Let’s Do Business Budgeting Like a Chess Game
Disclaimer:

This article IS NOT written by a chess master

When you just thought of a brilliant business idea, you got really excited. It’s kind of like getting an adrenaline high. You feel energetic, confident, and even elated. You can go on for days with little sleep.

That’s probably not the case when it comes to the nitty gritty of having your business idea translates into a real enterprise. It’s hard work but which you are obliged to do in honour of your brilliant business idea.

It is safe to say that not everyone is up to it. And, those who do, may not have a clear guide on how to do it right let alone have fun while doing it. So, here is a simple set of ideas of doing business budgeting in a fun way? linking every step to moving a chess piece i.e. the pawn, the knight, the bishop, the rook (castle), the king, and his queen. Here’s how you do it:

1. Move your centre pawns
This first move is pretty much SCOUTING. In action movies (and in real life too), people send pawns to scout out the current situation before deciding on the next moves. This is like warming up before actually setting up your business. Find existing businesses that are most likely doing what you plan to do, or close enough. Learn about the industry that your business should be in. Talk to business people, especially those in the industry. What you need to extract from all these searches and conversations is the real costs of setting up your business, and running it. List them down and group them up.

2. Develop your knights towards the centre
Next is where THE REAL WORK is. Knights in the medieval ages fought battles and clear the path to victory. They did the hard work. And, real work is hard work. At this stage, you need to be able to draw up and see the total costs of setting up (or running) your business? like incorporation fees, inventories, equipment, marketing, and even payroll, taxes and insurance? and how much all that take from your revenue. Work with vendors you know on all of these (knights did work with informants to gather intel).
All of these different costs will then be budgeted accordingly. For example, you need to budget on operations (similar to doing a profit and loss statement) where you study your business’s projected revenue and the expenses associated with it such as inventories and marketing costs mentioned earlier. Besides that, you also need capital at some point of your business life cycle. So, you need to factor in assets, liabilities, and stakeholder’s equity in your budget (similar to doing a balance sheet). Payroll mentioned earlier means you need to factor in how much expenses to allocate to staffing including part-timers in your budget. Don’t forget cash flow? this is really important? where you need to estimate in your budget the ins and outs of your money for and from the business so that you always have enough cash for operating. Tedious, huh? That’s why you need knights to do this.

3. Develop your bishops
This next step is about WISDOM. You get these from bishops (a chess piece that moves diagonally). No matter how confident your knights are in their work, it pays to listen to your bishops. Knights are gallant but bishops are prudent and wise (yes, there had been bishops who were envious of the knights). So, regardless of how certain you are in your ability to generate revenues and maintain costs, it’s wise to factor in things like unexpected costs or rise in costs as well as unexpected drop in revenues and interruptions to your business (think COVID-19). What the bishops are trying to say here is that you should have more than enough money on standby before launching your business or taking it to the next level.

4. Make your king safe.
This next move is BUSINESS REVIEW. In chess, at a certain point of the game, you may want to basically make your king and rook (both yet to move) switch places so that your king is relatively safer from attacks (being away from the centre). In business, you do that by making a review of your business? the more frequent you do it, the better. Business can be very unpredictable that your projection of costs and revenues just two (2) weeks ago can prove to be a gross underestimation. So, it’s a king’s job?to be able to scan the business environment as frequently as necessary to make adjustments so that the business remains stable and unthreatened.

5. Develop your queen.
This move is basically SHOPPING? what queens are good at doing. No puns intended. Queens are good at giving the ‘kingdom’ a breath of fresh air. So, decide if some things need to change including suppliers. Spend more here and save more there. You can even do this when starting up the business and can definitely do it when you are doing your budgeting or reviewing the business (king and queen must have that mutual understanding, right?).

6. Connect your rooks.
This move is basically COST SAVINGS. Connecting the rooks in chess gives the rooks good flexibility and maximum control (no need to go into specifics). In business, flexibility and control come from cost-cutting measures. Super high costs can kill a business, but at times, businesses had no choice other than paying that crucial bill, or stepping up on marketing or investing in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But, if you think hard enough, you could actually see that some other costs can be cut considerably and some purchases can wait until the next financial cycle. You can also look for suppliers with helpful payment terms to manage costs.

There you go. Simple guides to help you start budgeting for your business or add into your current business budgeting practices. But, if it all seems too complex still, don’t worry. AKPK is here to help. Get in contact with us for your business financial management needs: https://services.akpk.org.my/.

