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Are You Doing Enough To Prepare For Higher Inflation?
11th January 2023


Everyone’s hearing about the potential global recession that’s going to hit in 2023 and the many experts telling us that Malaysia will or will not be affected. In the event that we’re lucky enough to escape the recession, inflation will likely remain, affecting the price of goods and services. If you think that you’re doing worse than your other fellow Malaysians, you’re actually not.


RinggitPlus conducted a survey that showed that most Malaysians from all walks of life are affected by the pandemic and are suffering financially, forcing us to use more savings just to get by and having general lack of cash flow. For example, 7 out of 10 Malaysians are saving less than RM500 a month, which just goes to show that most of us just don’t have enough left in a month to be able to have much savings, if at all. This isn’t surprising since more than half of the population is spending what they earn or even slightly more than they earn in a month.


The amount of Malaysians who can pay their credit card bills in full has dropped from 70% in 2021 to just 55% this year. The rest are just paying what they can or paying late.


Recognising this predicament, Trillion Cove Capital is inviting all business owners to set an appointment to establish a professional financing roadmap. As a financing services and solution platform, Trillion Cove Capital will be working with both innovative and conventional banking and financing parties to tailor a pandemic-era solution. One of their partners, Pay4U, a financial payment solution and credits enhancement platform under i-Serve Payment Gateway (ISPG), offers to substitute cash payment with credit cards. In addition, the service also offers a grace period for businesses to bridge any cashflow gaps for the short-term. This is one of the many options taken into consideration of their planning.


What You Can Do To Be Prepared

While most of us may not be able to directly impact the economy in a largely significant way to change things, there are steps that you can take to better prepare yourself for the inflation.


Know Your Finances

You have to understand your finances, and you can do this by asking yourself some questions:

    • How much cash do I have?
    • What debts do I have, and how much? (inclusive of all loans and bills)
    • How much do I need to survive a month? (inclusive of food, rent, transportation, healthcare, childcare)
    • Are there any extra expenses you will have to pay for? (like weddings and baby showers)
    • What else do I usually spend on? (hobbies, interests)

This would help you to start building a budget by figuring out your total household income, and all the expenses you will have in a month. The amount you have left over would give you a clearer picture of where your cash is going in a month and whether you are spending more or less than what you earn.


If the figure is not looking good, you can look over your list and prioritize important expenses. You can also try to cut down on non-essential spending like hobbies and interests.


Remember, you might not have much or any money to put into your savings right now, and that’s ok. But try to save what you can for a rainy day.


Repay Your Debt

One of the things you could be worried about is paying off your debts like your PTPTN loan, home loan, car loan, credit card bills, and utilities. Paying for all of them might be hard if you have income loss, but knowing which to pay first would be important.

  1. Make sure that your rent or home loan is paid on time and in full. You definitely won’t want to face eviction or your house being taken back by the bank.
  2. Your car loan is next, especially if you need your car to get to work. This makes sure your car won’t be repossessed.
  3. Try not to miss any payments for your utilities. Getting your electricity or water cut off will definitely make things more difficult.
  4. For your credit card bills, try to pay at least the minimum payment. This way, you still have some wiggle room to purchase things on credit.
  5. Your PTPTN loan should be small amounts, so pay if you can.

If you can’t make any of those payments, you can always call those you’ve taken a loan with and ask if there’s any way they can help, like lowering interest rates (if you’ve always made on time payments) or allowing payment at a slightly later date.


Use Pay4U

You might think it’s time to start considering personal loans, but not quite yet. If you’re still interested in keeping your payments on time, you can always consider using Pay4U.


It’s an app that allows you to use your credit card to pay for your monthly expenses. So, your creditors would be receiving their payments on time, and you’ve transferred your monthly expenses onto your credit card, to be paid at a later date (on your next billing cycle).


Pay4U can help you with various payment types like home loans, car loans, personal loans, PTPTN loans, tuition fees, condo maintenance fees, and more. It truly is an alternative to non-payment since it helps you keep your Credit Score intact, securing your ability to apply loans and have them be approved.


Put Your Best Foot Forward

Times are hard, and we know it’s not always possible to make all payments on time. All you can do is your best and take control over the parts of your finances you can. Understand your finances, prioritize which to pay first, and use Pay4U to give yourself more time to get to the payments.

