Do keep in mind that Islamic Loan does NOT
follow the BLR rate.

It follows the BFR rate which is close to BLR

-removed, you already had your blog in your signature-

This post has been edited by b00n: Jul 17 2009, 11:20 PM

Oh really?.... interesting.

You can search BFR in Google....
Islamic loan suppose to follow BFR. Maybe it's not a requirement.

-removed, you already had your blog in your signature-

This post has been edited by b00n: Jul 17 2009, 11:18 PM

BLR is not the same for all banks. Most are but not all.
Example, Citibank's BLR is 5.6% instead of the usual 5.55%...

Usually those with Fully Flexi facilities & Free Legal Fees have higher interest rate.
You may want to do some calculations & determine your needs as well.



www.shchoy.com

Here's how i look at this,

All housing loan are generally Term Loans.
Flexi, Semi-Flexi or non-Flexi is the "feature" of the Loan.

Example....
"Mr X is be getting a Term Loan with Fully-Flexi feature"

Capital Prepayment is generally like a "Semi-Flexi feature".
Meaning you may need to inform the bank
if you want to put in more money to reduce your principle owed.
And possible, need to write in if you want to take the money out again.

A Fully-Flexi loan acts like an OD.
Meaning you will be given a Current Account that is tied to your Housing Loan.

If you put in say... RM 10k into your Current Account,
your principle is instantly reduce by RM 10k.

And if you need RM 10k back for whatever reason,
you just withdraw it back via cheque. Of course, your principle owe will increase by RM 10k

Hence in terms of feature wise, Fully-Flexi is the best.
But, it is generally more expensive (meaning slightly higher interest rate)
and may need to pay a monthly maintenance fee of around RM 10.

My general guideline is just shop around for loans
and always bargain!


www.shchoy.com

Great to hear that.

I believe you can't go wrong with OCBC.
I recently did some home loan shopping myself and
OCBC is one of those with competitive rates & features. IMO.



www.shchoy.com

This post has been edited by shchoy: Jul 20 2009, 10:11 AM

Yes, you're correct.
As far as I know, OCBC only have what's generally called semi-flexi
and NOT full-flexi loans.


www.shchoy.com

This post has been edited by shchoy: Jul 20 2009, 02:01 PM

I believe you can write in to the bank to let them know if your payment is to regular installment or
capital pre-payment... if you're paying before due date



www.shchoy.com


This post has been edited by shchoy: Jul 22 2009, 08:22 AM

We need to check the facilities / features of the loan as well.
Interest rate doesn't tell the whole story.

Factors like Free Legal or Zero Entry plays a huge part in the interest rates.


www.shchoy.com


This post has been edited by shchoy: Jul 26 2009, 11:09 AM

Why? Care to share your experience.
I am just about to take HSBC....

As far as i know... Usually foreign banks have very high penalty for Lock-in periods, etc.


www.shchoy.com

This post has been edited by shchoy: Jul 31 2009, 03:31 PM

No harm trying....

But I do feel that 1 year is generally too early to think about refinancing or even waiver
since the interest rates and loan features are generally still the same.



www.shchoy.com

This post has been edited by shchoy: Aug 2 2009, 10:46 AM