AKPK your financial partner.

Sources of reference: Investopedia, Quora

Siti is a single mother of seven children between the ages of two to 19 years old. Five of her seven children are school-going while her eldest son has just completed Form Five.

Siti is the sole breadwinner of the family as her husband is an inmate in the Pengkalan Chepa prison due to his involvement in drugs. She has been struggling to make ends meet with a meager income of approximately RM700-RM800 per month from selling local traditional kuih door-to-door around the village in the mornings and selling pisang goreng and keropok at her roadside stall in the evenings.

When her husband was arrested and subsequently sentenced to prison, she was left not only with the wellbeing of her family to take care of but also with the burden of a housing loan with monthly instalment of RM500. The house is jointly owned with her husband. Due to the shift of financial burden (her husband supported the family before his arrest), the housing loan has not been paid for almost two years.

She tried starting another business from home capitalising on her tailoring skills but this was hampered by time constraints and insufficient working capital.

She spoke to her family about her issues and even went over the idea of selling her house and renting a room to house her big family in order to overcome her financial ordeal. Her father was saddened to hear this because that is Siti’s only property where her family lives. He did not want his daughter to be rendered homeless. After much discussion, he managed to persuade Siti to get counselling from AKPK first before deciding to sell the house.

When Siti sat down with a lady counsellor at AKPK, she started crying and poured her heart out. The counsellor listened carefully to Siti and soon after developed a monthly budget for her to live by. Next, the counsellor enrolled Siti into AKPK’s Debt Management Programme (DMP) to restructure her housing loan.

AKPK was able to negotiate with the financial institution concerned to have Siti’s housing loan payment schedule restructured and the instalment was lowered to an amount affordable to Siti. She was thankful for AKPK’s assistance and before she left the office, she hugged the counsellor who has sat with her and helped her go through this challenging episode of her life.

Apart from restructuring loan repayments, AKPK also helps individuals like Siti on restructuring financing repayments if they are SME owners as well as other livelihood support through a network of relevant agencies such as PERKESO, GIATMARA and MDEC, among others. Are you seeking such help, or do you know anyone who is too? Seek help early to avoid further financial stress. Call AKPK at 03-2616 7766.

AKPK, sahabat kewangan anda.

Lavish Weddings Can Be A Killer

Fahmi was a lecturer in a local university. His wife, Fatimah, was also a university lecturer. Their combined income allowed their family to lead a comfortable life though not overly luxurious. They were prudent with their spending and successfully managed to set aside some amount for savings every month.

However, they started to face financial difficulties when one of their sons was getting married while his younger son was still studying in a private college in Kuala Lumpur. The couple decided to fund the wedding and make it a grand one?memorialising is as the happiest day of their son’s life. To make this possible, Fahmi applied for personal loans to cover the expenses.

It wasn’t much of a problem until Fahmi utilised his credit card to pay for his aunt’s funeral expenses when she passed away a few weeks after his son’s wedding. Before long, Fahmi started to default on his personal loan and credit card repayments. That was a clear warning sign of financial distress but Fahmi chose to ignore it and continued to default on his repayments.

One day, his younger son came to him for financial assistance on his own wedding. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back as the severity of Fahmi’s financial difficulty finally dawned on him. He had to turn his son down and explained his current state of affairs to him at great length. The son listened and rightly decided that it was time for his father to seek help. He brought Fahmi to AKPK.

At AKPK’ branch office, the counsellor sat down with Fahmi and learned that he had three personal loans and five credit cards, and was close to being declared a bankrupt. The counsellor then explained about AKPK’s Debt Management Programme (DMP), and how it can help him regain his financial freedom. Upon hearing the benefits of enrolling into DMP?loans restructured to lower repayments spread over an extended period?Fahmi decided that this was the right solution that he needed and immediately applied to be enrolled into the programme.

A few months after the first appointment, Fahmi came back to see the counsellor and was thankful that he was getting the right help. He promptly paid his DMP instalments and led a more simple life to prepare himself financially for his retirement in a few years.

Are you in need of such assistance? Do you know anyone who could use such assistance too? Call AKPK at 03-2616 7766. AKPK, sahabat kewangan anda!

