A Letter to Maybank, Malaysia from the Hubby of Vedis Teh the AKPK Debt Management Plan Blogger.

Attn: Y. Bhg. Dato Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, President & Chief Executive Officer and Encik B. Ravintharan of Head, Credit & Consumer Service. Address: Malayan Banking Berhad, Menara Maybank, 100 Jalan Tun Perak, 50050 Kuala Lumpur.

Hi, I am Vedis Teh from KL but am currently living in Ipoh, Perak.

My hubby has been in AKPK debt management plan for more than 2 1/2 years. Yes, it’s going to be 3 years he is in the debt repayment plan!

However, until today, he hasn’t received any annual statement from your bank, that is Maybank.

What he has been receiving so far is the same monthly credit card statement with retail interest rate of 17.50%, that is more than RM65 while his AKPK monthly repayment distributed to your bank is RM50.

Isn’t it ridiculous? His monthly repayment to your bank is RM50, but there is a RM65 plus finance charge. In other words, his credit card balance remains the same as 2 1/2 years ago?!

Also, late payment charge of RM50 appears occasionally in his monthly credit card statement.

According to AKPK, your bank is supposed to send out annual statements to AKPK fellows like me and hubby.

Okay, maybe your bank prefers to send out monthly statement rather than yearly statement! But, aren’t you supposed to mail the correct monthly statement to my hubby?

So far, Citibank and HSBC are the only 2 banks that post annual statements to hubby. In other words, they keep him updated with the exact amount of balance he still owes them.

From the yearly statements these banks send out, there are NO late payment charges or/and 17.50% retail interest charge.

Besides your bank, Hong Leong Bank Berhad and RHB do the same. I have already written a similar letter to Hong Leong Bank Berhad and will write one to RHB in a few days’ time.

Disclaimer: I call myself Vedis the AKPK Debt Management Plan Blogger, but I absolutely have no connection with the agency. Please do not mistake me for working in AKPK, though many have thought so. :-P

Attn: Ms Yvonne Chia, the Group Managing Director/CEO and Ms Elaine Lee Yin Ling, the Manager. Address: Hong Leong Bank Berhad, Level 2, Tower A, PJ City Development, 15A, Jalan 219, Section 51A, 46100 Petaling Jaya.

Hi, I am Vedis Teh from Kuala Lumpur but currently residing in Ipoh, Perak.

I have been in AKPK debt management program since October 2008. Yes, it’s going to be 3 years since I enrolled in the debt repayment plan!

However, until today, I haven’t received any annual statement from your bank, that is Hong Leong Bank Berhad.

What I have received month after month is still the same credit card statement with late charges of RM50 being charged to it every month! Besides late charges of RM50, there is also this cash advance interest fee.

Isn’t it ridiculous? My monthly repayment to your bank is RM40, but there is a RM50 late charge fee and a few ringgit cash advance interest fee. In other words, my credit card balance is still the same as 3 years ago??

I have been told by AKPK that banks are to post annual statements to me.

Okay, maybe your bank prefers to send out monthly statement rather than yearly statement! But, aren’t you supposed to mail the correct monthly statement to me?

Public Bank, Citibank, HSBC and Standard & Chartered Bank are by far the only 3 banks that post annual statements to me. In other words, they keep me updated with the exact amount of balance I still owe them.

From the yearly statements these banks send out, there are NO late charge fees at all.

Besides your bank, RHB and MayBank do the same. I am going to write a similar letter to RHB and MayBank respectively in a few days’ time.

Disclaimer: I call myself Vedis the AKPK Debt Management Program Blogger, but I absolutely have no connection with the agency. Please do not mistake me for working in AKPK, though many have thought so. :-P

It’d been a long time since I last hung out at FB AKPK, so a few days ago, I went to check out the happenings there.

Phew, I am glad that I have since picked up some new information from there! Some old rules/regulations/terms/conditions are no longer applicable to new AKPK applicants.

New applicants are so fortunate that they can now submit their application and details via AKPK website. This definitely saves the time and hassle of traveling a few times to and fro the agency to submit form and necessary documents.

Guess that I should rewrite my post of Back Then in 2008 & Now 2010 for AKPK Debt Management Program Application or write a new post when I am free so as not to confuse people. ^.^

As I have been able to pay down credit card and loan debts on time while buffing up big and small emergency funds, I like to encourage people who are loaded with debt to consider AKPK’s debt management plan to help them pay down their debt.

I still do, but I make sure I re-tell them that if they are thinking of buying a car/house in future, then they have to think twice whether they should enroll in the debt repayment plan.

