{"id":14210,"date":"2015-03-02T13:01:18","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T05:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/?p=14210"},"modified":"2025-04-11T16:52:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T08:52:29","slug":"how-i-paid-off-my-rm58k-study-loan-interest-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/how-i-paid-off-my-rm58k-study-loan-interest-free","title":{"rendered":"How I Paid Off My RM58K Study Loan – Interest Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"study<\/a><\/p>\n

Pic\u00a0Credit:\u00a0“Graduation\u00a007<\/a>”\u00a0by\u00a0David\u00a0Joyce\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I was 25 years old when I knew it was time to go. I had already worked two years for the national oil company, PETRONAS but I knew my future wasn’t there.<\/p>\n

There was a problem though — if I quit, I would have to pay back a large sum of money. After all, they had sponsored my education for five years from 2002 – 2006.<\/p>\n

The contract required me to work two years for every year of sponsorship. So I had a ten-year employment bond. Having served only two years, I would have to pay back 80% of the sponsored amount.<\/p>\n

I was scared. I had no money. But then I prayed — and somehow found faith that God would help me find a way to pay. So I quit.<\/p>\n

During the exit process, I had to stop by the Education Sponsorship department in the iconic twin towers. The smiley lady looked my name up on the computer and pressed a button. “OK you’re a scholar,” she said, “That’s all.”<\/p>\n

“And the payment?” I asked nervously. I was fully expecting her to issue me a letter of payment immediately. And half-expecting her to call security if I couldn’t pay.<\/p>\n

“Finance will contact you for that.”<\/p>\n

I walked out a free man.<\/p>\n

It would be another five years before I heard back.<\/p>\n

<\/span>The letter and the offer<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The payment letter finally arrived in March 2014. It was via a debt collection company, called Maysky. The total amount PETRONAS had spent on me was RM72,329.50 (US$20,665).<\/p>\n

Considering the two years I worked with the company, the prorated amount was: RM58,002.31 (US$16,572).<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the letter also came with an attractive only-in-Malaysia discount. If I pay in a lump sum within the allocated time frame, I\u2019d get 40% off.<\/p>\n

I had three months.<\/p>\n

\"study<\/a><\/p>\n

You know you’re in trouble when there’s a $ in their company logo<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span>Lump sum payment or monthly payments?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

At first, I briefly considered not taking the lump sum payment discount. But the other option doesn\u2019t come with the 40% discount, though it allows me to spread the payment out over seven years.<\/p>\n

I was hoping for one of those super-long repayment periods, like 35-40 years. Seven years didn’t sound appealing. And it didn’t make any financial sense. Taking the 40% discount was the right thing to do.<\/p>\n

Now how can I raise RM34,800 (US$9,942) in less than twelve weeks?<\/p>\n

<\/span>Where to find RM34,800?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

In anticipation of this day, I had been saving money for the past five years, but I hadn’t saved enough. There was about RM10,000 cash I could easily withdraw, but if I needed the whole amount, I would have to sell all my liquid assets, which is not something I wanted to do.<\/p>\n

My options were:<\/p>\n