About Us - AKPK AKPK’s vision is to “Make Prudent Financial Management a Way of Life for all Malaysians.” To achieve this, our mission is to promote financial wellness among Malaysians by empowering them to be financially savvy through comprehensive consumer educational programmes and providing professional credit counselling and debt management programmes to enable them to regain control of their finances. In this connection, AKPK is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank Negara Malaysia, set up to provide financial counselling and debt management to individuals as well as financial education to help individuals take control of their financial situation and gain peace of mind that comes from the wise use of credit. AKPK’s objectives are to proactively ensure that the household sector continues to be resilient by providing an avenue for individual borrowers and potential borrowers to seek advice and assistance in managing their finances and debts and at the same time promote a sound and robust banking system. This will be achieved by creating awareness of the services offered by AKPK to enable all those requiring its services to reach out to AKPK. AKPK offers the following services: 1. Financial education on the responsible use of credit and basic money management skills. AKPK’s financial education programmes include: Ad-hoc tailor-made talks and briefings to various target groups including all social groups and organizations; An encompassed structured strategy on Personal Financial Management education through AKPK’s Financial Education Blueprint that will determine the current stage of financial literacy and our plans to bring financial literacy to a more desired level to all segments of the Malaysian population; 2. Counselling and advice on financial management, including financial budgeting to manage expenses; 3. Debt management programme to assist financial consumers to regain financial control. All services are provided free of charge. Individual borrowers can seek AKPK’s assistance in rescheduling or restructuring their housing loans, hire purchase loans, and personal loans from, or outstanding credit/charge card balances due to, the financial service providers under the purview of Bank Negara Malaysia. Since its establishment in April 2006, AKPK has made significant progress, especially after it has expanded its outreach with regional offices in Penang, Johor Bahru, Kuala Terengganu, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Malacca, Ipoh and Kuantan to ensure that its services are available to a wider segment of the Malaysian population. Through AKPK’s facilitation, debt management plans are devised to assist borrowers work out budgets that will help them meet their loan obligations and living expenses, thereby minimising any incidence of non-payment and averting foreclosure of their homes. Up until 31st December 2009, over 110,000 people came for our counseling services and from that,  over 35,000 customers have been enrolled in our Debt Management Program. Consumers who approached AKPK for assistance are from all walks of life. In most cases, the factors contributing to their indebtedness and inability to repay include poor financial planning, ignorance and lack of financial discipline to live within their means. There are also borrowers who have been affected by unforeseen circumstances like health problems, death of a breadwinner, loss of employment and business failure. Incorporating consumer education into the agency’s programmes will help to improve the functioning of the financial sector by creating more financially astute borrowers and promoting good payment and repayment culture. Increasing consumers’ financial literacy can also foster their appreciation for the need to save, which serves as the basis for wealth accumulation, preparedness for financial uncertainties and comfortable retirement. Financial and credit education is the answer to many of the problems consumers face today. AKPK have made it its goal to provide a variety of educational services designed to help individuals everywhere take control of their financial situation and gain peace of mind that comes from the wise use of credit.