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This is the story of how a M’sian man got into RM160,000 of debt and learnt how to manage his finances with the help of Agensi Kaunseling Dan Pengurusan Kredit (AKPK).
This is my shameful story of how I got into debt and became bankrupt at the age of 30.
I was once a successful executive. My previous job was as an advancement manager at an international school, and I was earning RM 8300 at the age of 29. My commitments were extremely low.
However, during the MCO, my father suddenly passed away due to a stroke, and it remains the most traumatising moment in my life. Even three years later, my mom and I think about him every single day, and I tear up about him. The way he died was very violent and cruel.
When he died, I realised that he had savings in his bank account – but none of that money could be used to revive him or unblock the clot in his brain.
I remember one night, a few months before he passed away, he told me: “Amir, I love travelling, did you know that? Ayah memang nak pergi banyak tempat (I want to visit many places), but I didn’t go because of work and I wanted to save money. Tengok lah (Let’s see), after MCO is over, Ayah might go travelling somewhere again.”
This was my father, a workaholic who always came back home late. Ambassadors have functions/events in the evening that they have to attend, and even back in Malaysia, he would come back home at 10 pm every night from his office at Wisma Putra, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In my entire 29 years of existence with him, we’ve only had ONE family vacation.
It was in the summer of 2005 when we went from Kosovo to Macedonia, Greece, Italy, and Albania, and it remains the only cherished memory I have of him enjoying a vacation. All the money he saved could have been used for vacations with the family and things he loved to do or buy, but as he said, “There are so many things that Ayah wants to buy as well, but I need to provide money to you all.”
My dad was a super simple guy. He would wear the same thing until it was worn down and, even when broken, would continue using it. He barely bought anything and is from a generation where material things were cherished, kept, and reused.
If one can live without the item, then so be it; there’s no need to get it. My mother was a housewife, and he single-handedly paid for all my and my 2 brothers’ university educations. And mind you, we all went to private universities.
I remember him telling me that he purposefully decided not to take any vacations whatsoever so that the government had to reimburse him for untaken annual leaves. True enough, after he passed away and I went through his work documents, I found that very document by JPA, stating that he was owed RM50,000 for all the vacations he never took.
Now let me ask you, is RM50,000 worth it for 29 years of no vacation? Yes, that’s a lot of money, but I would have GLADLY sacrificed that money if it meant having annual holidays with the family every single year until the day that he died. Memories are truly priceless. RM50,000 can be made and recouped, but not time and a life that has been lost.
I realised I didn’t want to die with a big fat bank account.
When my dad passed away, I realised that I didn’t want to die with a lot of money in my bank account but with zero memories spent with my family and loved ones doing things we loved to do. Yes, that money is there to help his own family survive after his passing – but was it worth it?
I am aware that my dad was raised differently about money and spending compared to me – but this is my own life and my own beliefs.
I wanted to be able to die and say that I spent it on people I loved, and things that I loved, that I managed to travel to so-and-so countries, drive my dream car, wear my dream watch, tried the best foods and wear all the luxurious clothes that I wanted to. I wanted to be able to say: I’ve done it! I’ve done it! And die in peace knowing I’ve done it all and tasted it once.
Less than a year after my dad passed away in late 2020, my life took a turn for the worse. I suffered a C5 spine fracture from kayak rafting, resulting in four months confined to bed with a neck brace. This period of immobility led to deep depression, exacerbated by a breakup with my girlfriend.
At this point, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and general anxiety disorder. Turns out it’s a real thing! It means I tend to get depressed and manic, which are extremely uncontrollable high energy moods. And when manic, I would go on extreme shopping sprees as I am unable to control my highly positive energy (this is an oversimplification, of course).
Then after I recovered, I got headhunted for a prestigious job as the Head of a Department at a media company, with a salary of RM 9500-10,000 at the age of 30.
And that’s when the financial hubris began.
I decided to live life to the fullest, even if that meant borrowing and spending RM160,000
At first, I maxed out my credit cards by upgrading my beloved Ford Ranger truck. In total, I spent more than RM40,000 on it.
I also decided to splurge on an impressive shopping spree of luxury items, to impress my ex who had broken up with me. She was into luxury items (which she received mainly from her father and mother – from Hermes to LV to Montblanc.)
So I bought all of these things to impress her, and to also be able to live my life and say I’ve owned all these luxurious things.
I remember going to Louis Vuitton and spending RM6500 for a reversible leather belt, tie clip and tie bar. Then, I went to Yves Saint Laurent and bought a RM1200 bronze money clip.
Unsatisfied, I went to Versace and got their famous Medusa leather belt. I bought shirts at Freddy Perry and bought 3 bags and 1 wallet at Coach. Yes, 4 items, in just one week.
