HDB should mull deferred housing payments for retrenched: MP

Source : Business Times - 3 Feb 2009

The Housing Development Board should consider deferring the principal mortgage payments of home owners who loss their jobs, said Inderjit Singh, entrepreneur and Member of Parliament.

‘One of the biggest worries I have is the foreclosures by banks on HDB houses. I would recommend that the HDB consider deferring the principal mortgage payments of home owners who loss their jobs,’ Mr Singh said in Parliament on Tuesday.

‘Private lenders should also be tasked to do the same on lending for HDB properties. This will relief the unemployed Singaporeans from their single largest strain of income. They will only need to pay interest payment and this will help them a lot.’

He added that any foreclosures, whether by HDB or private lenders, should be reviewed by the government at this stage, to ensure that the people who are coping with the sudden job loss do not also lose their homes.