Video lesson & practical guide
Find what is making the month feel tight
Separate usable income, debt payments and living costs. Find whether the pressure is timing, temporary commitments or a recurring gap.
Use this without replaying the video
- Use money actually reaching your account for this household worksheet. Do not deduct payroll repayments again if already removed.
- Separate reliable income from commission, reimbursements, own transfers and borrowed money. Test a realistic low month.
- List payments still paid from that money, their due dates and end dates. Keep family support separate from debt.
- Allow for necessary living costs and a buffer. A debt ratio alone cannot show what is left for the household.
- If the month covers costs but dates clash, discuss arrangements with the provider. If the whole month is short, moving dates will not close the gap.
- Before consolidation, compare settlement quotes, fees, term and total repayment. Check what will stop the card balance building again.
Cash-flow worksheet
Use your own paper or print this guide. Keep personal figures off shared devices.
- Money reaching the account
- Low / ordinary / best month
- Payments still paid from that money
- Amount · due date · end date
- Living costs and buffer
- Essentials first
Video example: RM5,350 − RM3,922 − RM1,500 = −RM72. The problem is a recurring gap, not merely a due date. Its RM3,742 debt subtotal excludes RM180 family support.
The video mentions an older “Financial Snapshot” helper. For this version, use this cash-flow worksheet; Free Screening remains a separate estimate with its own stated assumptions. Household cash flow is not the Credit Review income basis or a provider DSR.
Open Free Screening separately ↗Read the full English transcript
Salary comes in, payments go out, and the month still feels tight.
Let's find the pressure before adding another payment.
You will learn which income pattern, payment date or recurring gap to check first.
Look at this household.
RM5,350 arrives after payroll deductions.
Scheduled payments take RM3,922.
That leaves RM1,428, but food, transport, utilities and the
children still need to be covered.
Their living-cost estimate is RM1,500, leaving a gap of RM72.
The useful finding is not the subtraction.
It is what was missing from the first picture.
Start with usable income, and check whether a repayment already deducted by payroll has been counted again.
If it has, reconcile it before drawing conclusions.
Now keep the payments exactly the same and change only the income month.
This person receives a fixed net amount of RM5,350, plus occasional variable earnings.
Across these six months, average income is RM5,750.
The best month reaches RM6,450.
Two months have no extra earnings at all.
A plan built around the best month can look comfortable while ordinary quieter months remain difficult.
If this were my position, I would test the payments against a realistic low month,
then see whether there is a buffer to carry me through.
I would also check what each irregular bank credit actually represents.
A reimbursement, a transfer between my own accounts,
or money borrowed is not automatically repeatable income.
For a business owner, sales received are not the same as income available after business costs.
Use several matching periods to understand the pattern.
The payment map includes housing, a vehicle, personal financing,
a card repayment plan, four buy-now-pay-later payments,
and a separate recurring family payment.
That last payment uses cash but is not a debt instalment.
Each row needs an amount, a due date and, where there is one, an end date.
The four smaller plans total RM442.
They finish at different times.
With no new plans added, that group falls to RM367,
then RM247, then zero after the third month.
That changes the advice.
Temporary pressure deserves a dated plan; a lasting shortfall needs a different response.
The card's RM450 is this person's chosen repayment plan,
not a universal minimum or a promise the balance will clear.
Check the latest statement's required payment, the actual balance,
charges and new spending.
Get these details from the provider's current statement or payment schedule.
Do not infer a monthly payment from an outstanding balance alone.
A debt service ratio can describe how much of an income basis is going towards debt payments.
In this planning example, debt-plan payments are RM3,742 against net income of RM5,350.
The recurring family payment sits outside that debt bracket.
The ratio is about seventy percent, but the more useful household question is what
remains after living needs.
This family is still short by RM72 in the low month, before setting aside a buffer.
There is no pass line on this screen.
A provider can use different income recognition and card-payment assumptions;
its assessment is separate.
If someone quotes you a ratio, ask what income and payments went into it.
Then put your own necessary spending beside it.
Two households with the same ratio can have very different room to manage a new
payment because childcare, dependants, transport and other needs differ.
Next, distinguish two problems.
One is timing: money is available over the month, but arrives after a payment is due.
The other is a shortfall: the whole month still does not cover the outgoings.
Mark salary dates and due dates to see which you have.
Ask the provider about available arrangements if dates are a problem;
do not assume a due date can be changed or miss a payment while waiting.
In our low-income month, moving dates alone cannot remove the RM72 gap.
Now consider a card settled using a new facility.
If the same household gap continues and essentials go back onto the card,
the balance can rebuild beside the new instalment.
The screen shows that possibility, not a prediction about every customer.
Before choosing a settlement route, I would check what will change in the next month:
income, necessary spending, expiring commitments,
or the way the card is used.
Without that change, a one-off reset may leave the recurring pressure unresolved.
If this were my position, I would check three things first.
What income can I realistically rely on in a quieter month?
Which payments are temporary, and when do they actually finish?
Is the pressure caused by timing, or does a gap return even across the whole month?
Get payslips and explanations from payroll, bank credits from your bank,
and payment amounts and dates from current provider statements.
Where relevant, obtain your contribution record through the official EPF account.
Use the worksheet beside this lesson before entering figures into the Financial Snapshot.
The current screening tool uses its own stated card-payment proxy;
it is a separate estimate, not this household's exact budget.
If a question remains unclear, SunLiTe can discuss what to clarify and prepare.
You can complete these checks yourself before choosing a next step.