How to verify a licensed moneylender in Malaysia before you borrow

Anyone can put a logo on a WhatsApp profile and call themselves a licensed lender. The checks below take about ten minutes and cost nothing. Do all five before you send a single document.

Check 1: The KPKT licence

Moneylending in Malaysia is regulated by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, known as KPKT, under the Moneylenders Act 1951. A genuine lender holds a licence and must state its licence number on its premises, its advertisements and its agreements.

1. Ask for the company's full registered name and licence number. A genuine lender gives both without hesitation.
2. Look the company up on KPKT's list of licensed moneylenders. Match the name exactly; scammers use names one word away from a real company.
3. Confirm the licence is current. Licences are issued for a fixed period and must be renewed.

You can check MyOneCredit's details on our licence page.

Source: Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan (KPKT) · KPKT

Check 2: The advertisement permit

A licensed moneylender may not advertise without a separate advertisement permit from KPKT, and the permit number should appear on the advertisement. A social media advert with no permit number, or one that quotes a licence number but no permit, is a warning sign even if the company itself exists.

Source: Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia · Moneylenders Act 1951 (Act 400)

Check 3: The person contacting you

Even when the company is real, the person messaging you may not be. Scammers copy staff photos, job titles and even staff ID cards from genuine companies.

• Ask for the person's staff ID and check it with the company through a number you found yourself, not one they gave you.
• MyOneCredit customers can enter a WhatsApp number or staff ID on our verify a contact page to check instantly whether that person works for us. Verify by number, not by profile picture.
• A licensed moneylender may not use agents or canvassers to find borrowers. Anyone describing themselves as an "agent" for a lender is either breaking the law or lying about the lender.

Check 4: The bank account

Loans are paid out to, and repaid from, an account in the company's name. A personal account, a staff member's account or an account in a different company's name is a warning sign, whatever the explanation.

Before transferring anything, check the account number and the phone number on Semak Mule, the police portal that lists accounts and numbers reported in scams. A clean result is not proof of honesty, but a listed one is proof enough to stop.

Source: Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) · Semak Mule

Check 5: The agreement

A licensed moneylender must use the agreement form prescribed by law, must have it attested by a Commissioner for Oaths or other authorised attestor who explains it to you, and must give you a stamped copy before the money is lent. If any of those steps is missing, the law will not enforce the agreement, and you should not sign it.

Look for these before you sign:

• The heading says Schedule J (unsecured) or Schedule K (secured) and names the Moneylenders Act 1951.
• The principal, the interest rate and every instalment are filled in. No blanks.
• The interest rate is within the legal cap: 18% a year for an unsecured loan, 12% for a secured one.
• The only charges besides interest are stamp duty and the attestor's fee.

Our agreement explained page walks through the real form clause by clause.

Scam lines to walk away from

Loan scams reuse the same scripts. If you hear any of these, stop:

• "Your loan is approved, but you need to pay a processing fee, insurance or a deposit before we release it." A licensed moneylender may only charge stamp duty, fees payable by law and legal costs, and none of them is collected before disbursement.
• "Send me the OTP code you just received." No lender needs a code that authorises payments out of your own account.
• "No need to sign anything. Just confirm on WhatsApp." Without the prescribed agreement you have no protection at all.
• "Blacklist also can. Guaranteed approval." No genuine lender approves before assessing.
• "This offer expires in one hour." Deadlines exist to stop you checking.
• A company that uses real photos and a real logo but cannot or will not give a licence number.

If you have already paid

1. Contact your bank immediately and ask them to stop or recall the transfer.
2. Call the National Scam Response Centre at 997.
3. Make a police report, bringing your chat history, the account number you paid into and your transfer receipts.
4. If the scammer used a real company's name, tell that company. Send MyOneCredit a screenshot on our official WhatsApp so we can warn others.

The sooner you act, the better the chance of recovering the money.

Common questions

Can a licensed moneylender operate only on WhatsApp? A licensed lender can use WhatsApp to communicate, as we do, but the agreement must still be signed in the prescribed form and attested in person. A lender that says the whole loan can be done in a chat is not following the law.

The lender showed me a photo of a licence. Is that enough? No. Photos are easy to copy. Check the number on KPKT's list yourself.

What is the difference between a licensed moneylender and an ah long? The law: caps on interest, a prescribed agreement, no advance charges, and a ban on harassment. Our full comparison sets out the differences line by line, and our guide to what an ah long is explains how illegal lending works.

Next steps

Check our licence page, then read how the process works from estimate to disbursement. If someone has contacted you in our name, verify them first.