Mak Fai

The disturbing trend whereby banks entice consumers to take up personal loans should be stopped before more consumers fall into the debt trap. Recently a bank sent personalised letters to the employees (whose salaries are directly credited into their accounts with the bank) of a multinational company offering each a personal loan of RM5,000. “Fast Cash Without Hassles – only a tick & a...

Some banks charge higher interest than moneylenders. When a bank charges interest on a loan at a rate that is higher than that of a moneylender, does it not make the bank a licensed Ah Long? When banks charge a compound interest on loans, when licensed moneylenders do not, does it not make them licensed Ah Longs? Banks and Ah Longs, what is the difference? The truth is that often consumers find...

Operations of credit reference agencies (CRAs) should be suspended until there are laws to protect the rights and privacy of consumers. We had in 1999 written to Bank Negara, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs proposing the introduction of laws to protect consumers. We had also asked Bank Negara to direct the financial intuitions not to use the...

Once again we urge the government to legislate credit reference agencies (CRAs) - companies that provide credit information on individual borrowers. We had in December 1999 asked that CRAs be licensed, controlled and regulated. One of the disadvantage of non-regulation is that non-financial institutions are using CRAs as a means to collect their payments and in the process jeopardize the...

It is confusing to have different laws dealing with different types of consumer credit. Depending on the type of credit facility, it could be under the Pawnbrokers Act, or the Money Lending Act or the Banking and Financial Institutions Act or even the Hire-Purchase Act. With the uncertain economic times, it is best that consumers avoid signing up for any new credit facilities. They should not be...

Cardholders have the right to know that whenever their lost or stolen credit cards are used by others they should (in most cases) not have to pay more than RM250. Yet oftentimes they end up paying much more. This is because Bank Negara has not informed cardholders that they do not have to pay more than RM250 for fraudulent transactions carried out using their lost or stolen cards, when they had...

This Guideline limits the liability of a cardholder to RM250 for unauthorised use of lost or stolen cards under certain conditions. For many cardholders their liability for the unauthorised use of their lost or stolen credit cards should not be more than RM250. Yet they end up paying much more than that because they are unaware of their rights under the Credit Card Guideline (the Guideline). The...

CAP congratulates the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail for proposing that the no-fault liability scheme be implemented. Such a scheme is long overdue. We had as far back as the late 1970s and in the early 1990s, called for the introduction of some kind of no-fault motor insurance to benefit consumers. The idea behind no-fault insurance is to get accident victims compensated as quickly...

For the compulsive gambler, gambling is an addiction and when he has a craving for it, nothing else matters.  The gambler is so consumed by his addiction t that he cannot break from it though he knows that he is hurting his family. When his money runs out he takes loans from the Ah Longs to feed his addiction. That is why even when the family has paid thousands of ringgit to get the Ah Longs off...