The reason? Well, so long as you are in the program, you will be coded in CCRIS (Central Credit Reference Information System) as being in AKPK!

This means when you want to apply for a car/home loan, the bank will refer to your CCRIS report. Seeing that you are in a debt repayment plan, will the bank give you the loan? Maybe. Maybe not.

According to AKPK, it really depends on the bank. Till today, I am still waiting to hear from someone that he has got a new loan although he is in AKPK or he has been out of the program.

Hello, any AKPK member out there who is still in the program or has been out the plan HAS SINCE BEEN ABLE TO GET A NEW CAR OR HOME LOAN?? Mind sharing? ^.^

Hi Vedis, I’ve been a loyal follower to your blog on journey to regain your financial freedom again. I’m drowned with unmanageable debt myself and planning to pursue AKPK soon. Wish me luck!

Oh, if you subscribe to Astro, you should check out channel 733 – Discovery Home & Health’s Til Debt Do Us Part. This show actually features her helping couples with financial problems so that they’re moving towards financial freedom within a certain period of time.

Currently I think they’re showing it on weekdays at 11:30pm and I make it a point not to miss the show whenever I could. I think you gonna love this show!

Alternatively, you may check out her website at www.gailvazoxlade.com to learn about the show & use some of her interesting financial tools to help you manage your personal finances.

Hi, Sally, it’s nice that you cared to look up my name before leaving your comment. This definitely spurred me to go on reading your comment.

You’ve got to hurry if you want to enroll in AKPK’s debt management plan. I read that the number of people with credit card debt trying to sign up with the program is on the increase; an AKPK DMP applicant said his appointment with the credit counselor was a few weeks after the credit counseling briefing!

I remember when I made an appointment with my credit counselor Mr. C in Ipoh branch back in August 2008, it’s very fast. I mean I met the counselor the next day! When my hubby was ready to enroll in the debt management programme in December 2008, he had to meet the lady counselor the following week!

Of course in the end, he didn’t have to wait until the following week to see the credit counselor; he met her the following day after I called and talked to the counselor.

What did I say to the counselor that she agreed to let hubby see her the next day? Well, I told her that I was also in the AKPK debt management program and I had already gotten the original and photocopy of all required documents ready. I told her that I had even worked out the debt repayment amount for hubby’s plan.

I convinced her that she didn’t have to give hubby any credit counseling session as I had already told him everything that he needed to know.

The lady counselor just needed to fork out 15 minutes to go through all the documents to see if hubby was eligible for the debt repayment plan.

Sally, thanks for telling me Astro’s Discovery Home & Health’s Til Debt Do Us Part programme. Unfortunately, I am not an Astro viewer.

But I will google to see if there are online videos or clips for this Til Debt Do Us Part program. Oh, I tell you, I love watching reality TV shows!

I will definitely spend some time reading this Canada credit counselor and personal money management expert, Gail Vaz Oxlade’s articles at her website.

Wish you good luck! May AKPK debt management program help you get out of unmanageable debt soon.

Updated on 02/10/2009: You can watch the videos of Til Debt Do Us Part online at www.Slice.ca provided you are living in Canada.

I understand. Been there and done that.

To thoroughly convince yourself to enroll in the debt management plan, read as many success stories of AKPK as possible. There are more success stories of AKPK or AKPK bloggers now if compared to last August when I submitted my application form.

Before you read others’ experience using debt management program, read the FIRST AKPK success story; it’s my bumpy journey from submitting the application form to being approved of the debt repayment plan.

And here is another success story that I would like to share with you. CEO, a man who is under RM200,000 credit card debt, has successfully applied for the AKPK debt management program recently.

He left a long comment at my credit card debt blog on August 1st, thanking me for sharing my credit card debt reduction and AKPK application process with others.

You don’t have to hop over to my credit card debt blog to read his comment. I have decided to copy and paste the entire comment on this debt management program blog for easy reading.

First of all, A BIG THANK TO YOU FOR THIS BLOG. You are not only a woman of courage to reveal all that detail, but you have helped me tremendously.

I just got out from the AKPK office, and they proposed to reduce my monthly commitment from nearly RM10,000 to just RM2,000 per month.

I got into a heavy credit card debt 5 years ago when a friend asked me to join him in a business. Trusting him, I quit my job, funded the business with my credit cards, supported HIM with a supplementary credit card which he took only 1 month to swipe up RM20k, and lastly he just ran away, leaving me to pay everything.

Finally, the economy hit my career, and this month I had to accept a drastic paycut. It scared me at first, but I decided that maybe there was a silver lining.

I found your blog. I read and re-read it until 3 am.

