Dear readers, quite a few housing estates in Singapore are undergoing or have undergone Home Improvement Programme (HIP) works.
HIP works are targeted for older housing estates in Singapore and arising from these works, residents can look forward to improved amenities in their homes e.g. improved toilets and grip bars.
Based on my own experience, HIP works take about a month for each household. And HIP works are only deemed to be completed only after the works for the entire estate are completed.
After the completion of the HIP works, residents who have participated in the HIP will be billed for the portion of the works, that are not subsidised by the Government. There are mainly two options for payment of the HIP works: CPF or Cash.
It can be quite tempting for many to opt for CPF payment as one does not need to dip into one’s cash savings. However, like what I am about to share, given a choice, one should use Cash rather than CPF for payment of HIP.
This is because any CPF payment made for HIP will be treated just like the use of CPF monies for property-related payment and likewise, accrued interest will apply. That means to say, if one uses $1,000 CPF for the HIP, that $1,000 will form the baseline for the accrued interest and this interest will accrue until one pays off this principal amount of $1,000 and all the accrued interest with cash back to CPF.
That is why it is neater to just pay via cash for HIP cash: this method is neater and one pays exactly for the HIP quantum, no accrued interest will apply.