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Prior to Budget 2014 (to be tabled next month), speculation has rift up on a few proposal to tighten the rules, especially on property sector. Following the outcry from public stating the alarming high property prices, measure should be taken to tackle the issue before bubble was formed. The Bubbling Biz... Among the measures being proposed were: Non-other than Real Property Gain Tax (RPGT) Higher Stamp Duty : ~ 5% of purchase price for 3rd property ~ 7.5% for 4th property ~ 10% for 5th property onward Loan-to-Value ratio reduce to 60% for 3rd property onward While the above info need to be ascertained further, some banks already implemented their in-house ruling. What's that? It was to limit the maximum term for refinancing of property to 10 years . Yes. Sooner or later, all of the banks will follow. * Please note that the above 3 rules need to be ascertained further. Stay tune!

For those who have never been exposed to the concept of “refinancing”,  home loan refinancing  may seem like a baffling notion.  After all, what good could possibly come from getting a new home loan… just to pay off your old one? Wouldn't you just go back to square one after the whole process? These could be some of the questions you’re asking yourselves, and understandably so. In reality, home loan refinancing is a widely-adopted practice with many potential benefits. Home buyers far and wide undertake it in order to lower the interest they’re paying on their home loans, reduce their monthly loan repayment amounts, and generally alter their loan terms to better suit their financial needs.  In fact, some even refinance to free up cash riding on the inherent values of their properties! Want to refinance your home loan in Malaysia? Click here to compare different rates by different banks. Courtesy of: iMoney.my

Hot from oven. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) today announce some measures to address the alarming household debt among Malaysians. As reported, household debts have continued to increase at a strong pace, averaging at an annual rate of 12% over past 5 years. While this has been supported by positive income and employment conditions, in the more recent period, there has been a growing trend in the offering of financial products that are not in the long-term interest of consumers . What does this mean? This includes extended financing tenures of up to 45 years for house financing and 25 years for personal financing!!! Wow... Is it too long the tenure? While this may reduce the monthly repayments, in the long run, this increase the overall debt burden of households. If we don't stop this kind of practice, it will encourage excessive debt accumulation by households and increase the vulnerability of this sector. Hence, BNM has to take actions... The implementation of a set of measures ...

Like any other country, buying a house and taking a  home loan  / mortgage in Malaysia involve legal  fees & charges  - which many people fail to take into consideration especially when they’re buying a property for the very first time. So to all Malaysians buying your dream houses right now, allow iMoney to show you ALL the fees and charges involved when you buy a house or apply for a home loan.

Credit cards have become a part of life in Malaysia. But as much as they make life a lot more convenient; credit cards can also lead to an unmanageable amount of debt. In some cases, credit cards have even led to bankruptcies. If you have a credit card debt that seems to be spiralling of control, it may be the right time to consider debt consolidation. In Malaysia, there are two common debt consolidation methods that are highly workable. 1) Credit Card Balance Transfer Credit Card Balance Transfers involve the transferring of money that you owe on your current credit card account to a new credit card. Balance transfers offer a number of different benefits, including lower interest rate and the ability to simplify your credit card debt payment process.  How Credit Card Balance Transfers Can Work for Debt Consolidation: ●      If you have accumulated a significant amount of credit card debt, there is a good chance you are currently being charged the maximum inte...

Once again, PTPTN (Malaysia National Higher Education Loan) came to the limelight lately with the wrong reasons. In conjunction with this, Finance Malaysia did a survey on Facebook Page asking our fans "Should Government Abolish PTPTN Loans?", and guess the answer given by majority of them? NO . Emmm... What does this mean? It's pretty clear that majority of us thinks that PTPTN should be continue for the following reasons: There is no FREE lunch in this world Borrowers should repay what he borrows The scheme did already help many financially distressed students pursuing tertiary education Thanks for your participation in the survey. Yet, many readers keep asking Finance Malaysia, our view on this matter. Before answering you, we also highlighted that this blog is of freedom of speech, we're not political driven blog, and we tend to be political-neutral in writing. Below is our view on this issue: We agreed that there is no free lunch, especially in Malaysia. We shou...