With no one to tell me no, I splurged more money at Adidas, and ended up buying 19 new shoes and sneakers. To cap it off, I bought several Levi jean jackets which I customised individually, each jacket going up to RM1,000+ after customisations.
I was firm in resolving any childhood traumas I had with money – to fill in that gaping hole of all the things that I had wanted to but could not get or buy, or where my father did not want to give me any money. Anything that I had wanted ever since I was young and was denied, I bought it.
As my credit cards maxed out, (I had 2 credit cards, one from Maybank and the other from CIMB, with a combined RM40,000 credit card limit), I then took a CIMB Personal Loan to the amount of RM25,000, to which I used to pay off the CIMB credit card….only to max out the CIMB credit card again. I was at RM65,000 in debt.
I did not want to tell my mom about this, that her eldest son, 30 years old, had gone into the red. But I was forced to. And thankfully, after dividing my dad’s assets and this and that calculations, she told me could give me RM60,000 as my inheritance from my dad.
“I can give you this RM60,000 – and then that’s it – there goes your inheritance. You could have used this money as a house deposit or for your marriage, aren’t you ashamed?” she said.
So I used the RM60,000 to pay off my 2 credit cards and personal loan, leaving me with just RM5,000 of debt, which is manageable, and that should’ve been the end of it.
But greed got the better of me. I was just employed as the head of one of Malaysia’s biggest social media news companies, and I thought to myself – I got to upgrade.
Believing that I had earned my latest and shiniest job title at the media company, I also bought a RM10,000 Seiko diving watch, and upgraded all my sleeping items – think silk bed sheets and pillowcases, latex pillows and even a RM700 weighted blanket with bamboo threaded silk covers.
Besides the Ford Ranger, the luxury items, tech gadgets, shoes and toys – I also spent on fancy luggage (I own about 6 fancy pieces of luggage), and expensive supplements which cost me about RM1.8k.
I was on an unstoppable streak. I also bought a brand spanking new Oculus Meta Virtual Reality (VR) headset along with all the protective and important accessories for it, which totalled up to nearly RM4,000. I then bought the VR games, which were USD20-40 each, and I spent almost RM2,000 on them.
It took me getting into RM160,000 into debt to realise there are limits to this, and that this was going to be the most expensive life lesson that God and the universe will ever teach me.
When February 2022 rolled around, I had no more money to pay anything.
3 months into my spending spree, I was told to step down from my role as Head of Department and take on a lower ranking position. The monthly commitment was at RM7,000 a month, but my reduced salary was only RM6,000.
I was sent reeling from this career setback, and to clear my mind I decided to go bicycle touring around Southern Thailand and Langkawi. When I was in Langkawi, I was getting up to 50 calls a day, from local Malaysian banks, reminding me to get on a call.
FED UP with all of them, I told them: “WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? I AM BANKRUPT, I HAVE NO MORE MONEY TO PAY OFF THE MINIMUM MONTHLY PAYMENTS.”
The girl or guy at the end of the line would then just remind me that it’s due for me to pay. They did not know how else to respond to my statement – only that the banks require me to pay.
I got so angry at them that I shouted at them:
“HOW? I only have RM 500 left, stop calling me, I have no money, I AM TRYING TO FIND A WAY.”
To which the caller said: “Ok noted sir, but we will have to follow up with you again by next week.”
And that’s when I realised once I finished my cycling trip, I needed to visit AKPK, as I’ve heard that they give financial advice and help to those who are in severe debt.
I visited AKPK to restructure my huge credit card debt.
I thought that they would speak to the bank and help reduce the monthly instalments by extending the number of years, but they don’t do that.
What they do is they take all your debt and repackage it into a 10-year loan, and instead of charging us an 18% interest rate that Maybank and CIMB does for their credit cards and personal loans, AKPK will only charge you 9% (only half) the interest rate.
I told the officer yes, I would take the offer. My mom was worried that AKPK was some kind of scam agency, but turns out they are under the Bank Negara and hence the government and are a legit lender/financial institution.
After filling up the forms and asking how long I wanted my loan tenure to be, and how much I could afford to pay off, we settled for RM1,500 a month, for 10 years. My car loan (RM500) was not included.
They told me that I would NOT be able to leave the AKPK program for one whole year. I can only leave the program after 1 year, and only if I am able to settle the full amount. Unlike being bankrupt, my properties and things I owned are still mine, instead of it belonging to the courts where they will take and sell all that you have to repay back the loans. I am also able to go travelling, as people who are bankrupt will have their passport confiscated.
I will also not be able to apply for any credit (loans, credit cards) for property or car purchases. I won’t be able to borrow credit as well (pay-later services). And of course, my record will be shown with Bank Negara.
