Car buyers to pay more due to interest rate hike

Star | Car buyers will have to pay more in monthly instalments now that hire purchare interest rates have gone up.

Just a few months ago, banks offered interest rates at around 2.5%. Now, the rates are between 3.4% and 4.7% for new cars.

Maybank hire purchase senior manager Nor Siah Othman said the bank had experienced a drop of about 40% in car loan applications in the past two months due to higher rates.

She also advised car owners to restructure their loans to stretch the monthly payments longer after a few years of repayments if they find it a burden to service their loans.

A freelance car salesman identified only as Teo said a buyer taking a RM42,000 loan would have to pay about RM54,000 over seven years - about RM4,000 more compared to the RM50,000 paid when the interest rate was 2.7%.... selanjutnya.

Zeti quits as director

NST - Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has approved the resignation tendered by Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz as director from the board of Khazanah Nasional Bhd. A statement issued by the central bank yesterday said that the resignation was effective April 21. "The governor's decision to resign is to avoid any potential conflict of interest arising from the central bank's role as the regulatory authority," it said.... selanjutnya.