POSB HDB Loan - First-of-its-kind HDB home loan

POSB HDB Loan was launched by DBS Bank on 1 April 2013.  The bank's POSB website summarises the 3 key benefits of the loan product as follows:

• Enjoy interest rates lower than or capped at 2.5% p.a. for 10 years
• Guaranteed lower interest rates compared to HDB concessionary loan
• No prepayment fee

Specifically, the loan pricing can be illustrated by the table below.

Loan Tenor	POSB HDB Loan
First 10 years	3M SIBOR + 1.38%
	(capped at CPF OA rate)
11th year onwards	3M SIBOR + 1.48%

At the time of the launch, the 3M SIBOR was 0.38%.  Assuming no change to the 3M SIBOR for 10 years, the POSB HDB Loan mortage rate will be 1.76% p.a.  In contrast, HDB Singapore offers a fixed rate concessionary loan at 2.6% p.a.

My analysis:-

Pros

• Mortgage loan interest savings within the first 10 years
• May appeal to HDB dwellers who plan to upgrade after meeting the Minimum Occupation Period
• May appeal to existing HDB dwellers with 10 years or less HDB concessionary loan

Cons

• Possible higher mortgage loan interest rate from the 11th year onwards
• No going back to HDB concessionary loan
• No financial assistance from HDB in event of borrower difficulty in loan repayment 

My view:-

Given the current low interest rate environment and escalating HDB housing prices, it may be worth taking a shot at the POSB HDB Loan.  However, loan takers / switchers should strive to clear the loan within the first 10 years.

OCBC FRANK Credit Card

Get S$720 rebates and more a year for your online purchases.

I signed up for the OCBC FRANK credit card during OCBC's FRANK Roadshow at Chevron House this week.  As part of the signing up, i got a S$5 Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Gift Card and free cup of ice-cream.  The FRANK credit card boasts a 6% cash rebate for online purchases and unlimited 0.5% cash rebate on all non-online purchases.  Specifically,

	Spend ≥ S$500 a month	Spend < S$500 a month
Online Purchase	6% rebate (capped at S$60 a month; unlimited 0.5% rebate still apply thereafter)	Unlimited 0.5% rebate
Non-Online Purchase	Unlimited 0.5% rebate	Unlimited 0.5% rebate

The FRANK credit card can also function as an ATM card and double up as a transport payment card with NETS Flashpay.  Besides the FRANK credit card, there is also its debit card version and FRANK savings account.  Visit http://www.frankbyocbc.com/ for full details, promotions and terms & conditions.

What attracted me to sign up the FRANK credit card was mainly the >120 card designs i could choose from.  This gives cardholders a somewhat personalised credit card based on the card design selected.  On the practical side, the FRANK credit card should appeal to cardholders with online purchase expenses monthly. 

March 2013 Singapore Dividend Portfolio Update

S$748.20 dividends received.
(Tai Sin Electric: S$45; AIMS AMP Industrial REIT: S$103.20; GRP: S$600)

No buy/sell transaction.

Portfolio Snapshot:

No.	Counter	Cost (S$)	Lots	Avg Px (S$)	% of Port	Mkt Px (S$)	Mkt Value (S$)	P/L (S$)	P/L (%)
1	SMRT	5,669.62	3	1.890	14.32%	1.580	4,740.00	(929.62)	-16.40%
2	AIMS AMP Ind REIT	4,186.95	4	1.047	10.58%	1.575	6,300.00	2,113.05	50.47%
3	Sabana REIT	3,745.36	4	0.936	9.46%	1.265	5,060.00	1,314.64	35.10%
4	SingTel	3,218.37	1	3.218	8.13%	3.590	3,590.00	371.63	11.55%
5	StarHub	2,858.20	1	2.858	7.22%	4.350	4,350.00	1,491.80	52.19%
6	Fidelity Asian High Yield Fd A (MDIST) SGD Hedged	2,500.00	2.74660	0.910	6.32%	0.946	2,598.28	98.28	3.93%
7	UOB United Emerging Markets Bond Fd SGD	2,500.00	1.77315	1.410	6.32%	1.436	2,546.24	46.24	1.85%
8	First REIT	2,497.25	4	0.624	6.31%	1.250	5,000.00	2,502.75	100.22%
9	GRP	2,364.68	12	0.197	5.97%	0.305	3,660.00	1,295.32	54.78%
10	Kingsmen Creative	1,679.22	3	0.560	4.24%	0.890	2,670.00	990.78	59.00%
11	UMS	1,467.48	3	0.489	3.71%	0.450	1,350.00	(117.48)	-8.01%
12	Lee Metal Group	1,317.41	6	0.220	3.33%	0.340	2,040.00	722.59	54.85%
13	Tai Sin Electric	1,167.33	6	0.195	2.95%	0.315	1,890.00	722.67	61.91%
14	Memtech	1,062.00	12	0.089	2.68%	0.071	852.00	(210.00)	-19.77%
15	Technics Oil & Gas	997.25	1	0.997	2.52%	0.865	865.00	(132.25)	-13.26%
16	Cambridge Ind REIT	825.93	2	0.413	2.09%	0.790	1,580.00	754.07	91.30%
17	Mapletree Log Trust	542.18	1.08	0.502	1.37%	1.215	1,312.20	770.02	142.02%
	Cash	983.76			2.49%		235.56	0.00	0.00%
		39,582.99			100.00%		50,639.29	11,804.50	29.82%