COVID-19 memberi kesan domino ke atas kehidupan rakyat bukan sahaja dari segi kesihatan tetapi pelbagai aspek lain termasuk ekonomi, pendidikan, sosial, emosi, rekreasi dan psikologi. Selaku pemerintah yang prihatin, kerajaan telah mengambil inisiatif yang bijak dengan memperkenalkan moratorium. Moratorium merujuk kepada penangguhan atau penggantungan pembayaran balik pinjaman atau pembiayaan untuk jangka masa yang terhad. Objektif utama pakej ransangan ekonomi ini adalah untuk memberikan bantuan kepada individu dan perniagaan yang menghadapi kekangan kewangan sementara akibat daripada wabak COVID-19.

Walau bagaimanapun, ia hanya bersifat sementara kerana pembayaran balik pinjaman atau pembiayaan akan disambung semula selepas tempoh penangguhan berakhir. Pemberian enam (6) bulan moratorium bermula April memberi banyak manfaat kepada masyarakat dan pelaksanaan moratorium ini bakal berakhir pada 30 September ini. Bermula bulan Oktober, pembayaran balik akan disambung semula.

Namun, kerajaan sekali lagi menunjukkan keprihatinannya terhadap golongan yang paling terkesan akibat COVID-19, iaitu individu yang diberhentikan kerja atau mereka yang mengalami pengurangan atau penyusutan penggajian. Kerajaan telah mengumumkan lanjutan moratorium dan bantuan bersasar untuk membantu golongan ini pada 29 Julai yang lalu. Bagi mereka yang kehilangan pekerjaan pada tahun ini dan belum memperoleh pekerjaan baharu, moratorim lanjutan bersasar akan diberi untuk tempoh tiga (3) bulan sehingga Disember 2020 dengan syarat peminjam perlu membuat permohonan kepada institusi kewangan berkenaan. Sekiranya peminjam masih gagal memperoleh pekerjaan, institusi kewangan boleh melanjutkan lagi tempoh tersebut. Bagi peminjam yang masih bekerja tetapi gaji mereka terjejas atau menyusut, bantuan bersasar adalah berbentuk bayaran ansuran yang dikurangkan— tertakluk kepada jenis pinjaman—selaras dengan kadar pengurangan gaji untuk tempoh sekurang-kurangnya 6 bulan. Lanjutan masih lagi dibenarkan oleh institusi kewangan bergantung kepada keadaan gaji semasa peminjam yang memerlukannya.

Walau bagaiamanapun, sSemua inisiatif di atas adalah bersifat pilihan dan ia bergantung kepada kedudukan kewangan semasa seseorang. Bagi peminjam yang pendapatannya tidak terjejas tetapi tetap memilih untuk menerima moratorium dijangka tidak mempunyai masalah untuk menyambung semula pembayaran balik pinjaman setelah tamat tempoh moratorium. Peminjam yang menjangka mereka akan menghadapi masalah pembayaran balik pinjaman selepas tamatnya moratorium nanti dinasihatkan supaya tidak panik dan mengelakkan jalan pintas yang boleh menyebabkan mereka lebih terdedah kepada masalah keterhutangan yang serius. Tindakan yang sewajarnya dibuat sendiri oleh peminjam yang tidak mampu untuk menguruskan situasi ini secara bersendirian adalah dengan mendapatkan khidmat nasihat daripada institusi, agensi dan pakar kewangan. Berikut merupakan beberapa panduan yang boleh membantu peminjam untuk mengurus pinjaman mereka pasca moratorium.

• Sediakan senarai hutang atau pinjaman yang dimiliki. Sekiranya sudah berkeluarga, anda disarankan untuk berbincang bersama pasangan dan ahli keluarga mengenai kedudukan kewangan semasa keluarga.

• Semak semula aliran tunai. Peminjam dinasihatkan agar mengenal pasti perbelanjaan yang tidak perlu, perbelanjaan yang kurang diperlukan dan perbelanjaan yang boleh ditangguhkan. Lebihan yang ada boleh digunakan untuk perbelanjaan yang lebih penting seperti bayaran balik pinjaman.

• Semak status hutang atau pinjaman. Peminjam perlu mendapatkan maklumat mengenai baki dan tempoh pinjaman/pembiayaan terkini daripada institusi kewangan. Hubungi institusi kewangan anda untuk mendapatkan maklumat terkini.

• Dapatkan laporan CCRIS atau CTOS untuk mengetahui sekiranya terdapat bayaran tertunggak. Semak juga status nisbah khidmat hutang (Debt-Service Ratio) terkini anda dan pastikannya ia tidak melebih 30% atau satu pertiga daripada pendapatan kasar anda.

