributors to save early to buy their own houses, than to depend on EPF savings.

"This is because in my opinion, the money is better for use during our retirement as by then, we do not have any source of income to support our living standards," he said. -- BERNAMA