DISCOVER the Road to Financial FREEDOM!

Effective 1st Sept 2008, the retail price of petrol will be streamlined and based on the average monthly market price with the government maintaining the subsidy rate at 30 sen per litre,  The retail price of petrol will be fixed on the first day of each month. The Government also gives an assurance that the retail price of petrol WILL NOT EXCEED RM2.70 a litre this year. 

In this CRITICAL TIMES, everyone is looking for method to get more value on what money can buy. A lot of  banks are jumping on the bandwagon to provide their customers with fuel rebates to cope with the high petrol prices increase. This competition only will benefit US as a CONSUMER! 

This current promotion of up to 5% cash rebates for fuel. This is the BEST DEAL that we can get in the market NOW. I never pay any fee applying the card including annual fee as it’s free for first year. Apply the card NOW before the promotion is over.

The competition between Malaysia’s mobile player has become to so intensify. Mobile operators have repackaged and unveiled new packages to attract more customers. With the implementation of  mobile number portability (MNP), this is definitely is NOT a surprise move.

This much-anticipated move could shake up the whole mobile industry, shrinking customers’ monthly bills and add pressure to the profit margins of the mobile operators.  With  the increased competitive,  CONSUMER is the biggest WINNER!

Current prepaid services in Malaysia offer a validity period of 10 to 60 days. After that validity period, customers have to top up their accounts to make calls, even if they still have balance money in the account. This is definitely a GOOD news for those who seldom use their hand phones or just use to received call or SMS.

Maxis Communications Bhd, which has been leading the very competitive industry with over 41% market share has also repackaged its prepaid service  and introduced  Hotlink 365 facility for prepaid Hotlink last month. For just RM33 subscription, deducted from the unspent balance on their card, Hotlink users can extend the validity of that balance by one year. To take advantage of the Hotlink 365 facility, the user needs a valid account with a balance of at least RM33. The remaining balance will then be valid for the next 365 days, provided he or she tops up the account by at least RM30 in the next six months.

DiGi Prepaid subscribers now can reload RM100 on your DiGi Prepaid and stay active for 1 year (equivalent to 365 days’ validity). The Good news is  there will  No subscription fee required and no further top up is required to enjoy 1 year validity after reload RM100.

Look like Maxis need to improve the Hotlink 365 facility in order to win more customer.

The Hotlink 365 facility is on going promotion and the Digi promotion is valid from  23rd July to 31st August 2008.  Celcom Bhd, Happy Prepaid and  U Mobile Sdn Bhd  has not announce any plan on yearly reload promotion up to now.

By extending the validity of the prepaid balance to one year, customers can also avoid having to reload their accounts frequently or having to locate a shop selling top-up cards at inconvenient places and times, such as at night or on public holidays

On a different development, Maxis is said to be bidding the first right from Apple Inc to bring the iPhone into the local market. I am Looking forward more interesting news from Malaysia’s mobile player very soon.

I went to attend  iProperty.com Expo talk  called ”Banks vs Mortgage Brokers-A Better customer value proposition” on 26 July 2008 at KLCC Convention Centre, KL.

Here is a couple of tips shared by the Mr.Adrian Un, Sales Director of Mortgage Broker Sdn Bhd:

• It not uncommon to read “We have the Best Home Loan in Town!” Is this  Reality or Myth? Always read the fine print and hidden cost of the advertisement offer. If the rates is  low then maybe you have to fork out more on other things like  legal, stamp duty fee etc. No matter how good the deal look like remember that Bank is a profit making business entity.  

• Do not just take Verbal promises and always ask for written confirmation to avoid misinterpretation or mis-sell by sales officer. They may just highlight the good points and do not reveal the minus point about the package. If you work in Sales line before you will known what I am talking about.

• Read each and every word of the Loan letter offer and if not sure always check with your lawyer. If you just simply signed then you may sign YOUR LIFE AWAY! It will easily effect your financial health for another 10 years or more.

• The bank rates is always negotiable especially when your loan amount is high. Whatever advertise in paper is public rate. Ask the sales officer if you think you deserve a better rate. What is the cost of ASKING?

• Check the Penalty Clause which is normally located on the 3rd or 4th page of the offer letter. Penalty Clause means the bank will charges some fee if the loan is fully pay before the contracted period.. Most bank loan have 5 years penalty clause upon disbursement which mean if fully settle before 5 years then penalty would be applied. The rational is majority of your loan installment will be offset more on interest compare to the loan principal in the first 5 years. Make sure get a loan that the penalty clause start when the loan first disburse and NOT on full disbursement. Imagine if you home is under construction for 2 years and the penalty clause stated it will start after FULL disbursement then technically the Penalty Clause period is longer than 5 Years!

• Choosing a housing loan by its nature is difficult enough. Face it, how many of us can calculate your repayments given the loan amount, the tenure of the loan and the interest rates? How many of you can tell the advantage of one loan over the other based on the different applicable interest rates? Use Mortgage Brokers services if you wanna save time and not familiar with the process of obtaining loan. A mortgage broker is a match maker between a borrower who is interested in seeking loan and a lender, ie, bank or financial institution. The broker draws from a pool of various lenders to find the right match for the borrower.

The use of Mortgage Brokers services is FREE! Brokers are paid by their panel banks and financial institutions. The fee payable to the brokers does not increase the interest rates and fees payable by you to the bank or financial institution. You pay the same interest rate and fee, regardless whether you obtain the loan package concerned through a broker or direct from the bank or financial institution