KUCHING: After paying their loans regularly for 20 years, a retired couple was shocked to find that they have only repaid one-third of their loan and there was still two-thirds outstanding.
This is the distressing experience of Mr and Mrs Jee when they found out that after they have regularly made monthly repayments of their housing loan for more than 20 years, there is still an outstanding of more than RM80,000 owed by them to the bank.
Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chief Chong Chieng Jen in a statement on Monday (Feb 21), said the couple had approached him to seek help.
“In 2000, Mr and Mrs Jee borrowed a housing loan of RM125,000 from the bank to part-finance the purchase of their house.
“Under the loan agreement, the repayment term is 240 months, which is 20 years. From 2000 till 2021, over a span of 21 years, the couple has dutifully repaid the bank the monthly installments. Though there were a few rare occasions of delayed payments over the years, they have made up for the delayed payments,” he said.
In 2021, he said, the couple approached the bank, with the intention to fully settle the outstanding loan to discharge their house from the bank.
“They thought, given that they have been regularly paying their monthly installments to the bank for more than 20 years and that there is no letter of demand from the bank for any default on the repayment, the loan would have been substantially repaid.
“They expected that the outstanding loan amount would, at most, be a few thousand ringgit. They would use their retirement savings to clear the loan.
“However, that was not the case. They were informed that as at Dec 31, 2020, there was still an outstanding amount of RM80,362.17 owed by them to the bank under the loan,” he said.
Chong said they were shocked and totally devastated, and Mr and Mrs Jee are now 68 years old and 63 years old respectively having retired, they would have no income to continue paying their loans.
“This morning, I brought them to discuss the matter with the bank. I have also helped to draft a letter addressed to the bank seeking explanation on why, for a loan, the repayment tenure of which was 20 years, after the couple have paid regularly for more than 20 years, there is still an outstanding of about two-thirds of the loan amount,” he said.
In the course of our discussion with the bank’s manager, Chong said it was disclosed that there had been some variation of interest by the bank as a result of which, the main bulk of their repayment were mainly for the interest charged.
“Even if such were the case, there could not have been such a great disparity in the outstanding amount.
“I have also sought the intervention of the Bank Negara Malaysia to ensure that justice be done to the couple,” he said.
He added the situation was a battle between the ordinary helpless people against a giant corporation, in a battlefield where rules are set in favour of the corporation.
“We will continue to fend for the ordinary people and fight for their rights and justice,” he said.
Chong also urged all borrowers to regularly check their loan accounts to ensure that the interest rates charged by the banks are in accordance with the loan agreement and not unilaterally increased.
