ICICI Bank has launched an EMI facility for UPI payments under its ICICI PayLater product. With this, you can scan a UPI QR code from the UPI app and purchase using an instant EMI facility. So, you purchase an item worth Rs 15,000 and instantly convert this into 3 EMIs of say Rs 5,200 each.… Continue Reading
How do you make UPI payments? 3 broad ways. Link bank account to a UPI app: Your account gets debited, and the merchant/peer account gets credited. You can only spend the money in your account. Link RuPay credit card to a UPI app: Not Visa, not Mastercard. Only Rupay card. You get credit for UPI… Continue Reading
RBI has increased repo rate from 4% p.a. to 6.5% p.a. since May 2023. If your home loan is benchmarked to RBI Repo rate, that means a hike of 2.5% in your home loan interest rate. Impact of Interest Rate Hike on Your Loan Tenure Usually, the default option in case of interest rate hike… Continue Reading
We know about ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ (BNPL). We know about platforms that allow us to pay rent using a credit card. If we combine these two products, a resulting permutation could be ‘Rent Now, Pay Later’ (RNPL). Transfer Rent on credit. And credit comes through a loan and not a credit card. Such a… Continue Reading
If you invest in debt mutual funds, the recent developments in late March 2023 would have come as a shock to you, even requiring you to relook at your financial plan. What Has Changed? The taxation of debt mutual funds will change, starting April 1, 2023. For the debt mutual fund investments made until March… Continue Reading
While trying to figure out a good home loan product for a client, I stumbled upon these revised interest rates on SBI home loan website. You can read the SBI campaign offer document here. There are a few points that stand out in this interest rate chart. #1 SBI Has Reduced Home Loan Interest Rate… Continue Reading
This may sound strange, but this may indeed be true for many taxpayers. Why? Because the Union Budget 2023 has incentivized the New Tax regime in a big way by reducing the tax rates in the various income slabs. And the New Tax regime does NOT give you any tax benefits for tax-saving investments. No… Continue Reading
Online and digital payments have become increasingly popular in India with the rise of credit cards, debit cards, and UPI. UPI has revolutionized payments in the country and has surpassed credit and debit cards in popularity due to its ease and convenience. To protect yourself, it is important to take steps to secure both your… Continue Reading
With loans, the compounding works in the reverse. If you miss an EMI installment, the overdue amount (which includes the principal) gets added to the principal. And you must pay interest on the overdue interest too. Interest on interest. Sounds like compounding, doesn’t it? Just that it is now working against you. After you default… Continue Reading
The Budget 2023 made multiple announcements that had a direct impact on the middle-class taxpayers. While the most prominent was about the fresh incentives for the New Tax regime, there were quite a few other small yet important takeaways from the budget. One such takeaway was in the form of clarification about disallowing double deduction… Continue Reading