Citibank InterestPlus Savings Account

Earn up to 3.5% p.a. more on your savings

InterestPlus Saving Account is the latest new savings product launched by Citibank this week.  This product is specifically targeted at the emerging affluent segment (i.e. customers with S$50,000 to S$200,000 investible assets). 

In addition to the base savings account interest, customers will receive bonus interest of up to 2.5% p.a. through unit trust investment, insurance purchase and credit card spend.  Customers will also enjoy an additional bonus interest of 1% p.a. if they take up a home loan with Citibank.

Here's how the 3.5% p.a. bonus interest add up:

• Buy insurance with monthly S$250 regular premium or S$25,000 single premium - 1.2% p.a.
• Invest in Unit Trusts (of 2.5% sales charge) with monthly S$250 regular savings plan or S$25,000 lump sum - 1.2% p.a.
• Spend S$25 monthly using Citibank Credit Card - 0.1% p.a.
• Take out a new home loan of at least S$250,000 - 1% p.a.

Bonus interest is paid:

• Over the first 12 months for investment, insurance and home loan.
• Every month for credit card spend.
• Capped at the first S$50,000 in the account.
• On top of the prevailing base savings account interest.

As part of the new account signup, till 30 April 2013, receive S$150 Takashimaya shopping vouchers when you fund S$50,000 for 3 consecutive months and complete a Personal Financial Report and Investment Risk Profile; or S$20 Takashimaya shopping vouchers when you fund S$10,000 within the first month from the account opening date.

Visit http://www.citibank.com.sg/gcb/deposits/interestplus_savacc.htm for full details, promotion, FAQs and terms & conditions.

CAPITASTAR - The Multi-store, Multi-mall Cardless Rewards Programme

Earn STAR$ on top of any existing rewards programme.  STAR$ are redeemable for CapitaVouchers

CAPITASTAR is a card-less shopping rewards programme that earns STAR$ every time members shop at participating CapitaMalls:

• Bugis Junction
• Bugis+
• Bukit Panjang Plaza
• Clarke Quay
• Funan Digitalife Mall
• IMM
• JCube
• Junction 8
• Lot One
• Plaza Singapura
• Raffles City
• Rivervale Mall
• Sembawang Shopping Centre
• Tampines Mall
• The Star Vista

Summary of CAPITASTAR benefits:

• Earn STAR$ (Every $20 spent in a single receipt* = 100 STAR$.  *Except for supermarkets & food courts: Every $20 spent = 20 STAR$)
• Redeem CapitaVouchers with STAR$ (5,000 STAR$ = $5 CapitaVouchers)
• STAR$ earned in a calendar year will expire on the 31 December of that year.  Members are given an additional six months' grace period to redeem their STAR$.

Visit http://www.capitastar.com.sg/ for full details, promotions, FAQs and terms & conditions.

Again the burning question - how good is the loyalty programme?  Computing the cash rebate percentage equivalent (assuming 100 STAR$ per $20 spend and 20 STAR$ per $20 spend), here's the result:

Spend ($)	STAR$	CapitaVoucher ($)	Cash Rebate
1,000	5,000	5	0.50%
5,000	5,000	5	0.10%

Well, the plus point is that the CapitaVoucher redemption is not capped.

Frasers Rewards

Your Next Purchase Could Be Paid By Frasers Rewards


(Attribution: Photo taken by Investor Lightyear)

I was at Changi City Point this afternoon for lunch and got to know about Frasers Rewards.  It is a point-based loyalty programme accepted at 11 Frasers Centrepoint Malls islandwide.  Members earn points (FCM$), e-cash and lucky draw chances when shopping at participating retailers.

