The Credit Counseling and Management Agency, or commonly known as AKPK, is an agency established by Bank Negara Malaysia in April 2006 to help individuals manage their financial situation and achieve peace of mind as a result of the wise use of credit.
According to the results of a focus group study AKPK conducted, lack of knowledge in personal financial management is the main reason most individuals, no matter old or young, are stuck in debt problems that they cannot afford to overcome. Hence, AKPK took the charge to provide services such as financial education on money use responsibilities and credit management skills, advisory services on financial management and credit management programs to help consumers regain control of their finances.
For an example, the agency has managed to resolve 41,000 debt cases from its Debt Management Program (DMP) with a total outstanding settlement of RM2 billion according to The Malaysian Reserve (TMR) article published on Apr 28, 2022.
AKPK spokesperson told The Malaysian Reserve (TMR) that since its inception in 2006 up to March 31, 2022, more than 1.2 million individuals have received AKPK’s advisory services, and more than 370,000 of them have applied to enroll into its DMP.
Through a survey conducted on AKPK program participants, factors that have caused financial or debt problems and led them to their participation in this program include high cost of living (36.8%), poor financial planning (36%), failure or slowdown in business activities (11.7%), loss of job, retrenchment or loss of breadwinner (8.9%), high medical expenses (5.4%) and other reasons (1.2%), ”AKPK told TMR.
