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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

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.

Most probably you are reading this while shopping, waiting for your wife/girlfriend trying on a new dress or shoe? Congratulation... You're never be more relevant to read this article. Wait, what is the 3rd way? 1st way ---> Cash 2nd way ---> Credit Card 3rd way ---> ??? Introducing the NEW concept of shopping... The whole idea behind 3rd way is to promote responsible shopping within our community. With proper planning, you can avoid spending all your cash on the item you want. Instead, you can shop and be rewarded with the interest rates from saving the extra cash reward. You can plan to spend your money for a gadgets, a journey or whatever items and get amazing deals and pay in the future, helping you to get the things you want hassle free. After changing the buying concept, you will arrive at an interesting question: " If shopping could be free from pain of credit and the guilt of cash, what would I buy? ". Happy answering... Yup. This is the new concept that ...

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...

Attention to all credit card holders (especially for the following mentioned banks), interest rates for outstanding credit card balances, and late payments will be revised higher . At least 3 banks, namely Hong Leong Bank, Ambank and Citibank already published the rate revision effective March 2012 on respective website. What did Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said? According to The Star Newspaper , a spokesman from BNM said the repricing of rates was not due to directive from the central bank, explaining that it was done by the banks. "However, the new rates are withing the range stipulated in Bank Negara's credit card guidelines," he told The Star . Rationale behind the revision Beautifully, banks said the revision was done to promote sound financial management by saying that the move would encourage card holders with outstanding debts to pay them off. But, what we understand is that for those who are in debt right now, they were being slapped with a higher finance charges ...

On 7th Dec 2011, the Singapore government announced that it would impose an Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) to moderate investment demand for private residential property and promote a more stable and sustainable market. This is needed in view of the stubbornly high inflation rate in Singapore amidst the slowing demand from developed markets. For those who don't know, inflation rate in Singapore was mainly contributed by surging property prices. The ABSD was effective 8 Dec 2011. After the  announcement , property-related stocks slumped last week, following by a slump in banking stocks because of an expected slower housing loan growth. The latest measures are a near-term negative for property developers with an anticipated trend in lower average selling prices and transactional volumes, which will hurt profitability. Nevertheless, most large-cap property developers in Singapore are relatively well diversified, not just across sectors (industrial and commercial), but also...

Property prices had been skyrocketing since 2009, creating more millionaires in Malaysia. The key factors behind the increasing properties prices were low interest-rate environment, attractive housing loan packages and ample of liquidity in financial system. These had prompt investors ,and general public too, to invest into properties searching for better return among all the investment instruments. Oppss... Favorable Real Property Gain Tax (RPGT) is one of the factor too. While creating millionaires, many middle and low income groups are facing difficulties to come out the higher capital required to purchase their homes. Genuine buyers , who are first-time house buyers, were being forced to delay their buying and ended up renting. This will resulted in widening wealth gaps between Malaysians. As such, government had proposed to increase the quantum of RPGT to counter the potential socioeconomic backlash. (see attachment) Curbing speculations? Traditionally, there are two important to...

What is the main risk for Asian economy? None other than Inflation . Across the region, fast-growing countries such as Singapore, Indonesia, India and China are reporting faster than expected price increases in tandem with their economic success. To fight inflation, many countries already carried out their tools of tightening. We have Singapore who fights imported inflation via stronger currency. Meanwhile, other countries are going for the traditional way of hiking interest rate and increasing bank reserve requirement since last year. At first, Bank Negara Malaysia called it as "normalization", but it seems to be "containerization" going forward to contain inflation. Who's fault? There are 2 causes for the problem, which I categorized them into international and national. Among the international contributing factors were: Loose monetary policies practiced by US and Europe, who slashes interest rate to almost zero and carried out large scale of asset purchases...

Deadline gets closer and closer, yet US have not come out a concrete solution to calm the world. Whether tax increases should be included in a deficit reduction agreement or not, both Democrats and Republicans are standing firm without compromise. Republicans insist that any deal to cut deficits should involve spending cuts only while Democrats have been demanding both spending cuts and tax increases. Although Finance Malaysia reckons that the Congress would pass the bill to increase debt ceiling, let us analyzed and prepare for the unfortunate outcome. What if the debt ceiling limit is not raised by 2nd August? US bondholders will get paid first, while other payments such as social security, military payment, and Medicare services will stall. Downgrading by rating agencies is unavoidable, which will lead to an increase in Treasury's borrowing costs. US will be losing its AAA ratings , damaging the important role of USD as one of the world's preferred currency. USD will slump t...

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) hiked the OPR by 25bps to 3% on 5 May as what some analysts said " Surprising ". The OPR hike was a pre-emptive strike on inflation pressures as the output gap closes. Many analysts are expecting hikes to resume only in July as inflation remains largely supply side driven. However, BNM seems to act before demand pull pressures dominate and before the output gap turns positive. In our view, the OPR and SRR hike is indicating two things here. Hints #1 Inflation is going to threaten the Malaysian economy in the near-term (at least). Recent increase in prices of petrol and sugar will further accelerate the numbers. With ongoing efforts by Government to reduce the subsidies, inflation numbers for sure will gone up. Citi Research: Regional Policy Rates as at 10th May 2011 Hints #2 Related to inflation also, BNM is trying to reduce the increasing food and resources prices. If we can reduce the import price, by having a stronger currency, this would be a wi...

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...

Post-financial crisis, bonds remain the preferred asset class for more conservative investors because it is less volatile than equities . Asia, for example, remains a sound investment destination with rapid urbanization as a younger and higher population growth will necessitate greater infrastructure spending in the coming years. To provides the golden opportunity, CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd has launched a new fund, that allows investors to capitalise on Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Middle East 's improving credit conditions given the high potential of more rating upgrades. "The demand for high-quality bonds in these targeted countries continues to remain high given the low interest rates outlook in the US and Europe, and this should support bond prices for the next few years. In addition, the slower economic recovery of these developed markets is shifting investment appetite to Asia. Combined with the likelihood of bond rating upgrades , this will mean potentia...

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...

While Malaysian market is hovering around 1,500 points, a ground survey shows that local investors are skeptical about the sustainability of our market. Bursa Malaysia's website shows that local retail participation is merely at 25% daily. Maybe, we could look aboard to find some other investing options. And, China's banking stocks could suit investors appetite for the following reasons:- China was an under-performer this year China's banks should report better profits Robust loan demand Due to the higher interest rate being announced recently, banks of China should experienced expansion of net interest margin for the next few quarters. Although loan growth is moderating now, it was still high, and will continue as long as China's economy is growing. We can't deny that China is the world's engine of growth currently, in which we persist for the next few years, at least. Will China raise rate again? Depending how fast and big the housing bubble was, China wou...

Yesterday, China surprisingly raised its interest rate by 0.25%  as follows: - 1 year lending rate from 5.31% to 5.56% - 1 year deposit rate from 2.25% to 2.50% Why China raise interest rate? 1. To cool down the over-heating property sector. 2. Combat inflation 3. Low liquidity in the banking system While inflation was hovering around 3.5% currently, even though the deposit rate has been raised, the net real interest rate is still in negative territory (3.5% - 2.5% = -1.0%). This is one of the main reason why Chinese were going all out to invests, especially in real-estate, due to its low yield if sitting in the bank (even lower than Malaysia). However, China would be facing another problem... Raising interest rate would attract capital inflows , which could dampen the purpose of containing inflation. Foreign investors view Chinese renmimbi as undervalue , mainly due to interventions by Chinese government. The latest news could ignite a fresh round of thoughts,...