PTPTN loan arrears reach almost RM3.5 billion as of March

A total of 425,000 borrowers of the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) study loans have yet to settle their outstanding loan arrears amounting to RM3.5 billion as at March this year.

PTPTN chief executive officer Agos Cholan said the corporation viewed the arrears seriously.

"PTPTN will blacklist the names of loan defaulters if no repayment is made to the corporation within 20 months," he told reporters after attending the launch of national-level of PTPTN Friends Programme, Tuesday.

Agos said 130,000 loan defaulters had been blacklisted so far, but 45,000 of them had taken the initiative to discuss with PTPTN to have their names taken out of the list.

Meanwhile, he said the PTPTN had also set a target to increase its debt collection by 23 percent this year through salary deduction.