Rude Shock - DBS increased Fixed Deposit Rates

Woke up to a rude shock today....DBS bank has increased the fixed deposit rates! The US federal government increased their interest rates on 16 December 2015 and after 7 calendar days, DBS bank follows suit. Within 2 months of repricing my home loan at a repricing fee of $500, my home loan has increased.

Previous loan if i had carried on = 0.96%(1 month sibor) + 1% spread=1.96%
Current loan = 1.1% spread + 0.675%  average of 12 and 24 months ( in red box)= 1.775%
Total interest savings for first three years = $3700
Net savings after including repricing fee = $3200.

Comments
Still quite ok savings given that there is stability and i have no lock in for any of these 3 years, without the need to take a mortgage insurance.

Recently, DBS changed their FHR from the average of 12 and 24 months to one that is based on the 18 months one(FHR 18), with a higher spread, a lock in period and the need to take a mortgage insurance.
It seems they are trying to narrow the difference in total interest between current customers with new ones(FHR 18). Furthermore, who really keeps a fixed deposit for 24 months with DBS, so i guess raising the 24 months rate by a large amount increases their net interest margin between  what they charge for home loans and what they charge for bank fixed deposits. Interesting space to watch.

Buying a brand new car - What i learnt.

I am not a lawyer and this is just what i learnt. Believing everything below and not doing your due diligence is like believing a tiger gives birth to eggs under water.

Actually, it is very easy to learn about the workings of this industry and the gimmicks they play. Just go to the PIs and say you went to his competitor and they will start telling you the gimmicks their competitor play. Go to another one and they will do the same. After a while, you will be wiser as they have revealed everything there is to be revealed by bad mouthing their competitors.

The most important thing. If you don't do this, don't blame people for cheating you.
Everything must be written in black and white. Ask for company stamp and receipts of any payment or deposits and always ask them for a copy of any agreement and read the terms and conditions carefully, Any amendments must be signed and ask for company stamp again.

Insist on the 1)Refund policy 2)Exchange policy 3)Cancellation policy 4)Amendment policy and always put a timeframe. ALWAYS put a date!
Exercise your right to "WALK AWAY" if none of these is given to you and of course you need to put yourself in the position of power by not doing last minute purchases.

Booking fee
PIs will ask for a deposit which includes the COE bidding deposit($10000) as priced by LTA + booking fee. Market rate for deposit is $15000. Some will ask $20000 and some $12000. If they ask for too much, ask yourself why. ( tell tale sign)

Loan or no loan
PIs always take it for granted you want to take a loan with the max tenure (5 years) and max amount.
Taking no loan the price will bump up by a market rate of $3000. Some will ask $4000 and some $2500. Again, why are some asking for $4000? (tell tale sign)

Insurance
This is a non issue as their commission is really low, like about10% of 1 year insurance, maybe $100 thereabouts. Besides, they will give u a list to choose from and whether you take directly from insurer or through them, its the same.

CaseTrust-SVTA accreditation
PIs will tell you this accreditation is rubbish as " they pay money to get one". If i hear him/her say this, i immediately switch off. (tell tale sign). Let me tell you why.
1) Accredited car companies have a $50000 bond with CASE, so this can be drawn down to settle disputes.
2) It is true they need to pay money BUT they also need to meet a series of best practices process such as stating refund policy , exchange policy, e.t.c clearly. There are many PIs who want to pay money BUT still can't get the accreditation.
3) Let's say you go to CASE to complain.  If a PI is not accredited, CASE can only invite them to come voluntarily for mediation. If PI is accredited,  it is compulsory for them to come for mediation or lose the accreditation.

It is enlightening to see that only 31 PIs are accredited out of the numerous PIs which is a reflection of the sorry state of affairs in this industry. See list of accredited companies here. As consumers, we have the power to make a difference only through collective effort. Go to such companies and let the shady ones go bust. Having said that, there are sure to be some black sheeps among the accredited companies which i have personally encountered but the risk is less.

Know your rights
I am proud to be a Singaporean as there are many safeguards in place to protect consumer interest, but one has to take the effort to help themselves by learning them.
Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act - Read the 20 specific unfair practices to know what is deemed as an unfair practice which you can then know whether you will win in the event of litigation. This is applicable for claims not exceeding $30000.
Lemon Law - mainly for defective goods and you must make sure to have  black and white your correspondence with the PI within 6 months. In this way, the onus is on the PI to prove that his goods is not defective. After 6 months, the onus is on you  to prove.

CASE
Let's say you have a dispute with the PI. Go to CASE first. Let me tell you why.
1) It looks favourable on you in the event you want to sue them under civil court or if you go to the small claims tribunal It would be really very favourable on you if they don't turn up after being invited by CASE. Why did the PI not turn up?
2)This is a quick way to settle disputes and reach a settlement. Time is money and let's move on.
3)CASE is also useful as after seeing them, you may have a better idea of whether you can win if you decide to undertake litigation. Seriously, you don't want to go the litigation route if you are not certain of winning as its expensive as the loser has to pay all the expenses of both parties.

