56 smart kiosks are being set up by the
Thailand government nationwide. The Digital Government Development Agency
(DGA) is collaborating with the Student Loans Fund office (SLF) to allow its
borrowers the capability to check the status of their loans through these
kiosks.
According to the report
released by The
Nation, the smart kiosks provide 18 government services that include
social security information and healthcare. The Agency is expecting to add more
services, such as utility payments and police orders so that the total number of
services would be 24 by the end of this year.
DGA Senior Executive Vice-President Airada
Luangvilai explained that the collaboration with SLF was to allow its student
borrowers to check and monitor their loans. With this service, the students
will be able to print out a QR code that they can use for loan payments through
the mobile banking application of Krung Thai Bank (KTB) or on the KTB Netbank
platform.
Airada added that the Agency had established
the 56 smart kiosks in Bangkok and in provinces such as Phuket, Chiang Mai and
Khon Kaen. Moreover, the DGA expects to establish more than 120 kiosks by the
end of next year.
SLF Manager Chainarong Katchapanan said
that their office offers loans to 5.4 million students nationwide. The mode of
payment that these students use to pay their loans back is through traditional
channels such as bank branches and other over the counter services.
Chainarong explained that collaborating
with the DGA provides the students with a more convenient alternative to paying
their loans.
He mentioned how the kiosks will provide the
students with greater ease in monitoring their loans and more convenience in
making payments. He added that future plans include allowing the students to
seek loan registrations and receive loan applications through the kiosks in the
future.
For checking the status of their loans,
students only need to enter their IDs into the smart kiosks choose from the
menu that appears.
For making payments to their loans through
KTB Netbank, students need to print out the QR code, which will then be scanned
by the KTB Netbank. They can now repay their loans through online channels, no
more need to personally go to bank branches.
Students borrow an average loan amount of THB
100,000 from SLF and it usually takes them 15 years to pay back the money after
graduation.
