Maybank Announcement On Credit Card and Charge Card Service Tax

Maybank had issued a statement to its' credit card holders related to the recent announcement of the annual RM50 service charge on each principal credit card and RM25 on each supplementary card.

Maybank urged the credit card holders not to take any action now as Maybank is obtaining further guidelines from the authorities on this matter. Besides the annual service tax is only take effect from 1 January 2010 onwards.

With this statement from Maybank, it is believed that other credit card issuers are seeking on the details of the credit card service tax issue as well. Definitely there will have some counter measures by all the credit card issuers

Based on the recent Budget 2010 announcement, it seems that the RM 50 or RM 25 service tax is applicable to the new credit card holders and during the time the exiting credit cards renewal date from 1 January 2010 onwards. The service tax will not imposed immediately on January 2010 for all credit cards or charge cards.

Hence, if you are an existing credit card holders and your renewal date is at the end of the years. It is best that retaining the credit cards and enjoy the provided privileges. Wait till next year renewal date only decide on whether to continue using the credit cards by judging whether it is worth to pay the service tax.

Do make sure that the prudent use of the credit cards and do not over spend beyond your affordability by using the credit cards. Credit cards facility supposed to provide convenience to the card holders and definitely you do not want to be the "Credit Card Loan Holder" that pay only minimum amount every month.

If the credit card holders facing the problem of paying back the credit card bills, it is better to stop using the credit cards till the time you are able to payback in full every month in order to avoid the high interest charges.

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Freida Pinto & Dev Patel: Lilac in London

Slumdog Millionaire stars Freida Pinto and Dev Patel wear complementary purple hues as they walk through London on Tuesday (October 20).

Dev, 19, held hands with Freida, 25, as they walked together. They’ve been spotted in public being more affectionate recently after post-Slumdog speculation ran rampant about their relationship.

Both stars will have movies out next year - Freida recently finished shooting a still untitled Woody Allen movie, while Dev will appear as Zuko in The Last Airbender, directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

FYI: Freida is wearing boots by Roger Vivier.

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PIKOM PC FAIR 2009 (III)

PIKOM PC FAIR 2009 (III) LAUNCH ALERT

Thank you for supporting the PIKOM PC Fair.

We are pleased to notify that we will conduct the PIKOM PC Fair Balloting as follows:

Date	Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Venue	Hall 4, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre

PC Fair 2009 (III) locations and venues are:

26-28 November 2009	Seri Manjung
27-29 November 2009	Kluang, Alor Star & Seremban
4-6 December 2009	KL, Penang & Melaka
11-13 December 2009	JB, Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu & Bintulu

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Hire purchase agreements versus loan agreements

Hire Purchase or Loan

There is a lot of difference when you choose to buy something with the help of a loan and when you do it on hire purchase basis. In the former case, the ownership passes to you but in the later case you are just in possession and not a legal owner. It means that a person who has bought a car on hire purchase cannot sell it. Simple enough, he is not an owner of the car and, therefore, he has no such right.


Let us take an example.

You want to buy furniture and you go to a lender asking for an unsecured loan. Any furniture or whatever that you buy with the loan amount is legally yours and, in the event of failure to repay, the lender cannot ask you to return the goods. Yes, the lender always has legal remedies available to him for getting back the loan amount. In case of hire purchase, the creditor can ask you to return the goods if you don’t make regular payments.

A hire purchase creates a ‘debt’ and you have to pay it. Once you fully pay your debt then only ownership passes to you. As far as reclaiming of goods under the hire purchase agreement is concerned, there may arise two situations. If you have paid more than one-third of the total debt, the creditor has to go through the County Courts. But, in case you have paid less than one-third of your debt, a creditor only needs a court order to remove goods from your property. Even this court order can be dispensed away if the property is lying in a public place. It means that if you have taken a car on hire purchase, the creditor can remove it from the street without court’s order. So, there is a lot of difference between purchasing a car through unsecured loan and through hire purchase agreement.

Remedies in case of non-repayments

In case of loan agreement, the lender can take legal remedies in case of non-repayment of loan. In case of hire purchase, the creditor can take you to the court for non-payment of debt. There is a specific procedure to be followed by both the creditor and the purchaser. If creditor wants to get back the goods, he is required to obtain a ‘Return Order’ from the court.

Terminating agreements

A loan agreement comes to an end when you repay all your installments and other dues. You can repay before the loan period agreed in the loan agreement. This may or may not involve early repayment penalty. In case of hire purchase agreement, you can normally terminate it by handing back the goods to your creditor. The creditor may ask you to pay up to half of the original agreement price, irrespective of when you terminate the agreement. The hire purchase agreement contains the conditions upon which you can terminate the agreement.

So, you can now decide whether unsecured loans meet your requirements or would it be better to go for a hire purchase agreement.

Note: Law, Rules and Regulations may differ in your country. Get professional advice and ask friends who may have hire purchase experience.

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