By Syed Jaymal Zahiid, Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: A PAS leader has warned the people not to fall for the government’s “My First Home Scheme” as it could prove to be disasterous.

The scheme, aimed at wooing support, is meant to provide full housing loans to fresh graduates earning RM3,000 and below.

“It will be politically unpopular and seemingly irresponsible if I opposed this scheme,” PAS central committee member Dzulkefly Ahmad told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

“However, it will be even more irresponsible and foolish if I do not caution (or) reprimand the government for such an imprudent measure,” he said, adding that the policy was “shortermist”.

This, the Kuala Selangor MP said, would expose the target group to undue financial stress and eventually into insolvency.

The scheme, launched on March 8, would help young workers to purchase houses costing between RM100,000 and RM200,000 with instalments spread over 30 years.

It might be well-intentioned, Dzulkefly said, but fears of loan defaults was real in light of the recent US sub-prime crisis which led to the global economic crunch.

“Getting 100% financing does not mean that the buyers have no costs to bear. They will have to pay the usual legal and transfer fees, which can be quite hefty for low-income earners,” he said.

Dzulkefly also claimed that Malaysia was facing a housing crisis amid a property boom which indicated that most young Malaysians could not afford to buy houses in light of the increasingly high cost of living.

“(So) what could a young adult with RM3,000 afford monthly?” he asked.

Increase income, not full loans

The Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency reported that more than 50,000 cases had enrolled in the debt management programme with 10.6% of them unable to service credit card debts while 74.3% had repayment problems with housing loans and car loans.

READ MORE HERE.

Comments (5)

...
written by Old Man, March 31, 2011 10:48:05

Some ignorant Civil Servants whom I know casually were encouraged to opt for Pension Scheme from EPF scheme. After signing, they got to withdraw money from Account 3. Only later do they realized that their money from Accounts 2 & 3 were transferred to the Govt. Balance: 0 ( ZERO )!
What a Govt. scheme??? Another 1PEMANDU taking away your hard-earned savings!!!

• 
• +1
• 
• 

...
written by Angela Ooi, March 31, 2011 06:50:07

No doubt about it, anything and everything Bn/dUMNO does, will surely lead us all into a life of HELL.
Bn/dUMNO - ALL BAD, NOTHING GOOD

• 
• -2
• 
• 

...
written by kclim, March 30, 2011 20:12:34

Buy a car with almost zero downpayment and pay low installments for 5,7 or 9 years. Buy a house with almost zero down payment and pay off in 30 years. Assume a person starts working at 25 years old. At 55 he or she now owns a house. Great !! Any smart ass in the ministry ever factor in what if the person is unable to work due to illness or retrenchment. Naturally the car and house still belongs to the finance company or bank before the full loan is repaid in the event of a default. Should a car owner default instalments after 5 years out of 9 years there is virtually no residual value after selling off the car as there would still be outstanding amount to repay the finance company. I guess the same with a house if one ever do the maths as during economic downturns ( of course there will be a guaranteed few within the 30 years period), the young couples will not be able to service the loan repayments. So repossession and auction of the property follows, spiralling the housing and property market downwards with massive defaults. So the rakyat actually end up with ZERO. There is no protection mechanism in place to safeguard the interest of the people against adverse economic forces.
The road to ruins lie with BN ways of government. Vote PR for a new way as we must have faith that at least PR has the interest of the rakyat. We must give Pakatan Rakyat a CHANCE to steer us away from the Economic Tsunamis that is swelling up day by day with the way BN runs the country, with half-baked, half-past-six schemes while at the same time allowing massive leakages with super mega procurement projects.

• 
• +15
• 
• 

...
written by Bullchick, March 30, 2011 17:48:46

Firstly, I wish to know where one can purchase a small terrace house (say measuring 20ft X 70ft) in the Klang Valley, Ipoh, Johor Bahru, Penang, Kuching or Kota Kinabalu for between RM100,000 - RM200,000? I would say that it is impossible! Anything in that price range may be available in some of the smaller towns and in some backwater areas in the country, but would anyone, especially young working professionals in those areas be able to earn up to RM3,000 in such areas? There would not even be jobs for these youngsters in such areas! I salute you Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad for your comments! This so-called first home scheme is just a ploy to gain support from the younger generation!

• 
• +39
• 
• 

...
written by batsman, March 30, 2011 17:48:07

Aisehman - Just an election gimmick.

• 
• +25
• 
•