Bank Islam Offers Plan To Reduce Burden On Housing Financing Customers

By Yuri Azhar

KUALA LUMPUR - Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd has introduced an innovative financial plan to reduce the burden on home financing customers whereby they can opt for a payment holiday in November and December every year.

They would no longer need to make compulsory housing financing repayments in the two months under the bank's Payment Holiday Programme.

"This is a first in the country's banking industry," Bank Islam's newly appointed head of Consumer Banking Group, Khairul Kamarudin, said Tuesday.

He said the customers would not have to pay extra for the other months but the financing tenure would be lengthened according to the number of months taken under the payment holiday.

Recognising that financial commitments increase due to back-to-school expenses and year-end holidays, the programme would give families a break from making compulsory home financing payments, he told Bernama here.

This is an added feature to the bank's existing home financing and home refinancing products.

He said the most applications for the programme were expected from families as they were the ones usually facing larger financial commitments during the period.

It was during November and December when families normally incur extra expenses from buying new uniforms, vehicle payments, health insurance premiums as well as family holidays, he said.

He said the programme would put more cash into their wallets as well as give them some peace of mind in not having to worry about keeping up with housing loan instalments at the end of the year.

Launched at the bank's branches last week, he said it was open to all customers keen to purchase residential property, either completed or under construction.

Khairul said the bank would honour the agreed payment holiday provided the customer honours his repayment.

The bank has the authority to retract the payment holiday benefit should the customer defaults on repayments to the bank, he said.

Bank Islam was moving forward with the development of new products to meet customer needs, said Khairul, who is responsible for the development and performance of BIMB retail products.

They include home financing, credit card, personal financing, vehicle financing and many others.

Bank Islam, established in 1983 as the first Islamic bank in Malaysia, has more than 90 branches and 296 automated teller machines nationwide, offering more than 50 Shariah-based banking products and services catering to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.