I thought — maybe, if I go to AKPK, and they reduce my monthly repayment, I can actually start seeing some SURPLUS from my smaller income. Better to have a small income but with extra money, than having a big income but nothing to show for it. Of course, with my previous 5-figure salary, AKPK would just kick me out, but now I had the advantage of the situation.

Last Monday, I braved myself to go to AKPK. It was the hardest thing to do, to be SEEN walking into debt counseling. I have appeared in the media before, television, magazines and newspapers. Didn’t know where to hide my face. I arrived at 11.45, and was put immediately into the intro class.

I was surprised to see quite a few “corporate people” in the class, dressed in their office attire. I don’t know if they were as ‘embarrassed’ as I was to be there. I sat down for 1 1/2 hours, after which I immediately went to Bank Negara to collect my credit report.

I made the earliest possible appointment to see a credit counselor. In the meantime, I went to each bank and collected any missing statements.

I went to see the counselor this morning. She was polite, comforting and never did anything to make you feel small. She said she would try to negotiate it down to RM1,800 a month for the first 2 years then RM2,200+ thereafter. I said never mind, let’s make it RM2,000 flat. I’m sure by the time the economy rebounds, I will be able to afford the RM2,000 easily.

She even guided me to fill up the application form properly (to fill the correct figures so the application can be approved easier). In short, she was there to help, and I mean REALLY help.

I got close to RM300k at first, but over the years, paying slowly, I have managed to bring everything down to under RM200k (which makes your RM60k something to smile about, actually!).

I have been earning 5-figures every month from my salary, yet I never get to taste my own money. My children have to settle for cheap clothings like poor kids.

Every month, I pay pay pay pay… I try to keep myself motivated, but it is tiring to wake up every morning, thinking to yourself, “I am running every day, only to stand still.”

She asked for the first payment of RM2,000 to be deposited, which I will do next week as the banks are closed today. From there, processing will take approximately one month.

She says no need to pay the creditors, if they call I just need to tell them I have submitted an AKPK application and fax the deposit slip if necessary.

Fortunately I am not yet under any legal problems, and most of my loans are still current. If you are thinking about doing it, do it now. It is important to take action at THIS stage before the banks start harassing you.

I do not really care that I will not be able to get any new loans until the 10 years are up. I am selling my house and just live with the car. Maybe not now, but when the economy goes back up, and my salary climbs back to normal, I should be able to save up for a couple of years, and pay for a new budget-priced apartment in cash. The important thing is I will now have a positive income and room to breathe, and I HAVE YOU TO THANK.

God bless you. Please keep up the good work.

There were several reasons why I enrolled in a debt management programme and not debt consolidation or debt settlement. Debt settlement? I wonder if there is any debt settlement plan in my country.

First and foremost, it’s FREE to join the AKPK debt management plan. You are not charged any enrollment fee or monthly service fee. Yes, the DMP provided by AKPK (Agensi Kaunseling Dan Pengurusan Kredit) is free; it comes with zero enrollment fee or monthly service charge.

Since the program is free to join and at that time I had had enough of my piled up credit card debt, I made an appointment with a senior credit counselor in Ipoh branch.

Did I do any DIY debt management to get rid of credit card debt? Of course, I did. In fact, I began budgeting and cutting spending starting April 2007 to pay down my credit card debt before finally signing up with the AKPK program.

In a span of almost one and a half year, I managed to pay down my debt from RM63,809 ($18,000 plus) to RM40,344.

Just as I thought I could slowly pay off my credit card through budgeting and cutting back on spending, bad things crept in one by one.

Firstly, hubby and I were not able to generate more income to pay the bills. Money was always not enough when it came to making payments to credit cards, home and car loans, utility bills and personal expenses.

We started being in late in payments or skipping some of the credit card minimum payments. As a result, late payment fees, penalty charges, over-limit fees, and other miscellaneous fees began piling up and added to my already piled up credit card debt.

One day after watching the AKPK’s TV commercial ad, I decided to pay a visit to the agency and enroll in its debt repayment plan to help me get out of credit card debt without stress.

There were a few reasons why I signed up a debt management plan and not any debt consolidation or debt settlement.

First off, the debt repayment plan I enrolled in is FREE. There is no initial fee or monthly service fee charged by the credit counseling and debt management agency.

Yes, it’s a free debt management program that is only available in my country. It’s not available to people in the US, UK, Canada and other countries.

As it’s a free debt relief program and I had come to a point that I couldn’t go on paying the huge amount of minimum payments, I decided to enroll in the debt management program.

But why didn’t I DIY debt management to pay off the credit card debt?

