How Do I Check If a Licence Is Real?

This is the actual, official check — not a workaround. KPKT (the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, not Bank Negara Malaysia) built the i-KrediKom app specifically so borrowers can search a company name or licence number and get a direct answer on current status. It's free, and it's the only verification that actually confirms anything — a licence number printed in an advertisement or shown on a signboard is a claim the lender is making, not independent proof. Lenders checking their own ad copy for the same compliance issues — missing licence display, an ad running without its own separate advertisement permit — can run it through our free Loan Ad Compliance Checker before it publishes.

Under the Moneylenders Act 1951 (Act 400), licensed lenders are required to display their original licence at their business premises, and every individual advertisement needs its own separate advertisement permit from the Registrar — a company can hold a valid lending licence and still be advertising illegally if a specific ad was never permitted. Multiple independent sources consistently describe genuine licence numbers as beginning with "WL" and advertising permit numbers with "WP," though the safest check is always i-KrediKom directly, not the prefix pattern alone.

One thing worth knowing: Bank Negara Malaysia doesn't regulate moneylending at all — BNM has published its own pages clarifying this and warning about fake licences falsely claiming BNM issuance, which tells you how common that confusion actually is.

For a step-by-step consumer walkthrough of the KPKT register itself — how the i-KrediKom and kpkt.gov.my lookups work, what a valid licence looks like on each surface, and the red flags of unlicensed operators — see our dedicated licensed money lender list Malaysia (KPKT) guide. For how licence-verification fits alongside acquisition-funnel economics, ad-copy compliance and PDPA/DNC controls, see the full loan marketing programme.