Story by Amanda Khong
A ROUNDTABLE workshop between the State Housing Department and representatives from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) was held on Feb 29 at Komtar.
Present during the roundtable workshop were Jagdeep Singh Deo, state exco for Town & Country Planning and Housing, Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, Tanjong MP Ng Wei Aik, Komtar assemblymember Teh Lai Heng, Datuk Jerry Chan, Penang Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) chairman, representatives from Bank Negara Malaysia, and the representatives from 11 commercial banks.
Sim, Ng and Teh are the committee members of the Housing Department’s Selection Process Enhancement Committee (SPEC).
The main purpose of the workshop was to discuss with BNM on loosening conditions for the housing loan policy for Penangites.
Among the topics discussed were preferable packages for low income groups, non-fixed repayment amount for better chance of home ownership and longer housing loan repayment period for low income earners.
“I have suggested implementing the rule that all PN1 housing forms must be submitted together with the applicant’s Central Credit Reference Information System (CCRIS) record to narrow the gap for those eligible applicants. I was told that the percentage of rejected loan applicants now is 60% and out of that, 25% consist of those applicants with bad CCRIS record,” said Jagdeep.
Jagdeep added that the commercial banks have committed themselves to assisting the State Housing Department in doing a pre-assessment for the applicants.
“That is a big corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the commercial banks’ part so I would like to sincerely say thank you for this initiative to help the state and also the applicants,” said Jagdeep.
It was also suggested by Jagdeep to BNM that Developer Interest Bearing Scheme (DIBS) be reintroduced to first time home buyers for affordable housing in Penang.
BNM representatives stated that their policy still stands but they will take the suggestion back to their headquarters for further discussion and consideration.
“As a result of the workshop, we have achieved a better filtration system to have better eligible applicants for the housing loan,” added Jagdeep.