Small Claims Tribunal
Well if the PI still doesn't settle after CASE, you can go to the Small Claims Tribunal. You need not have a lawyer if you go this route. Some conditions must be met.
1)The dispute must be less than $10k and you report it within 1 year.
2) If between $10k and $20k, the PI must also agree.
3)Above $20k SCT has no jurisdiction.

Engage a lawyer 
Sue them in civil court. This is expensive, but if you are sure you will win, after going to CASE, or seeing that it is among the 20 unfair practice as specified in the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act, just  do it. I know i will. The loser pays it all. But play your cards right. If the PI has no assets , how does he pay your expenses? Again, this boils down to going to a PI who has much to lose, which are usually CASETrust-SVTA accredited car dealers.

Buying a brand new car- the minimum considerations

A car is expensive and hearing horror stories about car dealers, it is best to be armed with knowledge and information when dealing with them. I don't like cars, i hate them but due to circumstances my family needs it and having to buy one due to the old one ending its 10 year lifespan gives me some motivation to learn more about it, not so much about the specifications of the car but more of the money side like OMV, Tiered ARF,Parf, CEV e.t.c. Thanks to the Land Transport Authority, they have tremendously increased transparency to car buyers.

What a beauty!Zipping through the urban jungle without the care of the opinions of the world ( everything is blurred in the background to depict this.)

What i have learnt:

1) From onemotoring, LTA has provided the breakdown on the cost of each car model. (check the bottom of the page).With this, one can easily find out the  basic cost of the car without COE, thus finding out the gross margin of the authorised distributers(ADs). Note, only the list for ADs are available, not parallel importers(PIs) . Use this list to bargain down the price.

2)So what if i want to buy a model from a PI which is not found on the list. It is easy to calculate the basic cost without COE, just using excel and key in the formulas shown. You have to ask the PI for only 2 information, the CEV and the OMV.

Excise duty - This is 20% of OMV.

GST- This is 7% of the sum of excise duty and OMV.

Tierd ARF payable -

CEV - This stands for carbon emissions-based vehicle scheme. 

If your car is less pollutive, there is a rebate, which you can offset your Tiered ARF payable. Put a negative CEV value in the CEV field.

If your car is pollutive, there is a surcharge which you need to add to your Tiered ARF payable.Put a postive value in th CEV field.

Net ARF (after CEV) - this is what is added to the basic car cost. This is also used to calculate the PARF rebate at the 10 years mark. The lowest the Net ARF can go is $5000.

Regn Fee- This is a flat $140

3) Don't forget the road tax! You can use the road tax calculator provided by our wonder LTA.

Interestingly, petrol cars have the least road tax. Road tax for petrol is slightly lesser than CNG which is much much less than diesel. Diesel is bullshit man. Unless you drive damn lot like a taxi driver, its not worth it to buy a diesel one as the savings in fuel is not enough.

4) Due to the value conscious streak in me, i don't give a damn about features, brands nor about new or old models. I care about practicality. Don't go for the cheapest car as the cheapest car may cost more than a more expensive car due to the existence of the PARF rebate at 10 years. Instead, calculate the annual depreciation, INCLUSIVE of road tax for the period up to 10 years. My friend actually bought a used Porsche Cayenne and it was actually cost-wise comparable to a Toyota as the Porsche PARF rebate was far greater than the Toyota's. I will omit fuel efficiency as a consideration as there is too much variables in this metric.Besides, can you really trust the fuel numbers?

I can then use annual depreciation, inclusive of road tax to compare with all the cars, including used cars and make a more informed decision. 

PARF rebate - this is 50% of the Net ARF(after CEV) at the end of 10 years.

5) Now, should i bid for my own COE? It's just a $2 admin charge and a $10000 deposit, refundable 1 working day after the Wednesday bidding. I can then ignore those confusing 6 bid,3 bid non-guaranteed, guaranteed,top-ups,no top-ups and various other jargon meant to muddle one's decision. 

Based on the list showing the breakdown of car cost as mentioned in point 1 above, it seems whether bidding your own COE is worth it or not depends on which brand of car you buy. Generally it seems if you want to buy Hyundai, Ssanyong,Volvo, Renault and certain Audi models, bidding own COE could save $2k-3.6k. For Japanese cars, like Toyota ,Honda, Subaru e,t,c, it is not worth it as the ADs jack up the price.

Now do take note that this is just based on a list that keeps getting updated.

6) Based on the list(again), continental cars have a gross profit margin for the ADs of between 40k - 174k! While non-continental cars(exclude Toyota's Lexus) have a gross profit margin of between 7k-50k. Continental car sellers better give me the MOON if i ever buy from you man. My expectations of every service quality aspect will be damn damn high for the margins you charge!

Now the one thing that i am lack of data at the moment is about car loans and car insurance referral earnings of the ADs and PIs. Normally, paying the full sum in cash should be cheaper, but due to this murky system of loans and insurance, it seems paying the full sum in cash is now more expensive. This really irks me as i can't have a peace of mind without knowing this.The digging continues.....