*Jasmin is an officer with Bank X. Accompanied by her father, Mr Thong, her visit to AKPK was a distressing one. Jasmin seemed tense, not only because of the size of her debt, but also due to her current situation of being on the brink of bankruptcy. What brought her to AKPK was a hearing filed by Bank Y regarding a creditor’s petition on that very same week.
Jasmin’s debt problems began with Mr Thong’s gung-ho attitude towards real estate speculation. After initial success in acquiring and reselling property at a significant profit, Mr Thong decided to be more adventurous. In order to gain Bumiputera discounts, he had acted through his daughter and son-in-law, a Bumiputera, by having them apply as joint borrowers for all the bank loans necessary to cover his business escapades.
Then came the 1997 financial crisis which caused Mr Thong to be stuck with several expensive pieces of property. There was a shortage of buyers as a result of the economy crisis. All three properties financed by 3 different banks were auctioned off respectively with huge losses accumulated.
Due to the inability to pay, civil action was taken against Jasmin and her husband as negotiations with the banks were not forthcoming. Jasmin’s husband was declared bankrupt by one of the banks involved in 2005 while bankruptcy proceedings against Jasmin continued. Bank X, Jasmin’s employer, eventually got wind of Jasmin’s state of affairs and warned her that should she be declared a bankrupt, she would be retrenched in accordance with company policy.
Jasmin informed us that her husband at that time was only earning less than RM1,000 from direct selling. Upon AKPK’s advice, Jasmin attended the creditor’s petition hearing and had successfully pleaded with the court to postpone the hearing. AKPK helped propose to the banks to withhold their bankruptcy actions. We also proposed restructured installment payments promised to be paid by Jasmin, to which the banks agreed. At that point, Jasmin was saved not only from bankruptcy but also from losing her much-needed income from employment.
*The names specified in these stories have been changed to protect the identities of the individuals involved. These success stories are meant to merely provide information on AKPK's services and lessons on money management.