In 2008, we have seen the catastrophic effect from the subprime mortgage loan in US. Even now, US is still struggling to fully recover from their worst financial crisis since Great Depression. The problems doesn't build in one day, in fact, it took years to snowball the problem. And, yet Malaysia seems like wanting to catch up with them by supporting the subprime loan. But, the unique part of our version is " using EPF monies "? When news first broke out last month that EPF would be channelling RM1.5bil for a special public housing scheme, alarm bells sounded off for many contributors. Maybe EPF already knew the result for last year performance, it announced later that contributors are getting a decade-high dividend rate of 6%. Salute to EPF. Since EPF are doing so good even without the said "loan", then, why EPF have to take the risk to loan out to this scheme? Afterthat, EPF published a statement claiming that the money is loaned to the Government, not to ind...

Did you watch TV news just now? There is a good news for Malaysian who are looking for higher saving rate for their monies. Yes. I am talking about the fresh from oven 1Malaysia Amanah Rakyat scheme. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister, which aimed at helping those with a monthly household income of RM3,000 and below. Unlike the previous series, the new scheme was a hybrid of a unit trust investment and loan product, capable of generating a consistent cash flow or monthly income. It will be made available from Jan 30 . But, the best part is it comes with a Guaranteed return. Unbelievable? The limit is RM5,000 and it can be bought through savings or investment loans from selected financial institutions, such as Maybank, CIMB, RHB and BSN. Investors would get a guaranteed RM134 monthly and for those who borrow, they only need to pay RM84 a month and still get RM50 in profit. Too Good to be TRUE? Let's us calculate the return on investment. If investors fork out RM5,000 themsel...

Like it or not, Bank Negara Malaysia announced that effective 1 Jan 2012, financial institutions must make appropriate enquiries into a prospective borrower's income after statutory eductions for tax and EPF, and consider all debt obligations , in assessing affordability. Aimed at promoting prudent, responsible and transparent retail financing practices, the new guidelines require financial institutions to make assessments of a borrower's ability to afford financing facilities based on a prudent debt service ratio as inputs to their credit decisions. On top of that, a new guideline was stipulated that the maximum tenure for vehicle financing should not exceed 9 years , with immediate effect (18 November 2011). Right now, there are only 2 banks which offers vehicle financing up to 11 years, and less than 2% of car buyers now opted for tenures beyond 9 years. The changes was neglect-able. Are you an Informed Borrower? The guidelines additionally hope to ensure that consumers are...

When writing this article, I am proud to say that I am a local graduate working locally and repaying my PTPTN loan monthly. Who said that graduates can't perform as best as others? Do we necessary needed to obtain hundreds of thousands of loans to study oversea? If I can survive here, why can't you? Of course, I can't deny that some professional courses offered here are not competitive enough. That's why many professionals opt for oversea universities. By graduating oversea as a doctor or lawyer or engineer, it definitely costs you a hole in the pocket. Please bare in mind, it is not your pocket, but your parents' pocket. This is when Public Service Department (PSD) scholarship comes into the picture to fulfill Malaysia's dream to groom our talents, and your parents' dream too. Why don't you come back? Then, this question popped up. Yesterday, it was reported that 65% of PSD scholars did not return home. Surprised? And, most of them is doctor. Although...

Everyone is buzzing about SRR lately, since Bank Negara Malaysia's statement which stated its intention to raise SRR in the near future. Actually, what is SRR? And, what is the effect of higher SRR imposed? Why BNM using SRR right now? Finance Malaysia hopes to clear everyone's doubt and would appreciate if you can share this out. What is SRR? Statury Reserve Requirement is a monetary policy instrument available to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) for the purposes of liquidity management. Effectively, banking institutions namely commercial banks, merchant/investment banks and Islamic banks are required to maintain balances in their Statutory Reserve Accounts (SRA) equivalent to a certain proportion of their eligible liabilities (EL), this proportion being the SRR rate. Why BNM uses the SRR as its "tool"? Since SRR is available to BNM to manage liquidity and hence credit creation in the banking system, it was used to withdraw or inject liquidity when the excess or lack of...