Oh, I did. In April 2007, I started self-help debt reduction to pay down some of my credit card debt before I joined the DMP. Between April 2007 and August 2008, I managed to bring down my credit card debt from RM63,809 ($18,000 in USD) to RM40,334.

Just as I thought my effort of tackling my credit card debt would pay off if I kept on budgeting and curbing my spending habits, bad things kept popping up.

First of all, the expenses always surpassed the income. Due to economy downturn, hubby and I were not making sufficient money to pay all the credit card minimum payments, car and home loan installments, utility bills and daily expenses.

When we failed to make payments on time, you know what will come next, right? Yup, banks and creditors started charging late payment fees, over the limit charges, cash advance fees, retail interest charges into my credit card accounts.

One day in August 2008, I told hubby that I had had enough of my credit card debt, non-stop phone calls from banks and warning notices issued by creditors. I wanted to get rid of them.

So, I am now in the free debt management program.

Often times, the term “credit counseling” is used in the same sentence as debt settlement, but actually, it’s a completely different process.

With credit counseling, you will actually work with a credit counselor to pay off your debt in smaller, monthly payments that you can afford.

So, do you really need credit counseling to get you out of debt? You need it if you have been receiving harassing phone calls from bill collectors or if you are unable to make another month’s high interest credit card payments.

Before you attend any credit counseling briefing, it’s important that you choose a good credit counseling agency so that you are not scammed.

Look for a reliable credit counseling agency that is a member of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies (AICCCA) or the National Foundation of Credit Counseling (NFCC).

Once you have identified the right credit counseling agency, you’ll have to meet with a certified credit counselor, and provide him with all of the details of your debt.

After a thorough review of your debt, credit history, and a detailed analysis of each of your creditor accounts, your credit counselor will let you know if there is a need for you to enroll in a debt management program.

Once it is determined that signing up with a debt management plan is right for you, your debt management program counselor will negotiate with all of your creditors to reduce interest rates, eliminate late payment fees and lower payments before creating an affordable debt repayment plan that you can live with.

It’s true that working with a credit counseling service can do some damage to your credit report. But if you are at the stage where your last resort is filing for bankruptcy, you would definitely consider a debt management plan in order to avoid bankruptcy or a report full of charge-offs.

According to research, the average family in the United States has $7,000 in credit card debt and pays about $1,000 interest each year!

Throw in a late payment or two, or an over-limit charge, and that number skyrockets. Imagine what you could do with that $1,000 if it weren’t being spent on interest!

This is one of the major reasons why I decided to enroll in a free debt management program. I couldn’t bear with the exorbitant late payment fees and over-limit charges anymore; no matter how much hard-earned money I threw into making the minimum payments, the total credit card debt didn’t seem to decrease much.

It’s true that if you just pay the minimum payments, it will take forever to get you out of debt. Let’s say you have $5,000 debt on one credit card that is charging you 17.5% APR. If you pay only the minimum due of $25 per month on this card, you will never pay it off! The interest alone on this credit card is $73 per month!

By the time you have been paying on this $5,000 for 10 years, assuming you have not used the card during this entire period of time, you will owe $20,385! That’s over $15,000 in interest.

So, how are you going to get out of credit card debt before it’s too late? As for me, I enrolled in a free debt management program to help bring me back to financial track.

I have been in the debt repayment plan since October 2008.

A credit counseling agency, either non-profit or for-profit, offers you credit counseling advice including how to use credit lines wisely; establish a workable budget; keep track of your bills; and best manage your money.

During a credit counseling session, a certified credit counselor will first gather as much information about your income, expenses and debts as possible. Once he has sufficient information from you, he will evaluate the information, discuss your situation with you and offer the most appropriate debt management advice for your situation to help you rectify your financial problems.

If it is determined that participating in an educational class is not sufficient to help you get back on the track to financial security, you will then be recommended to enroll in a debt repayment plan.

Debt management plan is also known as debt repayment plan.

When choosing a credit counseling agency, it’s important that you spend enough time researching and picking the most reputable agency.

Most important of all, look for a credit counseling and debt management agency that has satisfied clients, offers personalized service from certified counselors, educates you how to make appropriate financial choices and provides you with the tools you need to achieve financial security.

Remember, the best credit counseling service agency needs not have a big advertising campaign. Don’t be tempted to think that just because it has a big advertising campaign, it is the best.

A reputable and reliable credit counseling and debt management company normally relies on past clients for referrals rather than soliciting business through constant television ads, infomercials and telemarketing or spam e-mails.

It’s too late for me to be debt free fast with credit counseling or DIY debt management, but it’s not too late for you, right? Don’t wait until you need to enroll in a debt management program, debt settlement plan or declare bankruptcy.