Maybank Launches Two Home-Loan Promotions

Source : The Business Times, September 6, 2008

MAYBANK Singapore has launched two home-loan promotions, including a variable-rate loan that charges just 1.68 per cent interest in the first year. The interest payable on the three-year variable-rate mortgage rises to 2.48 per cent in the second year and 2.88 per cent in the third year, before adjusting to the bank's full board rate - now 3.75 per cent - for the fourth and subsequent years.

The rates for the first three years are based on the current level of the board rate less a discount, and would vary if the board rate were to change. Maybank introduced a single board rate for all its home loans in Singapore in February last year and has not changed it so far.

Maybank is also offering a four-year fixed-rate home-loan package starting at 2.28 per cent for the first year and rising to 2.88 per cent in the second year, 3.38 per cent in the third year and 3.88 per cent in the fourth year, before adjusting to the board rate.

The rates for the first four years are fixed and would not vary even if the bank were to change the board rate.

The promotional rates for both the variable and fixed-rate packages are available for a 'limited period', Maybank said. They apply to HDB and private property loans and are available to new home buyers or those who want to refinance their existing home loans.

Helen Neo, head of consumer banking at Maybank Singapore, said the promotional offers are to mark the 48th anniversary of the bank's presence in Singapore, its largest overseas market. It has 22 branches island-wide. 'We are proud to have made Singapore our home for 48 years now,' she said. Two weeks ago, Standard Chartered Bank launched a home loan package priced at 0.8 percentage points above the three-month Singapore interbank offered rate (Sibor) on the first business day of the month at the start of the loan, for the first three years.

The package also allows customers to link their other accounts with the bank and use the interest earned on their deposits to offset the interest payable on their home loan. The three-month Sibor on Sept 1 was 1.25 per cent. In July, HSBC introduced a home-loan package also pegged to the three-month Sibor but with an interest rate spread that falls after the first year.

The spread is 0.75 percentage points above the Sibor in the first year, 0.65 points in the second year and 0.55 points subsequently.