1. Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) – All B40/M40 Malaysians are eligible to get this aid on top of BSH – so you get it if you’re a single earning below RM4,000 monthly or your household earns below RM8,000 monthly, regardless of your current employment status. If you haven’t received it automatically, you might been left out, so don’t forget to register with LHDN.
2. Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) – From RM300 for singles all the way to RM1,480 for B40 families with 4 children or more. Remember, you also get it alongside the BPN payment.
3. Employment Retention Program (ERP) – If you’ve been made to take a salary cut or go on unpaid leave for more than 30 days, your employer can claim an additional RM600 monthly for three months with the Employment Retention Program, and credit the payment directly to you within 7 days.
4. Employee Insurance System (EIS) – If you have been retrenched but were actively contributing to the EIS during your employment, you can apply for Job Search Allowance, which pays 80 ->30% of your monthly wages up to RM4,000 over 6 months while you look for a new job.

Regardless of your financial situation, you should take it for your Personal Loans, Car Loans, and Home Loans (or their Islamic financing equivalents). Even if you can afford to repay your monthly installments for the next 6 months and beyond, there are distinct advantages.

With so much uncertainty with the global economy, the extra cash in hand can make a big difference three, four months down the line – you’ll never know what will happen. Plus, with so many high-yield savings account and fixed deposit promotions, you can even earn interest on this deferred instalments (and offset the interest charged on your existing loans). My brilliant editorial team headed by Pang has got it all calculated for you here if you don’t believe me. No opinions, just facts.

For those in generalised or all-companies-need-this-function jobs such as marketing, HR, finance, or sales who have been made redundant, it’s worth considering sectors of the economy which are “benefiting” from either the MCO or post Covid-19 world for the next two years, that is, consumer staples (groceries etc.), pharmaceuticals, agricultural (as we seek to be come more locally sufficient), technology, and digital economy (as we go online) sectors.

For those who have had hours cut, put on unpaid leave, or in industries which face an uncertain future (such as events management, international tourism), a small silver lining is that the last five years have seen an explosion of the freelance/gig economy, including in Malaysia. It is important to remember that this covers more than just the usually quoted e-hailing (Grab, MyCar), logistics (TheLorry, Lalamove, Ninja Van) or food delivery (Grab, Foodpanda) sectors. For those who prefer ‘non-going-outside’ work (i.e. working from their laptop or smartphone), there are many available freelance/gig economy platforms, ranging from the less technical (GoGet, Supahands), to more skilled work (Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer).

The existence of the gig economy means that for every hour that you are not ‘working as an employee”, you can technically still earn money for your time by putting those hours into an on-demand platform.

If you’re renting, keep in mind that your landlord may be an individual or a company which is (or should be) eligible for the same 6-month bank loan moratorium as everyone else, meaning they should be in a (financial) position to accept similar level of deferments on your own rental payments to them.

If you have schoolgoing children, my best guess is schools are unlikely to open till after the mid-year of 2020. Perhaps a sensible reduction (to reflect the lowered costs of running a school/centre with no students in attendance) of fees are in order. 

The list can go on and on, but as long as we keep in mind what the situation of the other party with whom you’re negotiating with, and the specific circumstances, there may be some sort of new arrangement that can be agreed.

Most of our regular readers will know that I usually go last to this, as I feel that Malaysians should save as much money as possible without changing how we live our lives (i.e., the “easy savings” before the more difficult ones). Having said that, in this case, our post Covid-19 lives have changed regardless of whether we wanted it to or not.

Households with a 10% of income “travel budget” or a RM200 per weekend “going/dining out” budget will now see that automatically “saved” for them. Groceries and electricity bills may need a rebudgeting in a “stay at home most of the time” world. You may already notice that you’re spending more in certain categories, and considerably less in others. Use this time to balance your books – especially if you are also going through reduced salaries.

If you have done steps 1-5 but still need some extra cash for 3-6 months, it’s time to take advantage of financial instruments at your disposal.Don’t just rack up 18% p.a. debt on your credit card by only paying the minimum due. If you must borrow, do it as cheaply and as flexibly as possible. Cheaply meaning lower interest rates, and flexibly meaning short tenures and no repayment fees.

Here’s what I recommend:
(a) If you’re making a large purchase upfront either because of an emergency or needing to invest in something (like a car or a business purchase) to make an income, why not make it using 0% easy payment plans (EPP) where available? These are usually really 0% p.a. (with no added nor hidden fees), and they do exist (either as seasonal promotions or sometimes bundled as part of a card’s feature).

(b) Spend to your budget and use a balance transfer for 6-12 months to buy some time for repayment. All banks in Malaysia offer balance transfers with fees under effectively 3% p.a., making it one of the cheapest forms of short term borrowing. Like (a) above, you can also find 0% BTs occasionally offered by banks. Be sure to ask, as they sometimes are not advertised.

(c) Only after you’ve exhausted the relatively low-cost options of (a) and (b) should you then consider Personal Loans/Financing (at 5-10% p.a. flat or 9-18% p.a. effective). Not much to add here, except go for the lowest effective rates, but keep in mind not all banks can process you online (and you may not want to walk into a bank branch for the next few months).