If you have extra money and want to reduce your housing loan principal with Al Rajhi bank, below are the steps.
Steps to Reduce Housing Loan Principal
Send an official letter to Al Rajhi,
state the amount to reduce principal
state your saving account number with Al Rajhi
state your housing loan account number
authorize Al Rajhi to deduct the amount from your saving account with Al Rajhi
sign the letter
Ensure the amount is in your Al Rajhi bank account
Email the soft copy letter to customersupport@alrajhibank.com.my
Ensure Al Rajhi provide you with acknowledgement
There is no minimum amount to reduce the principal
It takes 7 working days to process
Notes
This information is verified as of 31st March 2020, when I made a call to Al Rajhi call centre. Better to double confirm with Al Rajhi regarding your housing loan.
Due to Covid 19, Malaysian government decided to give loan moratorium for 6 months starting April till September 2020.
The moratorium applied to all banks under Bank Negara Malaysia and for individuals and SME who have housing loan, car loans or business loans. The moratorium will accrue all profit/interest from the loan.
At same time all commercial banks decided not to compound the interest accrued during this 6 months.
The moratorium is to ease financial burden to all affected Malaysians.
Let say we decided to take the moratorium. I would like to analyze for housing loan only.
So what we shall do the additional fund from the 6 months moratorium?
1) Use it if you really need it
2) Save it for emergency fund
3) Use it, to reduce your loan principal
Use The Saving from 6 Months Moratorium to Reduce Your Loan Principal
I would like to simulate what is the best way to reduce your principal. Options available as follows:
1) Use the accumulated fund to pay the principal by the end of moratorium
2) Use the monthly installment to reduce principal on monthly basis
Assumptions:
Loan Amount: RM100,000
Tenure: 30 years
Interest: 5% per annum
Monthly Installment: RM536.82
If no moratorium, the principal should be RM99,272 based on the amortization table.
housing loan amoritization for RM100k loan
1) Use the Accumulated Fund to Pay Principal by The End of Moratorium
No
Month
Principal (RM)
Profit / Interest (RM)
1
April 2020
100,000
416.67
2
May 2020
100,000
416.67
3
June 2020
100,000
416.67
4
July 2020
100,000
416.67
5
August 2020
100,000
416.67
6
September 2020
100,000
416.67
After 6 months:-
The accrued profit / interest: RM2,500
The accumulated fund saved from the monthly payment is: RM3,220.92
2) Use the Monthly Installment to Pay Principal On Monthly Basis
No
Month
Principal (RM)
Profit / Interest (RM)
1
April 2020
100,000.00
416.67
2
May 2020
99,463.18
414.43
3
June 2020
98,926.36
412.19
4
July 2020
98,389.54
409.96
5
August 2020
97,852.72
407.72
6
September 2020
97,315.90
405.48
After 6 months:-
The accrued profit / interest: RM2,466.45
The accumulated fund saved from the monthly payment is: 0
Which Option Is Better?
Principal
Amount after 6 Months (RM)
Comparison vs Do Nothing
Do nothing - principal amount based on normal amortization
99,272
100.00%
Use the accumulated fund to pay the principal by the end of moratorium
99,279
100.01%
Use the monthly installment to reduce principal on monthly basis
99,246
99.97%
There is not much difference in term of principal reduction.
Option (2) Use the monthly installment to pay principal on Monthly Basis is marginally better where it can reduce principal by 0.03%
How It Is Calculated?
Use the accumulated fund to pay the principal by the end of moratorium:
RM99,279 = RM100,000 (principal) + RM2,500 (accumulated interest) – RM3,220.92 (accumulated fund during 6 months moratorium)
Use the monthly installment to reduce principal on monthly basis:
RM99,246 = RM97,315.90 (principal on month 6) – RM536.82 (assuming reduce principal before starts interest charging from month 6 installment) + RM2,466.45 (accumulated interest)
Recently, I bought shares using Maybank Stocks Online Trading Platform. After purchasing the shares, I didn’t know how to pay for my purchases.
When I googled, I coudn’t find any useful help or information on how to make payment of my outstanding purchases. At the end, I had to make a call to Maybank call centre and get help.
According to Maybank, I must contact my stocks dealer to settle the payment via Maybank2u and my stock dealer informed me step by step on how to do it.