• Jana pendapatan. Peminjam disarankan untuk mengggunakan kemahiran yang ada atau menggunakan kemudahan teknologi (ekonomi digital) atau melakukan pekerjaan sampingan sebagai strategi untuk menjana dan meningkatkan pendapatan.

• Dapatkan khidmat institusi kewangan. Peminjam yang memerlukan kemudahan penyusunan dan penjadualan semula pinjaman selepas 30 September atau selepas tempoh lanjutan moratorium dinasihatkan untuk berbincang dengan institusi kewangan masing-masing. Aturkan janji temu untuk mendapatkan khidmat nasihat mereka yang diberikan secara percuma.

• Dapatkan khidmat Agensi Kaunseling dan Pengurusan Kredit (AKPK). Peminjam boleh mendapatkan khidmat nasihat daripada AKPK melalui Program Pengurusan Kredit untuk menstrukturkan semula pinjaman dan meningkatkan kemampuan pembayaran balik pinjaman sekiranya mereka mempunyai pinjaman dengan banyak bank. Aturkan janji temu untuk mendapatkan khidmat nasihat mereka yang diberikan secara percuma.

• Dapatkan khidmat perunding kewangan. Peminjam juga boleh mendapatkan khidmat nasihat daripada perunding kewangan yang bertauliah dan berlesen untuk membantu mereka memperbaik aliran tunai dan menangani kekangan kewangan akibat daripada kesan COVID-19. Ada perunding kewangan yang mengenakan bayaran untuk perkhidmatan mereka dan ada juga yang menawarkan perkhidmatan mereka secara percuma.

Sebagai kesimpulan, peminjam yang menjangka mereka akan berhadapan dengan masalah pembayaran balik pinjaman perlu bersedia dari segi mental dan emosi, merancang lebih awal untuk mengurus pembayaran balik selepas tamat moratorium serta tidak menggunakan pihak ketiga bagi membantu menguruskan penstrukturan atau penjadualan semula pinjaman. Perkara paling utama ialah jangan panik dan dapatkan nasihat daripada agensi dan individu yang berautoriti

*Sebahagian kecil daripada penulisan dalam artikel ini telah diterbitkan dalam akhbar KOSMO bertarikh 29 Julai 2020.

Disediakan oleh

Prof. Dr. Mohamad Fazli Sabri

Timbalan Dekan Fakulti Ekologi Manusia, UPM dan Ahli Majlis Kebangsaan, Majlis Perancangan Kewangan Malaysia

There is a famous saying, “if we fail to plan, we plan to fail”. The same applies to retirement plan. Hassan found this out the hard way. He was a technician with a government department for several years, and his wife, a nurse in a government hospital. He figured that since they were both government employees, they would not have to worry about retirement as their pensions would cover that.

When the Government Department was privatised to become a government-linked company, Hassan was very happy as he would be receiving more perks as an employee along with a higher salary. With the increase in income, Hassan started using credit cards frequently and even took on more loans for personal consumption.

Then, as in the case with all employees, retirement came. At this point, he still had some loans outstanding. However, since he was only a government employee for a short while, his pension is not as large as he expected. Things took an uglier turn when he was later diagnosed with heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.

He had to use part of his Employee Provident Fund (EPF) to pay off some of his loans and used the remainder for his treatments at Institut Jantung Negara. Due to this, he started defaulting on his monthly repayments to the banks for his remaining loans and started receiving calls from debt collectors. In the beginning, it was just one or two calls a day but after three months, he used to receive at least 10 phone calls from the debt collectors every day.

Hassan started to have sleepless nights and decided to speak to his only child, his daughter, about his financial status. Wisely, she took him to the nearest AKPK office for assistance as she herself was clueless as to how she could help her father.

Hassan explained to the counsellor that he was feeling very depressed as he had been servicing his loans promptly before retirement. What the counsellor said made every sense to Hassan, “saving early for retirement is very important”. The counsellor then came out with a workable repayment plan based on Hassan’s pension.

He was very happy with the outcome as he no longer has to worry about the phone calls from debt collectors. He was on a much affordable repayment plan, and more importantly, he could then focus on his health—peace of mind at last.

Are you retired, sick and in debt too, or do you know anyone who is? Retire comfortably. Seek help early to avoid further financial stress. Call AKPK at 03-2616 7766.

AKPK, sahabat kewangan anda.

