KUCHING, February 21, 2022 - An elderly couple, who thought that they have settled their housing loan with a bank, was shocked to learn they still owed the bank of over RM80,000.
They took their case to Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen after the bank insisted that they must settle the outstanding amount.
According to Chong, the couple, identified as Mr and Mrs Jee, both retirees, had been paying their loan for 20 years and were shocked to learn that they have only settled one-third of the loan.
“This is the distressing and shocking encounter of Mr and Mrs Jee when they found out that, after they have regularly made monthly repayment towards their housing loan for more than 20 years, there is still an outstanding of more than RM80,000 owed by them to the bank,” he said after meeting the couple.
He said that the couple told him that in the year 2000, they borrowed a housing loan of RM125,000 from to part-finance the purchase of their house.
“Under the loan agreement, the repayment term is 240 months, that is 20 years.
“From year 2000 till 2021, over a span of 21 years, the couple have dutifully repaid the bank the monthly instalments.
“Though there were a few rare occasions of delayed payments over the years, they have made up for the delayed payments.
“However, in 2021, the retired 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 instalments 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 December 31, 2020, there was still an outstanding amount of RM80,362.17 owed by them to the bank under the loan.
“They were shocked and totally devastated. 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.
“As such, they approached me for help,” Chong said.
He said he brought them to discuss the matter with the bank and he 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, there is still an outstanding of about tw-thirds of the loan amount.
He said in the course of the discussion with the bank’s manager, 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,” he said.
Chong said he had also sought the intervention of Bank Negara Malaysia to ensure that justice be done.to the couple.
“This is a battle between the ordinary helpless people against a giant corporation, in a battlefield where rules are set by the government in favour of the giant corporation,” he said.
“On a general note, all borrowers should 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 by banks,” he said.
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