Before follow my steps, better call your dealer first. If you don’t know or remember your dealer phone number, you can contact Maybank help line (03 2297 8888) and they will provide you the dealer name and contact.
Steps to make payment on Outstanding Purchases
Login to Maybank2u
Select Pay & Transfer
Select New Payment
Select Maybank Investment Bank Berhad
Enter your trading account number in “Trading Acct. No.”
Enter your “Bill Reference No.”. Fill in:-
TRUST – you will be transferring your money in Maybank Investment Bank account. (your trust account will be tagged with your trading account)
maybank trade oustanding paymaybank trade – trust bill reference
Inform your dealer and share the receipt.
Remember to check that your Outstanding Purchase is cleared after the payment.
Due to Covid 19, lots of Malaysian and businesses are facing financial hardships. Fortunately we have our banking sector who is pro active in giving loan moratorium.
Loan moratorium is delay in paying your loan installments. In Malaysia, banks are giving 6 months loan moratorium.
I sent my kids to join Kangaroo Math competition every year. Kangaroo Math questions are more problem solving rather than testing your kids Math aptitude.
I want my children to see how Math is used to solve daily and simple problems.
I did my own comparison between the most popular e-commerce platform in Malaysia, Shopee & Lazada.
At first I like Lazada thanks to its smooth user interface and good delivery. But in one of my purchase I got issue with the seller and I’m unable to contact Lazada. Lazada is like a total AI platform without people interaction.
While Shopee is more human platform because you can contact Shopee and get replied from a human agent.
Thumbs up means it a win over its competitor while thumb down, the platform loses to its competitor. But it doesn’t mean if thumb down it is not worthy or reliable.
It is my way in making easy evaluation.
Below is my comparison and with it details comparison.
shopee lazada comparison
My preference is buying at Shopee if I can’t find an item at Shopee or I find that it is cheaper at Lazada then only then I proceed buying at Lazada.
Order Cancellation
Shopee
Cancellation by Buyer
Shopee still allows buyers to cancel order even after the item has been packed and on the way for delivery.
You just need to click cancel and choose the cancellation reason.
shopee cancellation reasons
So far I have done 2 cancellations due to sellers unable to deliver on time. I got the full refund without problem.
shopee cancellationshopee cancellation
Cancellation by Shopee System
Shopee also will cancel an order, if they find some problems with the seller delivery or the seller himself.
I also received full refund when order is cancelled by Shopee system. Unfortunately Shopee doesn’t notify you via email or gives any discounts like Lazada.
shopee cancellation by system
Lazada
Cancellation by Users
I never able to cancel my order in Lazada because there is no option to cancel after the order is packed even though it is very late in delivery.
Lazada only mentions we can reject the order by rejecting it at door step which is impossible to do because most of the time you are not at home when the item arrives at door step.
lazada cancellation
Cancellation by Lazada System
Fortunately Lazada will auto cancel an order and gives full refund if the order is late for delivery.
At same time Lazada will notify you via email on the cancellation and gives you discount voucher of RM4 valid within 60 days.
lazada cancellation by systemlazada email cancellation with discount voucher
Winner: Draw
Loyalty Program
Shopee
At Shopee, you earn Shopee coins when you buy at Shopee and when you give rating of your purchased items.
shopee earn coins by giving rating
You can use the Shopee coins to get discount for your future purchases.
Lazada
While Lazada, it doesn’t have its own loyalty program. It leverages on BCard. Whenever you complete your order payment, you can insert your BCard numbers.
Winner: Shopee
Delivery
Shopee
Orders Summary Delivery Status
shopee orders summary delivery status
Tracking Goods
Shopee tracking goods depends on logistics company use to deliver the item. J&T Express gives details information up to their delivery boy phone number for you to contact them directly.
While Pos Laju will give only summary info.
Due to non standardized information from different logistics companies, it is hard for to really understand meaning of each information.
shopee delivery J&T Expressshopee delivery pos laju
Delivery Notification
Shopee doesn’t notify you via email if the items are shipped out.
It will notify you via its mobile application.
At same time, the dispatcher will call you the check whether you at home or no. If not, he would just put it at your mailbox. But I notice, this is not standard practice. It is more depending on the dispatcher.
