Why I chose to apply for an overdraft (OD) instead of a personal loan

1. As a bumiputera, I have a slight advantage in using my ASB cert as a collateral in order to apply for OD
2. Current interest rate (BLR) is low. Today, it stands between 5.55 and 5.65 (depending on banks)
3. OD is calculated on a daily rest vs. monthly rest in most conventional loans
4. Ability to control cashflow (money going in and out) of the OD, at the same time manipulating the interest charge on the balance
5. Lower application cost or processing fee than most conventional loans
6. No fixed tenure (repayment years) to settle the outstanding balance
7. I stand to gain the dividends and bonus from the ASB cert that I use for collateral

If you satisfy all of the above reasons, make sure you apply for an OD rather than a personal loan. Later, I'll post the current rates and OD facility by the main banks in Malaysia.

For those who do not know what an ASB cert is, the above is a sample of a cert converted from an ASB Book. You can convert any amount of your ASB savings to a cert at the PNB offices/branches. Only then you can use it as collateral when applying for OD.

GTY reminds me of GTO

I used to be a fan of anime. I watched them a lot during my undergraduate days. One of my favorite series is Great Teacher Onizuka or GTO.

Well recently, a friend of mine lent me a book called Greater Than Yourself (GTY) by Steve Farber. Notice the similarity? GTY -> GTO. Nah, although they both convey a similar message in a way but that is not the point.

The point is, this book is by far, the best book leadership book I've read so far. Its simplicity and direct messages could not be clearer to the readers. The funny thing is, we've all known the concepts but in practice, I've never personally experienced it.

Ok cutting the story short, I won't be explaining what the book is all about but rather, I'd like to share the three (3) basic concepts in GTY:

1. Expand Yourself
2. Give Yourself
3. Replicate Yourself

Again, I'm not going to elaborate each of the concept above. My recommendation is, buy the book, understand the concepts and practice them.

Alright then, I'm off to find and start my first GTY project.

Let's do business

Today, around 4.30p, I received a text from Syazwan a.k.a. Asan, letting me know that I'm officially in. Thanks bro, for bringing me to this unfamiliar territory, which I'm certainly looking forward to conquer it.

Personal loan to start a business?

I needed quite a sum of money to start a new business.

It was down to the banks to lend me the money.

The obvious choice was to apply for a personal loan. After doing some research, it seemed like the best package and rate offered was provided by Bank Rakyat (5-6.5% based on tenure). It was surprising to see most of the commercial banks in Malaysia have high interest rates for personal loans (between 8-12%)...and we wonder how on earth do the banks make a lot of money.

The only problem with getting a personal loan with Bank Rakyat, is that my company has to be in the list of panels with the bank. My company, however, is not a panel. The panel registration with Bank Rakyat would take at least a month for approval.

That was when I decided to fall back on my last option, the one which I've learned a year ago from financial blogs and web sites but haven't really mastered or put it to use effectively. I'll write about how I used OD or Overdraft Facility to start my new business in my future post.