Published
Headline inflation in Malaysia is around 1.6%, but the financial services category jumped 5.5% in the latest CPI. Insurance, takaful and bank fees are quietly eating disposable income, which makes 18%-APR credit-card debt the most expensive thing you carry. Here's how to attack it.
18% APR
Typical Malaysian credit-card interest rate
Compare: 4.5% car loan, 4% home loan, 6% personal loan
Headline CPI says inflation is calm. But the cost of financial services rose 5.5% in the latest reading. Insurance premiums, takaful, bank fees — the things that come out monthly whether you like it or not. Less disposable income to throw at debt makes the highest-APR debt disproportionately painful. That's almost always your credit card.
Credit cards, BNPL, personal loans, car loan, home loan. Write the APR next to each. If a debt has no published APR (some BNPL), estimate from the late-fee structure (a 5% per missed instalment fee implies high APR).
Highest APR at the top. That's almost always a credit card at 17-18%, then maybe a BNPL late on payment, then personal loans.
Throw every spare ringgit at the highest APR. Once it's done, the whole payment (minimum + extra) rolls forward to the next debt on the list.
Snowball (smallest balance first)
Avalanche (highest APR first)
26 months
To clear RM 18,500 across two cards + a BNPL with RM 800/month extra
vs ~50 months on minimums alone, saving roughly RM 4,200 in interest
Setup: RM 8,500 on Card A (18% APR, RM 255 minimum), RM 7,500 on Card B (17% APR, RM 225 minimum), RM 2,500 on BNPL (effectively ~24% APR with late fees).
Avalanche order: BNPL first (~24%), then Card A (18%), then Card B (17%). Pay the minimum on Card A and Card B; everything spare goes to BNPL until it's done. Once BNPL is gone, that whole payment plus extra rolls to Card A. Same when Card A is done.
Result: roughly 26 months to debt-free instead of ~50 on minimums. Interest saved: about RM 4,200.
Open the Debts tab. Add each card and BNPL with its current balance, APR, and minimum payment. Tag the kind (standard / installment).
Open Settings → enter how much extra you can put toward debt every month. Duitful uses this in the avalanche planner.
The planner sorts your debts by APR, shows your debt-free date, and computes total interest saved vs paying minimums only. Worth screenshotting for motivation.
Each debt payment is a daily-debt entry in Duitful tagged to the specific debt. The balance updates automatically and Reports filters by which debt you're attacking each month.
A balance transfer or a personal loan at 7-9% can wipe out 18% credit-card debt overnight if you qualify. That's the strictly-better move when available. The avalanche method works whether you consolidate or not — same logic, just applied to fewer remaining debts.
Behavioural wins matter. If staying motivated is the actual bottleneck, snowball wins. If you're disciplined, avalanche wins on pure math. You can mix: clear one small balance for the morale boost, then switch to avalanche.
Home loans are typically 4-5% APR. Almost never the right thing to attack first. Pay the minimum, attack credit cards and BNPL, come back to the mortgage when the high-APR stack is gone.
Yes, when used right. Move the high-APR balance onto the 0% card, set a calendar reminder for the promo end date, and aim to clear it before the rate jumps. If you don't, you're back where you started — sometimes worse if the post-promo APR is punishing.
Add each debt with its APR and minimum payment in Duitful. Set how much extra you can put toward debt monthly. The planner sorts by APR, shows your debt-free date, and tells you exactly how much interest you save vs paying minimums only.
Open Duitful →