The government has been urged to carry out a review on the Credit Tip Off Services Sdn Bhd (CTOS) system, which has been seen as lopsided and unfair to the consumers.

Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) chief activist Datuk Nadzim Johan, when making the call, said this was because the system had been described as a 'death sentence' to consumers even though it only involved loans from financial institutions.

"Most of the debtors listed in the CTOS system have settled their loans but their names were still in the list, causing them to have difficulties in taking other loans," he told a press conference here Thursday.

Also present were PPIM legal adviser Edward Lim and Muamalat Advisory Panel member Sheikh Abdul Kareem Said.

Nadzim said the government should also set a certain period of time for the debtors to clear their names and get a second chance to be involved in the country's economic development.

"If the debtors' names constantly appeared in the CTOS system, it will eventually cripple the country's economic growth as they did not get the second chance to apply for any other loans," he said.

Nadzim said all the relevant quarters should also prepare a new management guidelines to remove the names of debtors who had settled their loans from the system.

He said PPIM had been deluged with complaints from those who felt abused as other individuals were using their names and personal data to the extent of causing them to be listed in the CTOS system even though they had not dealt with the financial institution before.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Abdul Kareem said any organisation or financial institution claiming that a person was its debtor, should give a fair chance to the person before convicting him or her as debtor.

"This is because there are certain institutions which have been using CTOS as corporate blackmail, in which a client who fails to pay his or her loan will be harassed to the extent of having his or her name badly smeared," he said.

Besides, he said the absence of a system to monitor the CTOS would also cause abuse to consumers, especially the young generation. - Bernama