He's earning 80K a year as a self employed and minimal CPF contribution.
In effect, his loan quantum would be conservatively calculated using an "After employee CPF" of his gross salary, so quite surprised that he qualified and got the size of the loan he asked for initially ($330,000).
Commercial banks, even with lower lending rates, are even more fussy with the documents needed from self employed, ESPECIALLY sole proprietorships.
The fact that he had to submit HLE documents again and was granted a lower loan despite HDB/CPF interest rates having unchanged, it can only mean his financial circumstances would have changed between his 2009 and (in video) 2010 assessment.
Too bad for him, had he restructured his business as a Pte Ltd and with a bit of help from an accountant, he would have be able to present a clear picture of the state of his finances and sailed through all these.
Can't blame HDB, better that they sold the flat to another Singaporean who could prove that they could afford it than to sell it to someone who could be a higher default risk.
I feel sad for him but, If want to blame, then blame the entire banking system for not exposing themselves to sub-prime borrowers like him.