There is also the shame that I am now a ‘bankrupt’. What should I tell my future girlfriend or wife? How do I pay for my next car or house if it breaks down?
Now RM1,500 x 10 years (or 120 months) equals up to RM180,000. That is almost DOUBLE of what I owe, and while it seems okay at first, in the long run, I am still bleeding dry and paying off double of what I owe. The worst thing is that AKPK only allows you to pay up to 3 months in advance, and that’s it.
And RM1500 out of my current salary, for 10 years – that’s still a lot of money.
I learnt a few harsh truths about money at age 30
While I am grateful for AKPK, I am also bitter about how my life turned out. 10 years of my life, in a way, gone. All because of upgrading my Ford Ranger and luxury items fulfilling my childhood want and needs and trying not to end up like my late dad who died not enjoying his life. It truly backfired.
I was forced to sell off my Ford Ranger for RM112,000, and had spent RM40,000 on modifications for it, taking out all my savings as well.
Someone told me that if the item (that of a cheap brand, or with no brand at all) works, and it works, why need to buy the expensive ones? It works! And it’s just a Thermos flask bottle, for example.
Also living simply, living like a normal person. I just couldn’t get around my head how people don’t have that many hobbies and interests as much as me?
I loved modifying cars to be racing machines, PC games and upgrades, camping and all the fancy glamping equipment, bicycles and upgrading components and accessories, luxury watches, diving, jogging, and hiking and finding things that help you be more efficient.
I had to stop buying all of them and was shocked to find that people don’t even spend on anything at all. And yet they still live.
I finally learnt and felt how normal people lived – it is very boring, I take it, but it also doesn’t cost much. I remember spending only RM10 for an entire weekend (for food) while I didn’t go out, drive out, and had my mom cook lunch/dinner.
The BIGGEST lesson I learnt was learning to appreciate and do the FREE things in life.
It troubled me that ‘free’ was considered ‘bad’ or ‘cheap’ or ‘unsuccessful’.
But then I thought about it – I’ve always loved cycling, camping, watching movies at home, playing video games on my gaming PC, hiking hills, going out to waterfalls and vlogging – all those things are ‘free’.
I had already paid for all the equipment needed, all I needed was just to DO it and enjoy it! And those are productive tasks too, that better my finances, health (mentally/emotionally), and help me kill LOTS of time so that I can get to my payday much faster.
Yes, it became an endurance race where I was just counting the days until my next payday would come.
But doing the above helped a lot. I also freed up more time to call my friends and to take my mom out.
Now there was no more eating at fancy restaurants, going out to top events on the weekends, which includes bars, clubs, stand-up comedy shows, or concerts. There was no more dating – or having to spend on girls and their meals. There was no need to go for Classpass (a fitness membership app), and there was no need or invitation from friends to go out drinking or hanging out (I literally had no friends ever call me to hang out).
Also, as someone who actually owned multiple expensive things from the biggest luxury brands – I can honestly say it doesn’t matter anymore.
When I was showing off and wearing LV belts and Hermes ties, all my staff looked at me with jealousy – and they all tattled about me negatively to my boss. Every mistake I made at work was magnified and brought up to my boss for dissection, and to bring me down – which it did.
I realized that dating, meeting friends, having hobbies, and wanting to do the coolest things and go to all the fancy events cost money. The antidote is to do free things instead, what takes up your time and you actually do enjoy.
The best things in life do not have to cost money.
Now I live my life with a second chance, although I still occasionally splurge out on things that will help/enable/enhance me doing all the ‘free activities’. I am glad that the Debt Management Programme does exist.
Under the AKPK plan, my monthly commitment was set at RM1500 for a duration of 10 years. This commitment meant making some tough lifestyle changes. Luxuries and non-essentials were the first to go, and budgeting became a part of my daily life. Every expense had to be justified, and savings became a priority.
The monthly payments to AKPK were strict and non-negotiable. Missing a payment could result in expulsion from the program and a return to the higher interest rates and aggressive bank calls. This discipline forced me to stay on track with my finances, constantly reminding me of the consequences of my past actions.
Throughout my journey with AKPK, I learned invaluable lessons about financial management, the dangers of unchecked spending, and the importance of living within one’s means. The experience was not just about paying off debt but also about financial education and building a sustainable future.
As I continue to make my monthly payments, I reflect on the lessons learned and the changes in my lifestyle and mindset. The AKPK program, while challenging, has been a crucial step in regaining control of my finances and working towards a debt-free future. It’s a path of redemption, discipline, and, ultimately, financial freedom.
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Also read: I Was RM 30,000 in Debt and Became a Street Beggar, Now I Own 5 Massage Parlours
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