I'm at wits end with home loans. I have not taken up any home loan before & it is confusing for me with the many packages offered by Public Bank.
I would like to consult everybody who has experienced with Public Bank & probably could get an idea about which package is ideal. I may like to loan >500k for 20 years.
Thank you in advance for contributing your experience.

why dont u post the rates? Cant keep track cause rates everytime going lower and lower. Easier for discussion

This post has been edited by airline: Feb 11 2008, 03:50 PM

This is the link to latest rates:

public bank latest home loan rate

This post has been edited by sharesa: Feb 11 2008, 04:00 PM

Fixed Rate is good, surety of the present and future rates but confined to a certainty in time say.. 5 / 7 / 10 years.

Pros - certainty
Cons - Fixed Rate is slightly higher and if BLR is slashed, say to 6%... you will find it your Fixed Rate is way higher.

So.. put in your bets. Nobody can make that decision for you.

i see.... tks for your info.
After doing some deep thinking, I realised that we have to bet on the future rates, if we think its gonna rise, longer tenure of Fixed Rate is better, so on so forth.

IIRC, our highest BLR went up to 14% once.....
That's also one of the tactics used by sales doing fixed rate promotion.
It's just a gamble now. Nothing is certain.
Even if one takes variable rates say BLR - 1.5% today, but tomorrow; there could be a better offer at BLR - 2%.

If you buying the home for own stay, then get fixed rate as it is going to be long term loan.

Variable rate is only good for short term loan as we never knows when the BLR going to increase.

2nd Opinion :-

There are loans from the Std Chartered , HSBC or Alliance Bank with the following advantages , not sure with Public Bank :-

Flexi Loan. Your loan comes with current account ( two in one ) meaning you can put in all your savings into this account, so to minimise the interest charge. You can withdraw the excess or extra payments by way of cheque if you need the money.

Let say the share market is no good, then your sell your shares and park all your money here. Or if you lock in profit, you may want to put in more money here.

However, you cannot withdraw instalments due and paid. Let say, you have paid 12 instalments by now, this amount paid is not for withdrawal.

This type of loan is also good if you use your EPF to pay monthly on top of your current instalment.

If you worry you may need some money later, it is also good to have a longer period to pay. let say 30 years. But you can pay more as if it is 20 years loan. Let say, you need to pay only RM 1000 a month, you can pay RM 1500 a month. As I say, you can withdraw the extra paid if needed.

Advance or more money paid to banks will give you a good rating from the banks.

The reason i suggest that because 20 years are a long way to go, and there are many ups and downs along the way. And for a 500k loan , you need some flexibility in making payments. You can even pay 12 months in one payment , and stop paying instalments for the next 11 months for example.

You would benefit more if you have the extra money from time to time. just my humble opinion.

This post has been edited by SKY 1809: Feb 16 2008, 01:58 PM

thanks for your info, Sky.
Will get more information about this flexibility from your recommendation. I get more ideas now...!

Word of caution - Flexi Loan.. well it's onset and marketability is good but you will need to be quite firm on your control as the more flexible it is, the more easier for you to lose control. And normally there will be monthly charges and higher interest rate.

You can ended up with empty Current Account and incurs extra charges monthly because it is in human's nature to spend.

Whatever financial instruments Banks introduced will always be double-edged sword -- think Credit Card's greatest gift and abuses.

You have to look for Flexi loan with current account, meaning you cannot withdraw back your monthly instalments as protection. If the loan is for 20 years, that is the maximum period allowed to pay back. This flexi loan allow you to pay more than the monthly instalments into current account and earn interest rate as high as your loan rate.

Even to park your monthly income here and slowly using it to pay your bills will save you up quite a lot interest in long run.
An extra RM 10,000 parked here will save you RM 22,000 interest in 20 years basing on 6% interest. If you not discipline enough, you can also lock up your extra cash into fixed deposits or REITs for example.


In any financial plan, you need to be discipline. Even you have a fixed instalment plan, you still can refinance later to do cash out. It is like the car you are using, you have to be in control, you are the driver of the car. Likewise, you are in charge of your finance, you are the master.

In China, people or businessmen do not use cheques bcos they think cheques are not real money. I suppose people also think those using cheques are real cheaters. It is human nature to cheat people using cheques. That is what people think in China. Nobody trusts cheques.



More than 95% of world population does not live in a comfort. Only 5% are in comfort zone. That explains our human nature. You are the one who have a choice to choose which class of people you want to belong to.

Just my 2sen opinion.

This post has been edited by SKY 1809: Feb 17 2008, 10:20 AM

HSBC is also nice..they can finance ur MRTA/legal fees/duty stamp with 50% discount if u 1st timer buy house..