Expert advice needed

[fredowcondo]

I was very suprised to learn that we need to pay for CPF's Legal fee and nobody had informed me about this (the bank, the bank lawyer etc).
I feel that the bank or the lawyer had failed their duty to highlight this.

I need the expert here to advise :-

1) Can I complaint to the bank ?
2) How much roughly is CPF board's legal fee ?
3) Is there way to avoid paying cpf legal fee like if I don't use my CPF to pay for the property ( private ) ? And if next time, I want to use the CPF to pay for monthly instalment, do I need to apply again and incur legal fee ?

Thanks for advise in advance .... sad to know that I have to incur legal fee to withdraw my own money even I think the legal fee should be <S$1K.

[ostralek]

Dear Pal,

The moment you sign on the dotted line, it is very difficult to put the blame on the banker (or the agent for that matter). That is why it is impt to read the fine print. There are many agents/bankers out there that is keen to make a quick buck and will not go through the details with the customer. Must take care.

If you do not use CPF then don't have to pay for the legal fee (the CPF portion only). The overall legal fees include a % of the CPF lawyers.

Hope this helps.
And if you need any other advice, you can PM me. I'm also a real estate professional.

Cheers
Willie



I was very suprised to learn that we need to pay for CPF's Legal fee and nobody had informed me about this (the bank, the bank lawyer etc).
I feel that the bank or the lawyer had failed their duty to highlight this.

I need the expert here to advise :-

1) Can I complaint to the bank ?
2) How much roughly is CPF board's legal fee ?
3) Is there way to avoid paying cpf legal fee like if I don't use my CPF to pay for the property ( private ) ? And if next time, I want to use the CPF to pay for monthly instalment, do I need to apply again and incur legal fee ?

Thanks for advise in advance .... sad to know that I have to incur legal fee to withdraw my own money even I think the legal fee should be <S$1K.

[Localite]

If you told your laywer upfront that you will use CPF then it's free (or included) but if you told them later then it is chargeable.

It's better you tell them upfront to 'activate' the cpf facility and then later you could decide to use it or not use it.

[Localite]

CPF legal fees abt $800 for my property....not sure if it depends on ppty value.

[Acer]

CPF legal fees abt $800 for my property....not sure if it depends on ppty value.

wah :scared-4:

abt $800 that's alot.

a lawyer quoted me like $500

[cheerful]

I was very suprised to learn that we need to pay for CPF's Legal fee and nobody had informed me about this (the bank, the bank lawyer etc).
I feel that the bank or the lawyer had failed their duty to highlight this.

I need the expert here to advise :-

1) Can I complaint to the bank ?
2) How much roughly is CPF board's legal fee ?
3) Is there way to avoid paying cpf legal fee like if I don't use my CPF to pay for the property ( private ) ? And if next time, I want to use the CPF to pay for monthly instalment, do I need to apply again and incur legal fee ?

Thanks for advise in advance .... sad to know that I have to incur legal fee to withdraw my own money even I think the legal fee should be <S$1K.

Hi fredowcondo, noted that you have posted similar questions in more than a single thread ... perhaps you may wish to check out this one below ... sounds relevant (could be related to wat you want to find out):

http://forums.condosingapore.com/showthread.php?t=7506&page=2&highlight=cpf+legal

[fredowcondo]

Wow .... :) Thanks for all the advices and I can see that the people in this forum are indeed very helpful and knowledgeable ! Thks Cheerful ... yes the thread you linked is the same question I asked. I see some lights here and
I think the legal fees quoted by DBS bank (S$2500/- which is market rate) should be inclusive of the CPF Legal's fee even though the lawyer is not under the CPF panel. I will call the bank to confirm ..... Thanks !!!!

By the way I took up DBS 3mth Sibor+0.8% lock in for 3 years (as my LTV<60%). However the mortgage specialist give me a feeling that Maybank's package (fixed 1.6%, 2.2%, 2.9% 3 yr lock in --> effective 2.2%) is a better deal and DBS is like "matching" Maybank's agressive package. Anyway, never mind lah, already signed.

[cheerful]

No problem .. yesh, actually alot of knowledgeable kind souls out there & I oso learnt abit from that thread ... guess could be kinda relevant though that discussion then was about uncompleted project (pls note).


Wow .... :) Thanks for all the advices and I can see that the people in this forum are indeed very helpful and knowledgeable ! Thks Cheerful ... yes the thread you linked is the same question I asked. I see some lights here and
I think the legal fees quoted by DBS bank (S$2500/- which is market rate) should be inclusive of the CPF Legal's fee even though the lawyer is not under the CPF panel. I will call the bank to confirm ..... Thanks !!!!

[Acer]

Wow .... :) Thanks for all the advices and I can see that the people in this forum are indeed very helpful and knowledgeable ! Thks Cheerful ... yes the thread you linked is the same question I asked. I see some lights here and
I think the legal fees quoted by DBS bank (S$2500/- which is market rate) should be inclusive of the CPF Legal's fee even though the lawyer is not under the CPF panel. I will call the bank to confirm ..... Thanks !!!!

By the way I took up DBS 3mth Sibor+0.8% lock in for 3 years (as my LTV<60%). However the mortgage specialist give me a feeling that Maybank's package (fixed 1.6%, 2.2%, 2.9% 3 yr lock in --> effective 2.2%) is a better deal and DBS is like "matching" Maybank's agressive package. Anyway, never mind lah, already signed.

For the CPF panel, call the lawyer not the bank.
Not all lawyer in the bank lawyer panel can represent CPF.
Need to call the lawyer and ask for their quote and ask what is include.

For the Maybank 3 yrs fixed 1.6% , 2.2%, 2.9% , if the loan amount is not BIG enough, the interest will be different.