Everyone’s hearing about the potential global recession that’s going to hit in 2023 and the many experts telling us that Malaysia will or will not be affected. In the event that we’re lucky enough to escape the recession, inflation will likely remain, affecting the price of goods and services. If you think that you’re doing worse than your other fellow Malaysians, you’re actually not.


RinggitPlus conducted a survey that showed that most Malaysians from all walks of life are affected by the pandemic and are suffering financially, forcing us to use more savings just to get by and having general lack of cash flow. For example, 7 out of 10 Malaysians are saving less than RM500 a month, which just goes to show that most of us just don’t have enough left in a month to be able to have much savings, if at all. This isn’t surprising since more than half of the population is spending what they earn or even slightly more than they earn in a month.


The amount of Malaysians who can pay their credit card bills in full has dropped from 70% in 2021 to just 55% this year. The rest are just paying what they can or paying late.


Recognising this predicament, Trillion Cove Capital is inviting all business owners to set an appointment to establish a professional financing roadmap. As a financing services and solution platform, Trillion Cove Capital will be working with both innovative and conventional banking and financing parties to tailor a pandemic-era solution. One of their partners, Pay4U, a financial payment solution and credits enhancement platform under i-Serve Payment Gateway (ISPG), offers to substitute cash payment with credit cards. In addition, the service also offers a grace period for businesses to bridge any cashflow gaps for the short-term. This is one of the many options taken into consideration of their planning.


What You Can Do To Be Prepared

While most of us may not be able to directly impact the economy in a largely significant way to change things, there are steps that you can take to better prepare yourself for the inflation.


Know Your Finances

You have to understand your finances, and you can do this by asking yourself some questions:

    • How much cash do I have?
    • What debts do I have, and how much? (inclusive of all loans and bills)
    • How much do I need to survive a month? (inclusive of food, rent, transportation, healthcare, childcare)
    • Are there any extra expenses you will have to pay for? (like weddings and baby showers)
    • What else do I usually spend on? (hobbies, interests)

This would help you to start building a budget by figuring out your total household income, and all the expenses you will have in a month. The amount you have left over would give you a clearer picture of where your cash is going in a month and whether you are spending more or less than what you earn.


If the figure is not looking good, you can look over your list and prioritize important expenses. You can also try to cut down on non-essential spending like hobbies and interests.


Remember, you might not have much or any money to put into your savings right now, and that’s ok. But try to save what you can for a rainy day.


Repay Your Debt

One of the things you could be worried about is paying off your debts like your PTPTN loan, home loan, car loan, credit card bills, and utilities. Paying for all of them might be hard if you have income loss, but knowing which to pay first would be important.

  1. Make sure that your rent or home loan is paid on time and in full. You definitely won’t want to face eviction or your house being taken back by the bank.
  2. Your car loan is next, especially if you need your car to get to work. This makes sure your car won’t be repossessed.
  3. Try not to miss any payments for your utilities. Getting your electricity or water cut off will definitely make things more difficult.
  4. For your credit card bills, try to pay at least the minimum payment. This way, you still have some wiggle room to purchase things on credit.
  5. Your PTPTN loan should be small amounts, so pay if you can.

If you can’t make any of those payments, you can always call those you’ve taken a loan with and ask if there’s any way they can help, like lowering interest rates (if you’ve always made on time payments) or allowing payment at a slightly later date.


Use Pay4U

You might think it’s time to start considering personal loans, but not quite yet. If you’re still interested in keeping your payments on time, you can always consider using Pay4U.


It’s an app that allows you to use your credit card to pay for your monthly expenses. So, your creditors would be receiving their payments on time, and you’ve transferred your monthly expenses onto your credit card, to be paid at a later date (on your next billing cycle).


Pay4U can help you with various payment types like home loans, car loans, personal loans, PTPTN loans, tuition fees, condo maintenance fees, and more. It truly is an alternative to non-payment since it helps you keep your Credit Score intact, securing your ability to apply loans and have them be approved.


Put Your Best Foot Forward

Times are hard, and we know it’s not always possible to make all payments on time. All you can do is your best and take control over the parts of your finances you can. Understand your finances, prioritize which to pay first, and use Pay4U to give yourself more time to get to the payments.

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