Lazada
Orders Summary Delivery Status
lazada orders summary delivery status
Tracking Goods
Lazada has good standardized tracking goods information regardless logistics companies used for the delivery.
It also will auto refund your money in case the item is not delivered within stipulated time.
lazada delivery – auto refund if not delivered within stipulated time
Delivery Notification
Lazada will email you, once the item is ready to be shipped out. It means either by today or tomorrow the item will arrive at your home.
When the item is delivered, it will send another email notification.
Besides the dispatcher will WhatsApp you directly informing that he already delivered the item.
lazada delivery whatsapp
Winner: Lazada
Payment Security
Shopee
Whenever you pay using credit card, Shopee will ask TAC to authorize the payment.
Lazada
If you already save your credit card information in Lazada system, whenever you pay using credit card, Lazada will not ask for TAC to authorize the payment.
Winner: Shopee
Support
Shopee
Email Support
Shopee does have email support and I sent few emails and I got replied in within 1 business day and it solves all my problems.
FAQ
It also have FAQ but sometimes hard to find the information you want but luckily Shopee has the email support.
Live Chat
So far Shopee doesn’t have Live Chat support.
Lazada
Email Support
Surprisingly Lazada doens’t have email support like Shopee.
FAQ
Lazada also has FAQ and its FAQ have images to make you understand better.
Live Chat
Lazada has interactive Live Chat. It is not live chat between you and customer service agent but it is more like FAQ section with interactive interface.
I was surprised suddenly my order at Shopee Malaysia was cancelled by them. It seems the shop was also banned from Shopee.
order cancelled automatically by shopee
So I emailed Shopee asking about this, their formal answer was they will refund the money within 7 to 14 working days without giving details why the order was cancelled.
shopee email response on order cancellation
Fortunately, I received the refund. It makes you feel more confident in buying from Shopee website.
shopee order charged to my credit cardshopee refund of my credit card
I have a unit of AirBnb, so for entering my unit I chose Hafele Igloohome. Most AirBnb in Malaysia use normal key to go inside the unit. Problem is some bad guests copy the key and then either steal the furnishing inside after few days they left the unit or they rent it out the unit as it is theirs using the duplicate keys.
All these happened in Airbnb KL area.
Why Chose Hafele Igloohome?
Major reasons I chose Hafele Igloohome because:
I can create access PIN without requiring internet.
Access PIN can be easily revoked or set based on duration
It is the most affordable Smart Mortise Lock. RM1,550 per unit.
hafele igloohome smart lock mortise installed
Major Features
Access via PIN, Access Card or Keys
No need WIFI to create new PIN
Auto lock when close door
Can use 9V battery if batteries are out.
Don’t disturb button where access by PIN will not open the door.
Igloohome Mobile Application
Igloohome comes with easy to use mobile application that supports iOS and Android.
You can list any properties that have their smart lock.
igloohome application – properties
View list of accesses that are currently authorized
igloohome application access
Create new PIN either permanent, duration or one time PIN
igloohome mobile application access type
Check battery status
igloohome application battery status
View Access Logs
You need to be near to the smart lock to sync up with its access logs.
igloohome application access logs
Installation
I thought at first I want to install it myself by watching Youtube tutorial. But I could hardly find any good tutorial.
So I decided to hire professional installer. When I saw he needed to prepare first the door so the Hafele Igloohome could fit into the door then I knew it was not as easy as I thought.
He took 1 hour to install the smart mortise lock. Most of time spent to prepare the door. Installing the device was quite fast.
Hafele Igloohome requires 3 AA alkaline battery to function. Igloohome only allows Energizer or Panasonic battery to be used if not the warranty will be voided.
They only recommend those batteries because other battery may leak.
preparing the door to install smart lockhafele igloohome installation in progress
How To Open The Smart Lock Door
Recommendation
So far, all works well except the duration PIN that doesn’t work as intended. I’m still figuring out how to use it.
Anyway even though the duration PIN doesn’t work perfectly, I still can use permanent PIN for my guests. Only problem is I have to manually revoke the access.
So overall, I am satisfied with the Hafele Igloohome Smart Mortise Lock.
Where To Buy
You can buy it at Lazada or go directly to the shop. I recommended below shop because they offer the most competitive price and they have their panel of installers for the smart lock.
