MoF confirms no additional charges for hire purchase loans during moratorium



The Minister of Finance, Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz has announced through a media statement that there will be no additional charges to the instalment payments – compound and additional accrued interests – for all hire purchase car loans or fixed-rate Shariah financing, in relation to the six-month moratorium as announced in March at the start of the Movement Control Order (MCO).

Essentially, if you have opted in – which should have been automatic – for the six-month moratorium to defer your loan payments from the 1st of April, your repayments will return to your original monthly amount from October 2020 onwards until the end of your loan tenure – which will be extended by six months to reflect the moratorium period.

The latest announcement by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has effectively nullified the changes made by Bank Negara Malaysia on the 30th of April to allow for banks to charge accrued interest during the moratorium period.

Tengku Zafrul said in the statement that the decision was made after discussions with the banking industry. “The government hopes that this decision can help ease the burden of the people in these trying times.”