Actually, don't need to buy MRTA for the same number of years as your loan tenure. Just ask yourself, how long will you be holding this property? 5 years? 20 years? 40 years? Most people move to another property sooner or later. I guess a safe bet is 10-20 years. If you are worried about your lack of protection later, just buy some life insurance + TPD + CI. BTW MRTA doesn't cover CI, so if you get cancer, you don't get paid until you are disabled or die. Maybe there are exceptions.

I would say either (2) or (3). If you already have existing comfortable insurance coverage, can choose (3). (1) will be a loss if you re-finance within 5 years. BTW, why take PBB? If take a bank without compulsory MRTA, you have simpler choice.

I've applied for a loan with a few banks recently. OCBC and HLB gave the best rates (BLR-2.4%, 3 years lock-in, max 70 years), CIMB and AmBank don't seem competitive enough. HSBC also good but shorter tenure (max 65 years). Apply with more banks lah. With flexi loan, you just put some money in the current account and it will auto-deduct the monthly payments, which is convenient. For MLTA, just buy some insurance with your favourite agent