When the couple had their second child in 2002, Mrs Yap, 33 and who was working as an operations manager in a pub, quit her job in order to care for the infant. Her husband was then working in dispatch. Their 4-room flat in Bukit Merah then was home to six persons – including their two children and Mr Yap’s parents, who had moved in with them in 1999. (They later had two more children – in 2005 and 2008).
Their woes started in 2007, when they defaulted on the monthly mortgage loans. It eventually accumulated to $25,611 and they were forced to sell their flat in September this year (2008) in order to settle the arrears. But even before the completion of the sale, the couple had already started to apply to the HDB to grant them a loan to buy a resale 4-room flat.
Application rejected
In December last year, HDB rejected the application, saying that Mr Yap’s salary of $1,200 was not enough to service the loan which they would need to purchase a resale flat. HDB advised them to “use the CPF refund and cash proceeds from the sale of your current 4-room flat to buy a smaller flat, without taking a loan.”
“I can’t buy a smaller flat,” Mrs Yap told TOC. “Where will my children sleep? What about my mother-in-law?” More importantly, the couple feels that since this would be their second HDB loan and hence the last one they would be granted, they want to purchase a 4-room flat to live in for the long term.
Disappointed with HDB’s rejection, the couple approached their Member of Parliament, Mr Baey Yam Keng, who appealed to the HDB on their behalf. In his letter in May 2008, Mr Baey informed the HDB that Mr Yap’s income had recently increased to $1,450. He also noted that they are unable to obtain any loans from the banks as they had a record of owing some credit card debts.
Appeal
In its reply on the 6th of June, HDB again rejected the application, citing the couple’s difficulty to service the loan based on Mr Yap’s income. “I need a flat so that my mother-in-law can live with us. She is being abused by her husband. Also, she is not allowed to rent a flat either,” Mrs Yap told us. The HDB said her mother will have to either find someone to jointly it with or to pick a name from HDB’s rental flat waiting list and live with that person, a prospect which Mrs Yap frowns upon. “If she lives with us, she can help me look after my children and I can go to work to supplement the family’s income,” says Mrs Yap. She feels that even if she worked part-time, she would be able to add another $500 to $600 to her husband’s $1,450 salary and thus be able to help service the HDB loan.
In July, after Mr Baey made a second appeal on their behalf, the HDB finally relented and agreed to grant them a loan which is “100 per cent of the selling price or market, whichever is lower”, according to Mrs Yap. The HDB later offered them $67,000 to purchase a 4-room flat – provided the new flat was below $250,000. However, the loan amount was not enough for the couple to buy a 4-room flat in Teck Whye, which is one of the cheapest areas in Singapore, Mrs Yap told TOC. She said they are asking for a loan of “about $90,000 to $100,000” from the HDB.
“Our proceeds from the sale of our previous 4-room flat is $126,000, which is put back into our CPF,” she told TOC. The cash portion from the sale was $57,200. “But we only get $49,604 after deducting the $5,000 of deposit & appears to HDB & TC,” she explained.
HDB insisted that a loan of $67,000 would be enough for the new flat. But Mrs Yap disputes the figure. “Our CPF refund was $120,000 but $6,000 was credited into our special account,” she said. More was used to pay their S&C charges to the town council and their housing agent. They would also need to do some simple works on their new home – such as painting, re-wiring and pay the “cash over valuation” on the resale flat purchase.
“That means we can only buy a 3-room flat if we’re very lucky because the prices of flats keep increasing,” she said in her email reply to HDB. She checked the HDB website several times for the latest resale prices of 3-room flats in Teck Whye and they ranged from $201,000 to $230,000.
Frustration
After more than 6 months of appealing to the HDB, she feels frustrated as during the period, prices of flats have escalated and has made it harder for them to purchase a new home. Prices of 4-room flats in Teck Whye have risen to as high as $240,000 and $305,000 – figures which Mrs Yap took from the HDB website and included in her email to the HDB.
In September, after numerous appeals spanning almost one year, a glimmer of hope surfaced. HDB informed them that it is “reviewing [their] re-appeal for a higher HDB loan”. That glimmer turned to frustration again one week later when the HDB informed them that it is “unable to accede” to their request for a higher loan.
In her desperation, she fired off an email to the Prime Minister, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, last month. In it, she told the PM that “it is not that we do not work hard for our future [but even when we do] we can’t even secure a … home for our children.” She went on, “We’ve been writing in for a year, fighting for a loan to purchase a flat and not asking for [a free ride].”
On 25th September, having had enough of the frustration of not being able to secure the loan, she told the HDB to “cancel the approved loan of $67,000 for now”, as there’s no point for them to buy a 3-room flat. “I’ll still be unable to work as nobody can look after my children,” she said.
Mrs Yap is extremely disappointed that HDB would consider her husband’s salary too low to service a mortgage loan.
