As of October 2, 64,619 accepted applications totaling over RM1.29 billion had been submitted through the personal loan initiative, which uses Employees Provident Fund (EPF) subscribers’ Account 2 as collateral.
Since applications for the Account 2 Support Facility Programme (FSA2) started on 7 April, it is accessible through Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) and Bank Simpanan Nasional.
According to the plan, eligible EPF contributors 40 and older can apply for personal loans ranging from RM3,000 to RM50,000 with a collateral requirement of an early withdrawal option from Account 2 of the EPF before the age of 50 or 55.
Minister of Finance Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim stated in a Dewan Rakyat response that out of the applications that were approved, 46,805 (72%) were submitted by men and 17,814 (28%) by women.
According to age group, 45,165 (65.3%) borrowers of the RM854.9 million in loans were between the ages of 40 and 45.
Another 18,490 (28.6%) were between the ages of 46 and 50 (RM397.7 million), while 3,964 (6.1%) were over the age of 51 and had loans successfully released totaling RM40.5 million.
Malays submitted the most applications overall (34,013), followed by Chinese (14,063, or 22%, with RM345.7 million), and Indians (7,627, or 12%, with RM143.2 million).
Selangor (21,744 or 33.6% with RM467.6 million) leads the allocation by state, followed by Kuala Lumpur (8,082 or 12.5% with RM182.5 million) and Johor (6,873 or 10.6% with RM127.8 million).