Pejam celik, pejam celik, kita sudah pun memasuki bulan September. Ini bermakna, ia ialah bulan terakhir bagi mereka yang mengambil moratorium. Pembayaran balik pinjaman akan kembali normal bermula Oktober. Malah, mungkin ada pembayaran yang harus dilakukan dalam bulan September sendiri kerana tarikh akhir bayaran bagi sesetengah pinjaman adalah pada awal bulan. Apa yang nyata, moratorium ialah kelegaan yang bersifat sementara, namun ia amat bermakna andai digunakan dengan sebaiknya. Terdapat segelintir (atau mungkin majoriti) individu yang tidak berjaya memanfaatkan moratorium yang diambil seperti yang dirancangkan. Bak kata mak saya, “kelabu mata”. Istilah ini menggambarkan betapa duit boleh mengaburi pertimbangan seseorang. Perancangan yang baik pada asalnya hilang entah ke mana dek kerana terlalu mengikutkan nafsu. Akhirnya, “yang dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran”. Sudahlah duit moratorium entah ke mana dibelanjakannya, duit yang sedia ada juga turut terpakai. Inilah yang dikatakan tindakan tidak selari dengan matlamat.

Kajian yang kami jalankan mengenai tujuan pengambilan moratorium menunjukkan sebanyak 29% ingin menyimpan, 40% untuk membeli keperluan asas, 25% ingin melangsaikan pinjaman yang kecil sementara 3% ingin melabur termasuk mereka yang tiada perancangan. Persoalannya, adakah tujuan tersebut dicapai? Berjayakah mereka menjana simpanan? Adakah benar ia bagi pembelian keperluan asas sahaja? Sudahkah pinjaman kecil atau hutang yang sedikit dilangsaikan? Ke manakah duit dilaburkan? Malah ada yang mengambil moratorium tanpa tujuan. Jadi, di manakah pengakhiran duit moratorium selama 6 bulan?

Setiap kali saya memberi taklimat kewangan, saya akan memerhatikan peserta tanpa mereka sedar. Saya tiada maksud lain kecuali hanya untuk mengenal pasti sama ada mereka benar-benar minat untuk belajar atau hanya datang kerana diarah, dipaksa atau sekadar memenuhi syarat kursus wajib. Tidak ramai yang membawa buku nota, apatah lagi menyalin nota. Mungkin mereka menggunakan kaedah lain seperti merakam menggunakan telefon pintar.

Apa yang saya ingin tekankan ialah pengurusan kewangan melibatkan pengiraan—ada formula yang akan digunakan dan terdapat panduan pecahan pendapatan kepada pinjaman. Pelbagai nisbah yang ada bagi “menceritakan” kewangan semasa. Kita mungkin tidak mampu untuk mengingati kesemuanya, apatah lagi jika ia adalah kali pertama kita mendengarnya.

Untuk membuktikan poin saya, memadai dengan soalan mudah yang sering saya ajukan, “Berapakah nilai dua campur dua bahagi dua?”. Ramai yang menjawab dua dengan penuh yakin dan begitu pantas tanpa perlu mengira. Anda yakin jawapannya dua? Cuba kira menggunakan telefon pintar anda, atau kalkulator, berapa angka yang tertera? Tiga bukan! Mengikut logik akal, jawapannya dua, namun dengan menggunakan formula asas Matematik, jawapan yang betul ialah tiga.

Inilah gambaran kewangan! Tiada jalan mudah kerana ada formula yang harus diikuti. Selain daripada formula secara teorinya, secara praktikalnya sudah pasti melibatkan diri sendiri. Dalam pengurusan kewangan, “ubat” yang paling mujarab ialah disiplin. Ia perlu dilakukan dengan penuh keazaman. Malah, ia harus dipraktikkan secara konsisten. Matlamat haruslah selari dengan tindakan. Bukan lain di mulut, lain di hati.

Kalau dilihat atau ‘digoogle’, terdapat pelbagai terjemahan mengenai duit moratorium sama ada daripada agensi kerajaan, swasta mahupun pengamal dalam industri pengurusan kewangan. Namun, mereka meringkaskan penceritaan moratorium— sama ada dalam bentuk video, infografik, penulisan, lukisan, grafik dan lain-lain—kepada hanya satu tujuan, iaitu bagaimana untuk memanfaatkan duit moratorium. Dengan moratorium kini menghampiri tamat tempohnya, hanya kita sahaja yang tahu sama ada kita berjaya atau tidak mencapai matlamat kita enam bulan yang lepas. Malah kita juga tahu, sama ada tindakan yang kita lakukan selari atau tidak dengan niat asal kita. Seandainya tidak berjaya sama sekali, usahlah dikesalkan perkara yang sudah berlalu. Bak kata P. Ramlee dalam lagunya, Barang Yang Lepas Jangan Dikenang:

Barang yang lepas hai jangan dikenang

Kalau dikenang meracunlah diri  

Oh tak guna menangis memilu

Makin sedih menambah derita

Lupakanlah semua yang lalu

Tidakkan mungkin kembali semula

Belajarlah sesuatu daripadanya kerana pengalaman hidup ialah “universiti” terbaik dunia. Pengurusan kewangan ialah sesuatu yang serius! Kesenangan bukan datang dengan banyak atau sedikit duit kita tetapi dengan cara kita berbelanja.

Kepada mereka yang berjaya, syabas dan tahniah kerana anda telah berjaya mencapai matlamat memanfaatkan duit moratorium. Ada sedikit kelegaan, bukan? Teruskan usaha dalam “memerangi” kemelut kewangan yang melanda. Anda telah maju setapak dengan kejayaan enam bulan dalam tempoh moratorium. Ini bermakna, anda mampu melakukannya lagi untuk terus berjaya mengubah keadaan. Kalau bukan kita, siapa lagi dan kalau bukan sekarang, bila? Ia sememangnya bukan mudah, namun ia mampu dilakukan dengan keazaman dan disiplin yang tinggi.

Su Ling was in her mid-30s when she progressed up the ranks fairly well in a marketing firm in downtown KL. Although she was living modestly, she had big dreams. However, she never let work got in the way of her family. Su Ling felt indebted to her parents for all that they had taught her in life, and for that, made it her main priority to look after her ageing parents especially then when she could afford to do so. With her life in order and her parents being looked after well thanks to her high pay cheque, financial difficulty was something that Su Ling had not expected.

Tragedy first struck when Su Ling’s mother was diagnosed with kidney failure. As her mother’s condition worsened, dialysis treatment became a necessity. Desperate for any form of monetary assistance, she looked into different avenues to fund her mother’s medical treatment. However, all her efforts were met with a dead end. She was unable to attain subsidies neither from the government nor from any NGOs. Hospital and medical bills became hers to bear as her father was retired and had very little savings as he approached his golden years. With dialysis and hormone therapy costing RM6,000-00 a month, not to mention her mother’s surgery expenses, the bulk of her salary went to financing medical bills.

Five (5) years into her mom’s treatment, Su Ling’s father was then diagnosed with lung cancer. She could not believe the situation she was in. It felt as though the world around her had crumbled. She didn’t know who to turn to, and for the first time in her life, she felt helpless. She knew that the medical costs would potentially double as chemotherapy was needed to battle the cancer. Within months, medical bills for both her parents soared, resulting in a tremendous financial strain on Su Ling. She was forced to work odd jobs over the weekends just to earn a little extra. Even then she was just able to make ends meet and had no extra money for other expenses. Su Ling was aware of her inability to maintain paying for her parents’ medical expenses much longer with the pay she was getting. However, for Su Ling, all that was incomparable to Su Ling’s fear of possibly losing two most important people in her life.

Unable to support herself and finance both her parents’ medical bills with her current earnings any longer—further aggravated by the fact that both parents had no insurance— she found herself in dire need of financial assistance. Su Ling took the easy way out and turned to the number one cause of debt—credit cards. She applied for several cards knowing full well the consequences of her actions and the amount of debt she could be in. Nevertheless, she had no choice as she had to find a way to finance both her parents’ medical bills.

The condition of her parents slowly deteriorated and she lost both of them in the same year. The loss left Su Ling devastated. She could not believe that all her efforts met with such a depressing end. On top of that, Su Ling was left with the burden of servicing the debt she had accumulated. As help from her family members did not suffice, Su Ling finally sought the counsel of AKPK.

AKPK counsellor negotiated with the bank on the interest and penalty charges. The outstanding balance totaling RM500,000 on her five (5) credit cards were restructured in such a way that it allowed Su Ling an affordable minimal monthly payment to service the debt with some interest waived. The negotiations also resulted in the bank lowering Su Ling’s monthly payments by almost 50%. Su Ling was thankful that finally, after the last 10 years of financial stress, she was able to relax and get on with her life.

Is Su Ling’s story similar to yours, or do you know someone sharing the same circumstances? Seek help early to avoid further financial stress. Call AKPK at 03-2616 7766.

AKPK, sahabat kewangan anda.