30th April 2013 – A date to be remembered in my life. Why? I finally cleared my RM100,000 of debt to bank. All thanks to the most appreciated service from AKPK.
I still remembered 5 years ago when I suddenly noticed that I am deadly stupid in my personal financial management and arrogantly extravagant-excessive spender behavior had lead me to be drown in RM100,000 of debt in credit card and personal loan. The monthly payment to clear that debt was RM7,000, not even close to be covered by my salary. I was trying to survive by using the ever popular concept of “dig hole, cover hole” but to no avail. I was basically crawling (metaphor) from bank to bank to beg them to convert the debt to term loan and reduce the monthly payment and more than once was scolded away by the “ever-so-polite” collection agent of the bank.
It was June 2008 when BNM took me in its cradle through the Debt Management Program of AKPK. I did heard all the bad stories of black listing in AKPK but trust me, when you stuck in a debt of RM100,000, the idea of black list or bankruptcy suddenly did not sound so bad.
When I finally approved to be in the DMP of AKPK, every bad stories and rumors that I heard were slowly dissolve away. The very first time called by my counselor or financial consultant from AKPK, he said “Nothing to worry about. Your case is really not that serious. We can manage and settle this debt in no time”, which was most appreciated comforts that direly needed that time after the nightmares I had while working with bank’s collection agent.
For 5 years with AKPK, I surrendered half of my salary monthly (much much less than the minimum payment of RM7,000) to pay the debt. AKPK stand by me, shielding me from the rudeness of bank’s collection agent and lawyers, in his word “Not to worry. Just ignore them and keep paying the monthly payment”.
True to his word, I should not have to worry, since with the discipline to pay the debt had lead me to finally be debt free from the credit cards and personal loans. In the tenure of 5 years, I also were given the time and opportunity to reconstruct my personal finance, lifestyle and overall of my life in order to be smarter in financial and be more cunning towards banks “services”. Now, like phoenix resurrect from the ash, I shine again, proudly to be a better, financial-smarter person, to breathe the fresh air of debt free life. Let’s enjoy a debt free life everyone!
