Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz has clarified that banks will waive both the compounded interest and penalty charges incurred during the loan moratorium that was introduced under the PEMULIH stimulus package. He said this after stating that the aid is not interest free.

This essentially means that although you will continue to incur interest on the loan amount during the moratorium period, you will not be charged interest on the interest that was accrued during the deferment (compounded interest).  

“The moratorium that we announced (in PEMULIH) is the same as the moratorium we announced before – it is not interest free. Let’s focus on what is important. The important thing is we have managed to get the banks to give the moratorium to everyone, regardless whether they are affected or not. That moratorium hopefully will help the cashflow of the rakyat,” said Tengku Zafrul during a virtual briefing yesterday, adding that the banks had agreed to the waiver during a recent meeting with the government.

The minister also emphasised that the moratorium was offered as a way to assist borrowers by deferring their repayments to a later date. He further advised borrowers to approach their respective banks for more information about the method of repayment.

“Every bank has a different scheme, and you (borrowers) need to discuss this with the respective banks,” Tengku Zafrul said, adding that borrowers can raise a complaint if their banks decide to charge compound interest or a penalty on the moratorium.

This latest loan moratorium was announced during the reveal of the PEMULIH stimulus package earlier this week. It is the second six-month automatic moratorium to be provided to the public in a bid to support them amidst the country’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The first six-month automatic moratorium was offered between April to September 2020, and was followed by several other targeted repayment assistances until today.

(Sources: New Straits Times, The Sun Daily)

• TAGS:
• Automatic Moratorium
• Bank Loan Moratorium
• Blanket Moratorium
• Compounding Interest
• Loan Penalty Charges
• Moratorium
• PEMULIH
• PEMULIH Stimulus Package
• Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz