Depok, August 2nd 2023. Financial Services Authority (OJK) statistical data reveals that in OJK’s Fintech peer to peer (P2P) Lending (co-funding fintech) statistics in December 2022, there were 62% of co-funding fintech accounts owned by customers aged 19-34 years. This data showed that Gen Z and Millennials have more debt than other generations. The trigger is technological advances controlled by Gen Z and Millennials as well as the profile of these two generations as productive age groups who work and have an income. Unfortunately, this technological progress is not matched by an increase in financial-based literacy.
From these facts, the community service team of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) Universitas Indonesia (UI) was moved to carry out community service for teachers and students of SMAN 4 Depok. The workshop with the theme “Education on Loan Interest to Improve Financial Literacy”, aimed to provide financial-based insight into the importance of carefully assessing loan offers.
Head of the community service team Arman Haqqi Anna Zili, S.Si., M.Si. said “This workshop is a forum for participants to understand how important it is to carefully assess loan offers before making a decision by increasing financial literacy. A total of 48 participants consisting of teachers and students were involved in the activity which was held directly at SMAN 4, Depok (15/7/2023). They are given education regarding how to identify the characteristics of fraudulent modes and traps carried out by loan parties.”
These characteristics can be seen from the amount of interest offered by the digital loan application. Legal lending certainly meets the terms and conditions regulated by the OJK, and is guaranteed to have a permit and is supervised by the OJK. “The loan interest must be in accordance with what is permitted by the OJK, if it exceeds the provisions then the legality of the loan needs to be questioned,” said Rahmat Al Kafi, S.Si., M.Si, speaker at the workshop .
The facilitators at the workshop who were also a member of the community service team were lecturers in the Actuarial Science Study Program (Prodi), Dr. Fevi Novkaniza, S.Si., M.Si., Dr. Dian Lestari, D.E.A., Dr. rer. nat. Hendri Murfi, S.Si., M.Kom., Dr. Dra. Yekti Widyaningsih, M.Si., Mila Novita, S.Si., M.Si., Suci Fratama Sari, S.Si., M.Si., Sindy Devila, S.Si., M.Si., and Dra. Ida Fithriani, M.Si. The team helped workshop participants calculate interest rates, payment amounts and loan periods using formulations in the Microsoft Excel application.
In the workshop, various types of loan interest were also explained, including examples, such as simple interest and compound interest, complete with examples of calculations, as well as an understanding of effective interest rates, nominal, and illustrations. Other materials presented were about annuities starting from the meaning of annuities, types of annuities and examples. These materials were presented in several real case examples to help workshop participants understand these materials more deeply.
One example of the case given was when a debtor borrows a certain amount of funds from a loan service provider. The facilitator team helps participants to calculate the monthly installments that the debtor needs to pay to the relevant service provider, namely by using the Payment (PMT) function in Excel.
“Apart from that, in another case example, we also introduced the Number of Periods (NPER) function in Excel which can help participants calculate the ideal loan tenor,” said Rahmat. To sharpen the participants’ analytical skills and understanding of the possible risks of digital loan, the community service team provided real case examples.
“This activity marks a step forward in efforts to increase financial awareness among students and teachers. It is hoped that with this activity, more and more teenagers and academics will be able to differentiate investment offers or financial service products. Of course, it is in order to avoid the trap of high-interest loans, as well as being smart in making financial decisions and being able to manage finances effectively,” said Rahmat.
