Banks to ease financial burden of customers

Ivan: Banks can ease the financial burden by introducing more “friendly” package or reform. But it will never teach the people about how to do a proper financial plan. This will lead to a viscous cycle and end up with another financial crisis! Please read the below for more details:

Finance companies are resorting to restructuring car loan repayments to help ease the burden of customers with heavy financial commitments.

At least three major banks will announce their hire-purchase loan restructuring plans soon.

A senior manager of a prominent local bank with a substantial volume of hire-purchase customers said that given the current economic scenario, where prices of fuel and food had increased, many customers would be burdened by the high repayment plans that they had signed previously.

Finance companies could not rule out that some customers might find it difficult to service their monthly instalments, he said.

“We expect that for next year there will be more repossession orders given, but it won’t be a drastic increase,” he said, adding that his company issued a monthly average of 2,500 repossession orders.

Most banks and finance companies will try to assist any customer whom they feel could fail to meet their monthly instalments.

The move is expected to bring cheer to thousands of hire-purchase customers, especially those paying high monthly instalments for their car loans.

A Perodua Kelisa owner, Jen Neoh, 29, welcomes an option to restructure her car loan, as it would ease her financial burden.

“I think it’s better to be in debt with a bank, rather than borrowing from friends, family or even loan sharks,” she said.

Neoh, who now pays almost RM400 for her monthly instalments, said she would be comfortable paying about RM200 instead.

A public relations manager in a large bank here said her bank was now very selective with new approvals for hire-purchase loans.

“And we have also started calling customers to help restructure their hire-purchase agreements to help them make ends meet,” she said.

Loan restructuring is commonly done by extending the account holder’s repayment period to lower the monthly instalment that needs to be paid.

“Many factors affect how much the refinancing would affect the new monthly repayment amount,” said a head of retail collection in Kuala Lumpur.

He said they included how much loan was taken in the first place and the customer’s financial status.

“But if they can’t pay, reduction is not a solution. They can always surrender their cars. But we will try to help them so that they won’t have to,” he said.

Federation of Consumer Associations adviser Datuk Hamdan Adnan said Bank Negara must step in and help consumers who have been threatened with having their vehicles repossessed.

“Banks always claim they are customer-friendly. But in reality, they exploit some customers,” he said.

高油價，在家工作成趨勢

在高油價時代，愈來愈多人選擇「在家工作」，
不僅能夠節能、省時、省錢，還能提高工作效率，已成為一種新趨勢。

全球油價在短短一年內飇漲，6月中最新價格為每桶（約159公升）139.94美元，分析師估計，7月中的暑假旺季將可能高達每桶150美元。對於每天必須開車通勤的上班族而言，又是一個沉重的負擔。

根據美國《財星》雜誌（FORTUNE）的報導，美國通勤族每天上班平均開30英里（約48公里），如果以現在北加州1加侖（約3.78公升）4.67美元來計算，每個月上百美元的開支絕對跑不掉。

這個時候，如果可以在家工作，可幸福得多了。

韋博（Frank Weber）是總部在矽谷的昇陽科技（Sun Micro Systems）工程師，每週有兩到三天的時間會在家工作。由於油價高漲，他決定放棄公司的辦公室，在家上班，公司會補助通訊費用。

同樣在矽谷的思科（Cisco）工程師Jeffrey Chang，每週大約有一到兩天在家工作。他家離辦公室不算太遠，但是來回路程也得花上20多英里（超過32公里）。在家工作時，他使用視訊會議（Video Conference），也用即時通訊（Instant Message）和同事聯絡，在家或是在辦公室工作沒什麼不同。有時進公司，可能只是因為中午和同事約好吃飯。不過他表示，最近因為油價的關係，比較常在家工作。

Web savvy ways to slash your grocery bill

Friday June 13, 10:09 am ET
By Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Nearly $5 for a box of cereal is outrageous – and it’s probably only going to get worse. But there’s a crop of new online resources that can help take the sticker shock out of food shopping.

The average U.S. household spent $3,240 on groceries last year, according to the American Express Everyday Spending index, and prices have risen substantially since then.

Of course, clipping coupons can help, but it’s time consuming and tedious. The good news is that now there are Web sites that can help make saving much easier.

Strategic shopping

Stephanie Nelson, a mother of two, says cutting your grocery bill in half is easy. She launched couponmom.com seven years ago to show other shoppers what weekly sales and savings are available – saving them time, and of course, money.

The Web site’s database tracks what’s on sale at your local grocery store and matches it with what coupons are available.

For example, New Jersey shoppers can use a $1 coupon in the RedPlum circular when All brand laundry detergent goes on sale at Pathmark, and save 50% off the retail price.

Nelson says that shoppers who match up weekly specials with coupons from newspaper circulars can easily take 50% off their entire bill, if not more. That’s what she calls “strategic shopping.” And it’s catching on, Nelson has seen a huge uptick in interest in her site, which lists grocery bargains at 41 retailers in 50 states. Since January, traffic has tripled, she said.

“You can’t do much about your mortgage payment or car payment,” Nelson said. “Grocery shopping is where you have the most opportunity to save money.”

Virtual coupon clipping

If sifting through the newspaper for savings is not your bag, more stores are offering electronic coupons, which can be printed at home, or loaded right on to your store loyalty card.

Kroger customers can go to Shortcuts.com, enter their loyalty card information, click on coupons they want, and have the savings automatically applied to their bill at checkout.

And Shortcuts.com is currently in discussions with other national chains to roll out similar programs soon.

Other sites, such as coupons.com and eversave.com, offer a slew of printable coupons as well as coupon codes that can be used for online shopping.

Buy online

Shopping online is another way to score great deals on groceries. Although the prices aren’t always better, comparison shopping is definitely easier. And the savings of time – and gas – can be substantial.

New online grocery and delivery services are emerging across the country, such as FreshDirect, Peapod and SimonDelivers, and sell everything from fresh produce to frozen dinners.

Amazon.com’s grocery service, which launched two years ago, sells nonperishable items in bulk (no milk, fresh meat, or produce) at relatively low cost.

A pack of four boxes of Kellogg’s Mini-Wheats is $17.60 on Amazon, 10% less per unit than on the bulk shopping site buythecase.net, and 18% lower than the per-unit price on Walgreens.com.

On top of that, Amazon orders over $25 qualify for free shipping, and additional savings are available when shoppers sign up to have deliveries made regularly.

The e-tailer manages to keep per-unit costs down by selling items in larger pack sizes or manufacturer’s cases, which cuts the cost of handling and packaging, according to Tom Furphy, vice president of consumables.

You may have to clean out your pantry to make room for all that sugar-coated cereal, but the savings will be sweet.