Tag Archives: Mortgage

Latest Housing Loan Package from HSBC

HSBC HOME LOAN PROMOTIONAL RATE Oct 2009

HSBC’s Key advantage :
No Lock in package at very attractive rate (based on transparent index – sibor)

What  is  Sibor?  Sibor  is Singapore Inter Bank Offer Rate, rates at which banks lend in wholesale money market.

HSBC  applies  3  month Sibor rate, as published on Business Times on the  1st  business  day of loan start month for a period of 3 months, following  which  the  rate  will  be re-set to the most current rate again.

Completed properties
For HDB Loan : Minimum $100k
For Private Residential Property : Minimum Loan : $200k

Package 1:
HSBC Loyalty Package :
Year 1: 3mths sibor + 1.20% = 1.88% *
Year 2: 3mths sibor + 1.10% = 1.78% *
Year 3: 3mths sibor + 1.00% = 1.68% *
Based on currrent sibor of 0.68% *
Please note that the actual rate will be based on the sibor rate re-set every 3 mths.

Package 2:
Standard spread
Standard All year : 3mths sibor + 1.10% = 1.78%*
Based on currrent sibor of 0.68% *
Please note that the actual rate will be based on the sibor rate re-set every 3 mths.

Applies to both package :

  • Repayment terms: No lock in penalty
  • For partial repayments : For 1st year of loan, required to leave balance of $100,000 after repayment (subject to 1 mth’s notice)
  • For full repayments: No penalty for full repayment of loan (subject to 3 mth’s notice)

Special benefits for HDB and completed private property:

  1. Legal subsidy 0.5% of loan amount, capped at $2500 (subject to refund is loan is fullyredeemed during 1st 3 years of loan)
  2. Free 1 year fire insurance
  3. Free valuation (only for private property)
  4. Cancellation fee if loan is not utilized after acceptance : 1.5% ofcancelled loan amount

Uncompleted Properties (Building Under Construction – BUC)
For Private Residential Property : Minimum Loan : $200k
Standard All year : 3mths sibor + 1.10% = 1.78%*
Based on currrent sibor of 0.68% *
Please note that the actual rate will be based on the sibor rate re-setevery 3 mths.

Special benefits for uncompleted property (BUC):

  1. Legal subsidy 0.5% of loan amount, capped at $2500 (subject to refund is loan is fully redeemed during 1st 3 years of loan)
  2. Free 5 years fire insurance, start from TOP
  3. Free valuation (for private property only)
  4. Cancellation fee if loan is not utilized after acceptance : 0.75% for selected projects only (check with HSBC)
  5. Other projects : 1.5%

Repayment terms:

  • For partial repayments : For 1st year of loan, required to leave balance of $100,000 after repayment (subject to 1 mth’s notice)
  • For full repayments : No penalty for full repayment of loan (subject to 3 mth’s notice)

Source : HSBC – 2 Oct 2009

Don’t overlook mortgage insurance

Your death could cost your family their home if you are not covered, says JASON ONG

RECENTLY, my client Mr Wong called me for mortgage insurance advice. He had just bought a semi-detached house for close to $2 million. He took a loan of $1.2 million over 15 years, and was looking for a mortgage reducing term insurance that will pay off his mortgage in case of his death or total and permanent disability (TPD) while the loan is not fully paid.

Mr Wong told me that he will never forget the time that he and his younger siblings lost their family home when his father died of a heart attack some 30 years ago, leaving his mother struggling to raise the four of them.

Certainly, he does not want this to happen to his homemaker wife and three children.

‘When I pass away, the last thing that I would want to put my family through is to also lose the roof over their heads,’ he said.

In Singapore, mortgage insurance is not made compulsory for private property owners and those who are not using CPF to pay their monthly HDB housing loan repayments. However, the Home Protection Scheme, or HPS, is mandatory for HDB/HUDC flat owners who service their mortgage loans with CPF funds.

Many private property owners baulk at mortgage insurance either because of inertia or misconception that it’s an unnecessary cost. Without mortgage insurance coverage, however, life could be a lot harder financially for the family if things go wrong. Continue reading