“I have never borrowed in my life. Hence, my credit score must be perfect. And the banks would line up to lend to me.” Quite the contrary. Firstly, no borrowing means no credit history. In absence of credit history, the banks will be in dark about your credit behaviour. They may not be comfortable lending… Continue Reading
Your bank calls you and offers to increase your credit card limit or upgrade you to a premium card. I am sure many of you have experienced this situation. A happy situation to be in. Usually, it is good to have a choice. Should you accept such an offer? Well, there is no black and… Continue Reading
The tax-saving season is round the corner. Are you still running around to finalize tax-saving investments? Well, there are so many ways to save tax. There is PPF, EPF, NPS, ELSS, LIC policies, ULIPs, 5-year FDs, life and health insurance plans, pension plans and many more. In this post, I do not intend to discuss… Continue Reading
You have taken a personal loan an year ago. Interest rates have moved down since and you can get a personal at a cheaper rate. Lower interest rate means lower EMI. Without any friction, you would move to the lower interest rate right away. i.e., take the new loan at a low rate and use… Continue Reading
The Reserve Bank of India has issued master directions for Digital Payment Security Controls in its circular dated Feb 18, 2021. Among other things, the intent is to provide greater security to customers in digital transactions (internet, mobile banking, card transactions etc). The rules come into force in July 2021. The directions apply to the… Continue Reading
Paytm has launched a feature where you can pay your house rent using your credit card. Usually, we pay house rent through cheques or direct bank transfers. No credit involved. The credit card feature is interesting. From Paytm’s perspective, this feature makes good sense. House rent payment is one of the biggest monthly recurring payments.… Continue Reading
IDFC First Bank is launching credit cards where the borrowers will have to pay only 9% p.a. as Annual percentage rate (APR) or the interest rate. This comes as a healthy surprise since we are used to 36%-40% p.a. APR on credit card debt. If you are new to this terminology, 36% p.a. APR means… Continue Reading
The Finance Minister presented the Union Budget 2021 on February 1, 2021. Here are the key highlights. Tax Slabs Remain Unchanged No changes have been made to the existing income tax slabs. Interest on EPF Becomes Taxable If you contribute more than Rs 2.5 lacs to your EPF account every year, the interest earned on… Continue Reading
You just got your annual bonus. You want to decide between whether to use the bonus to prepay the home loan. Or put this money away in a bank fixed deposit or any other investment. The approach is simple. If the post-tax cost of your loan is HIGHER than the post-tax return from the supposed… Continue Reading
Loan interest rates have been going down over the past 18 months. It is also evident in the examples that we use for various illustrations in our posts. Earlier, we used 9-10% p.a. for long term loans. Now, we use 7-8% p.a. in the illustrations. If you use Amazon or Flipkart, you would have noticed… Continue Reading