Frasers Rewards is accepted at:

(From 15 March 2013)

• Anchorpoint
• Causeway Point
• Changi City Point
• Compass Point
• Northpoint
• The Centrepoint

(From 1 May 2013)

• Bedok Point
• China Square Central
• Robertson Walk
• Valley Point
• YewTee Point

Summary of Fraser Rewards benefits:

• Earn 2FCM$ for every $10 spent at Robinsons, Marks & Spencer and educational centres and 5FCM$ for every $10 spent at all other participating retailers. (Point earning capped at 1,000 FCM$ per calendar quarter inclusive of bonus points)
• Receive a 20FCM$ bonus with every 12 visits to Frasers Centrepoint Malls. (Minimum spend of $10 applies per visit, capped at 60FCM$ per calendar quarter)
• Exchange FCM$ for e-cash each quarter. (E-cash is loaded directly into Frasers Rewards card - no more fussy vouchers.  First 500FCM$ = $5 e-cash.  Every subsequent 100FCM$ till 1000FCM$ = $3 e-cash.)
• Be 1 of 200 winning members to receive $100 e-cash each calendar quarter. (Earn 1 lucky draw chance with every $30 spent each day group wide within a calendar quarter. Members can continue to earn lucky draw chances even if the 1,000FCM$ cap is exceeded)
• Track FCM$ and e-cash through the members' portal and look out for seasonal perks including free parking, retailers' offers, discounts or invitations to members' events.

Visit www.frasersrewards.com for full list of Frasers Rewards stores, promotions, FAQs and full terms & conditions.

I had one burning question - how good was the loyalty programme?  To measure the attractiveness of the loyalty program, i computed the cash rebate percentage equivalent (assuming 5FCM$ per $10 spend).  Here's what i found:

Quarterly Spend ($)	FCM$	E-cash ($)	Cash Rebate
1,000	500	5	0.50%
1,200	600	8	0.67%
1,400	700	11	0.79%
1,600	800	14	0.88%
1,800	900	17	0.94%
2,000	1,000	20	1.00%

Well, is Frasers Rewards attractive?  I shall leave that to readers of my blog to decide.

February 2013 Singapore Dividend Portfolio Update

S$167.56 dividends received.
(Mapletree Logistics Trust: S$18.58; Cambridge Industrial Trust: S$24.58; First REIT: S$28; Sabana REIT: S$96.40)

Bought 1 lot of Technics Oil & Gas @0.97 on 21 Feb 2013.

Portfolio Snapshot:

No.	Counter	Cost (S$)	Lots	Avg Px (S$)	% of Port	Mkt Px (S$)	Mkt Value (S$)	P/L (S$)	P/L (%)
1	SMRT	5,669.62	3	1.890	14.60%	1.610	4,830.00	(839.62)	-14.81%
2	AIMS AMP Ind REIT	4,186.95	4	1.047	10.78%	1.580	6,320.00	2,133.05	50.95%
3	Sabana REIT	3,745.36	4	0.936	9.64%	1.245	4,980.00	1,234.64	32.96%
4	SingTel	3,218.37	1	3.218	8.29%	3.440	3,440.00	221.63	6.89%
5	StarHub	2,858.20	1	2.858	7.36%	4.190	4,190.00	1,331.80	46.60%
6	Fidelity Asian High Yield Fd A (MDIST) SGD Hedged	2,500.00	2.73216	0.915	6.44%	0.951	2,598.28	98.28	3.93%
7	UOB United Emerging Markets Bond Fd SGD	2,500.00	1.76284	1.418	6.44%	1.458	2,570.22	70.22	2.81%
8	First REIT	2,497.25	4	0.624	6.43%	1.130	4,520.00	2,022.75	81.00%
9	GRP	2,364.68	12	0.197	6.09%	0.340	4,080.00	1,715.32	72.54%
10	Kingsmen Creative	1,679.22	3	0.560	4.32%	0.790	2,370.00	690.78	41.14%
11	UMS	1,467.48	3	0.489	3.78%	0.460	1,380.00	(87.48)	-5.96%
12	Lee Metal Group	1,317.41	6	0.220	3.39%	0.325	1,950.00	632.59	48.02%
13	Tai Sin Electric	1,167.33	6	0.195	3.01%	0.305	1,830.00	662.67	56.77%
14	Memtech	1,062.00	12	0.089	2.73%	0.076	912.00	(150.00)	-14.12%
15	Technics Oil & Gas	997.25	1	0.997	2.57%	0.940	940.00	(57.25)	-5.74%
16	Cambridge Ind REIT	825.93	2	0.413	2.13%	0.745	1,490.00	664.07	80.40%
17	Mapletree Log Trust	542.18	1.08	0.502	1.40%	1.220	1,317.60	775.42	143.02%
	Cash	235.56			0.61%		235.56	0.00	0.00%
		38,834.79			100.00%		49,953.66	11,118.87	28.63%