“[The} Government encouraged us to have more children. But after having more children, we can’t provide them a proper home, my husband can’t provide his mother a place to stay, because his salary was [considered] too low to service a HDB loan.”
Article from TOC today.
Their woes started in 2007, when they defaulted on the monthly mortgage loans. It eventually accumulated to $25,611 and they were forced to sell their flat in September this year (2008) in order to settle the arrears. But even before the completion of the sale, the couple had already started to apply to the HDB to grant them a loan to buy a resale 4-room flat.
Application rejected
In December last year, HDB rejected the application, saying that Mr Yap’s salary of $1,200 was not enough to service the loan which they would need to purchase a resale flat. HDB advised them to “use the CPF refund and cash proceeds from the sale of your current 4-room flat to buy a smaller flat, without taking a loan.”
“I can’t buy a smaller flat,” Mrs Yap told TOC. “Where will my children sleep? What about my mother-in-law?” More importantly, the couple feels that since this would be their second HDB loan and hence the last one they would be granted, they want to purchase a 4-room flat to live in for the long term.
Disappointed with HDB’s rejection, the couple approached their Member of Parliament, Mr Baey Yam Keng, who appealed to the HDB on their behalf. In his letter in May 2008, Mr Baey informed the HDB that Mr Yap’s income had recently increased to $1,450. He also noted that they are unable to obtain any loans from the banks as they had a record of owing some credit card debts.
Appeal
In its reply on the 6th of June, HDB again rejected the application, citing the couple’s difficulty to service the loan based on Mr Yap’s income. “I need a flat so that my mother-in-law can live with us. She is being abused by her husband. Also, she is not allowed to rent a flat either,” Mrs Yap told us. The HDB said her mother will have to either find someone to jointly it with or to pick a name from HDB’s rental flat waiting list and live with that person, a prospect which Mrs Yap frowns upon. “If she lives with us, she can help me look after my children and I can go to work to supplement the family’s income,” says Mrs Yap. She feels that even if she worked part-time, she would be able to add another $500 to $600 to her husband’s $1,450 salary and thus be able to help service the HDB loan.
In July, after Mr Baey made a second appeal on their behalf, the HDB finally relented and agreed to grant them a loan which is “100 per cent of the selling price or market, whichever is lower”, according to Mrs Yap. The HDB later offered them $67,000 to purchase a 4-room flat – provided the new flat was below $250,000. However, the loan amount was not enough for the couple to buy a 4-room flat in Teck Whye, which is one of the cheapest areas in Singapore, Mrs Yap told TOC. She said they are asking for a loan of “about $90,000 to $100,000” from the HDB.
“Our proceeds from the sale of our previous 4-room flat is $126,000, which is put back into our CPF,” she told TOC. The cash portion from the sale was $57,200. “But we only get $49,604 after deducting the $5,000 of deposit & appears to HDB & TC,” she explained.
HDB insisted that a loan of $67,000 would be enough for the new flat. But Mrs Yap disputes the figure. “Our CPF refund was $120,000 but $6,000 was credited into our special account,” she said. More was used to pay their S&C charges to the town council and their housing agent. They would also need to do some simple works on their new home – such as painting, re-wiring and pay the “cash over valuation” on the resale flat purchase.
“That means we can only buy a 3-room flat if we’re very lucky because the prices of flats keep increasing,” she said in her email reply to HDB. She checked the HDB website several times for the latest resale prices of 3-room flats in Teck Whye and they ranged from $201,000 to $230,000.
Frustration
After more than 6 months of appealing to the HDB, she feels frustrated as during the period, prices of flats have escalated and has made it harder for them to purchase a new home. Prices of 4-room flats in Teck Whye have risen to as high as $240,000 and $305,000 – figures which Mrs Yap took from the HDB website and included in her email to the HDB.
In September, after numerous appeals spanning almost one year, a glimmer of hope surfaced. HDB informed them that it is “reviewing [their] re-appeal for a higher HDB loan”. That glimmer turned to frustration again one week later when the HDB informed them that it is “unable to accede” to their request for a higher loan.
In her desperation, she fired off an email to the Prime Minister, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, last month. In it, she told the PM that “it is not that we do not work hard for our future [but even when we do] we can’t even secure a … home for our children.” She went on, “We’ve been writing in for a year, fighting for a loan to purchase a flat and not asking for [a free ride].”
On 25th September, having had enough of the frustration of not being able to secure the loan, she told the HDB to “cancel the approved loan of $67,000 for now”, as there’s no point for them to buy a 3-room flat. “I’ll still be unable to work as nobody can look after my children,” she said.
Mrs Yap is extremely disappointed that HDB would consider her husband’s salary too low to service a mortgage loan.
“[The} Government encouraged us to have more children. But after having more children, we can’t provide them a proper home, my husband can’t provide his mother a place to stay, because his salary was [considered] too low to service a HDB loan.”
Article from TOC today.
