I've been looking through this forum and here to share my experience.
I am one of the buyer and signed my s&p this monday (28-12-2009).
The loan applications that i applied are Pbb, Uob and SC.
Pbb: they need 1 week to process, offering BLR - 1.8%. MRTA + Legal fees can be included.
Uob: Basically, they need 3 days to approved, offering BLR - 1.85%. MRTA + legal fees can be included.
SC: i agreed, they proceed really fast, offering BLR - 1.85%. MRTA and legal fees are not included.
Same to all, i placed a booking on 12-12-2009, suppose my due date to signed was 26-12-2009 and developer rushed me to sign on 24-12-2009.
I understand that there are some ppl r risking in signing of the s&p before loan is approved. I would advise not to do this. (I'm first time buyer too).
On 24th, my loan was approved according to my UOB SA, but yet to print me the offer letter. SC has already printed the offer and awaiting me to sign.
On that day, my panel lawyer is good enuf. she asked me weather am i getting my offer letter before signed? i said nope. Then she ADVISED me to speak with developer to see if i can extend my due date since im not getting an offer letter yet ( she knows is risky too! ).
Then i went to speak with the sales manager (i guess) and tell her the situation where 14 days included with weekend n PH is something very unfair to us, as there are 2 public holidays sit in btw for the past 2 weeks. All managers and staffs are on leave. We are unable to get our approval. Then the sales manager and SA said if my loan has approved, i can proceed to sign the s&p already even without offer letter yet. BUT I
INSIST [COLOR=red]to have offer letter ( as a protection for our buyers). So there she goes, she allowed me to extend on 28-12-2009 n noted my unit and name on a book. Again, the panel lawyer reminded me to get the black and white from her. But she said no nid, just look for her on 28-12-2009 is enuf.

(luckily, my panel lawyer helps me to put a note to my s&p instead!)
One thing i need to remind here, please get your offer letter 1st before you sign up for you s&p. In my case, since i cannot get my UOB offer letter, i go for SC offer letter. SC SA fax me the offer letter.
When i looked through the offer letter, it stated that i'm getting 85% approval only. I was surprised to see this and i called the SC SA. Unfortunately, she DIDNT AWARE of this 85% loan approval. after she checked and get back to say that i'm only eligible for 85% loan approval.
It's something need to be extra caution. if i signed the offer letter of SC just now, i have to bear another 5% as my downpayment again. This is something really not good. since i can extend my due date, i took uob rather. The SA past me the offer letter, explained on the all t n c.
At the end of my story, i signed my s&p on 28-12-2009, with floor plan (including parking plan and parking lot units), dead of mutual, special promotion offer letter (stated clearly developer will bear the 3 years interest and 7.5% is given to us in 18months) provided.
The loan agreement is prepared by the solicitors. You can pay cash / cheque of rm300 to the solicitors. The developer will only bear the construction interest but not your MRTA and legal fees interest. Please don't messed up this. When signing any doc, please ensure your block unit + name + IC are correct. After i signed my s&p, my booking payment + 10% downpayment amount has credited from my account already.
Hope all these things will help to clear all your doubt.
does that mean if you agree with any bank offer, can I proceed immediately / open account