Credit Bureau is now able to generate a report which includes aggregate credit limits and aggregate outstanding credit balances. Aggregate credit limits are maximum amounts of credit that can be granted by lenders to the consumer. Aggregate outstanding balances are amounts that are outstanding under a consumer’s credit cards or other credit facilities. This includes amounts from unbilled … [Read more...]
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The Real Singapore: Evidence on little understanding on financial planning from stolen article
Recently one of my old article entitled Man lost almost his entire HDB property to siblings due to poor financial planning got “stolen” and was published without my permission on The Real Singapore website and shared on their facebook page. I was going to write to the editor of The Real Singapore for copyright infringement when I got shocked with the reaction of the commentators. The reaction was … [Read more...]
Property Cooling Details
Here is a summary of the Property Cooling Measures since September 2009. Much of the materials were taken from the following. I have updated all the external links. http://www.icompareloan.com/resources/summary-of-property-regulations-since-14-sep-2009-till-aug-2013/ http://www.icompareloan.com/resources/summary-of-property-regulations-aug-2013-till-feb-2014/ 1. 14 Sep 2009 – Measures … [Read more...]
Shocked that you cannot use your CPF for housing loan due to Valuation Limit? (Closed caption)
Many HDB owners struggle with their mortgage installments because they assume all their CPF monthly contributions to their ordinary accounts can be used to service the monthly housing payment. Check out this video to find out more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyUN0x6qf1s … [Read more...]
Question on why cannot get $10,000 in HDB refund for BTO
Question: Wilfred, when I bought a BTO (Build-To-Order) unit with my husband in June 2010, our purchase price was $10,000 more than the ‘normal’ price. It seems it is because I am not a Singapore citizen. I became a Singapore citizen in June 2011 but HDB/CPF refuse to refund this extra $10,000 to us! What is this? HELP!! Answer: You are referring to the policy introduced in 5 March 2010. Under … [Read more...]
Question on why must pay extra $152K for BTO?
Question: Wilfred, we decided to buy a new HDB either through BTO or Balance of Sales. I was shocked when I was told I must pay $152,000 in additional money over and above the purchase price. We were looking at a $350K BTO but I was told it will cost us $500K instead! To make it worse, we were told we can only borrow at most $200K. I don’t know what to do as we don’t have the money! … [Read more...]
Why CPF cannot be used for housing loan due to valuation limit
Question: Wilfred, I received a letter saying that in a few months, I cannot use CPF to pay for my housing loan. This means I have to pay cash. However, my CPF still has $13k in my Ordinary Account. What is going on? If I use cash, I will go into negative cash flow. HELP!! Answer: For your case, you have a private property with a bank loan. There are limits to which you can use your CPF to pay … [Read more...]
Question on parents helping to pay for HDB flat
Question: Wilfred, my girlfriend and I are 26 years old. We intend to buy a new flat. However, the prices are so expensive that we figured we need to save for quite a long time before we have enough to pay for the downpayment. Moreover, we do not wish to borrow to the maximum as we do not have the intention to remain in debt for so long. My parents are willing to help us by paying for part of the … [Read more...]
Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) warned property agents against selling doggy properties
An article from Straits Times said that the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) issued an advisory note warning about real estate agents involvement in selling potentially dodgy foreign property investment schemes here. Some real estate salespersons have already been fired, said the report. For the past year, I’ve increasingly seeing very strange property investments in my new clients’ balance … [Read more...]
Should you pay off your loan even if you have extra cash?
If you have extra cash, should you pay off your loan? The standard answer is ‘no’ if the extra cash can earn a higher return then your cost of interest of your debt. Wilfred’s answer is that it depends. First, the debt (such as mortgage loan) is a ‘risk-free’ liability. In financial jargon, the word ‘risk-free’ refers to low volatility. When you borrow money from a bank, the debt level does not … [Read more...]