Once again, to address the affordability issues of properties, MyFirst Home Scheme (My1st) was launched by government on 8th March 2011. Thanks for addressing the problem faced by young Malaysians working adults. But, does it really worth to even think about the scheme? Of course, owning a house at young age is a good start to family planning. In fact, we're living in a society where buying a new house tights closely to starting a family. But, this is not necessary a MUST to everyone of us. We must do proper planning before committing for such a long-term loan with such huge amount. Buying a house is not buying an iPad or iPhone. Only apartments are likely with less than RM220,000 price tags in Klang Valley now Highlights of My First Home Scheme... For those earning less than RM3,000 monthly Working in private sector Confirmed employees with a minimum of 6 months in the job Joint applications are allowed (both in private sector and are family members) 100% loan financing for f...

As expected, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) decided to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) at 2.75% yesterday. This was the 3rd time in a row that BNM left it unchanged. Are there any hints by BNM on Malaysia's economy this year? We can explore the "hidden messages" from the monetary policy statement as below: Regional Front: While advanced economies continue to register modest growth, most emerging economies have experienced strong growth. For Asian region, domestic economic activity continues to support the growth momentum amid weaker external demand. Shifts in global liquidity have resulted in significant capital flows into the emerging economies , in particular, Asian region, and have brought with it risks to macroeconomic and financial stability. The region is also being affected by global inflationary pressure arising from the higher commodity and food prices. On Malaysia: Recent indicators point towards a sustained expansion in private sector activity. External...

I believe almost every credit card users had been offered a new type of insurance - credit card insurance . What is credit card insurance? it insured you of the outstanding amount owed in your credit card it covers death and disablement of credit card holders it charges card holders an insurance  premium annually normally And, in my case, it offers me a better plan which only charge me if there is any outstanding credit card loan. If you're a prompt paymaster, this is definitely the better option for you. If you agreed on the deal, all you need is to answer ' YES ' through the phone. Then, they will issue a contract notes and mail to your home address. Ya... Pretty easy and convenient though. But, is it worth to have such insurance? Finance Malaysia opine that it is not worth, and its a waste of money because of the following points:- Credit card supposed is for our ease of making purchases, especially for those 0% installment deals. Those who opts cred...

On 3rd November 2010, Bank Negara Malaysia wishes to announce with immediate effect the implementation of a maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 70% , which will be applicable to the 3rd house financing facility onwards taken out by a borrower. Financing facilities for purchase of the 1st and 2nd homes are not affected and borrowers will continue to be able to obtain financing for these purchases at the present prevailing LTV level applied by individual banks based on their internal credit policies. Why? The measure aims to support a stable and sustainable property market, and promote the continued affordability of homes for the general public.  At the national level, residential property prices have increased steadily in tandem with economic development and the rise in income levels.  This aggregate growth trend remains largely manageable and has not deviated from the long term trend in residential property prices.  In the more recent period, ...

Today, it marks a historic milestone for my PTPTN 's loan. After waiting for a year since the day government announced that it will reduce the interest rate from 3% to 1% , all the borrowers' wish finally came true. I am very pleased with the announcement, though, it should be more effective. Understandably, there are thousands of borrowers who had taken up the education loan. However, did PTPTN file and store those record in a systematic way? If so, why would it take so long? Right after the announcement, many of us (loan takers) curiously thinking about the procedure , terms and conditions applies , and of course, when would it started. Then, I believe many of us can't wait anymore, and take the first step by ringing up to inquire about the issue. Personally, I did called. Surprisingly, the official politely told us that NOT everyone are entitle for the reduced 1% interest rate. The term was: " Qualified borrowers is meant for those who regularly repay the loan for t...