The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, presented the Union Budget 2020 in the parliament yesterday. In this post, let’s look at the highlights of the Budget proposal. We will look at the proposals from personal taxation perspective only. #1 Restructuring of Income Tax Slabs, Lowering of Personal Tax Rates and a Choice There is a major… Continue Reading
Credit card have a closer cousin, Charge Cards. Charge cards are not very common. As I understand, only American Express offers charge cards in India. To add to the confusion, American Express offers credit cards too. With respect to the usage, there is little to differentiate between a credit card and a charge card. You… Continue Reading
Online frauds are on the rise. Almost on a weekly basis, I hear new ways of customers being duped of their hard-earned money. Of late, the UPI frauds have been on the rise, where the fraudsters call/text you on one pretext or the other. You eventually end up installing malicious software on your phone or… Continue Reading
Who does not like to get things for free? Credit card reward points is a case in point. Many of us accumulate huge reward point balances either due to inertia or wait to use those points in the best possible manner. If you belong to the this category of card holders, you need to appreciate… Continue Reading
In an earlier post, we had discussed a quick and cheap way to get a loan, Loan against your PPF account. Even though the loan window is open for only a short period and the loan amount is not likely to be very big, a PPF loan is an option if you are looking for… Continue Reading
ICICI Bank has recently launched a car loan product ”Smart EMI” in association with TranzLease (TZL), an automobile leasing company. The loan facility is currently available for corporate and salaried customers. The Smart EMI car loan takes care of the insurance and maintenance of the car too. i.e., you do not have to pay anything… Continue Reading
You invest Rs 1 lacs per annum for 10 years. You would get Rs 2 lacs for 10 years from the end of the 11th year. Is this a good investment or a bad investment? I advise many investors on their portfolios. Many of them have purchased poor investment products but they are still happy… Continue Reading
Should you stay on rent or buy a house on loan? Many of us think of house rent as a waste of money. A common refrain is, “You are already paying so much rent. Why not adding some money and pay the EMI? After a few years, you will also own this house.” In my… Continue Reading
I came across an interesting case in a business daily a few weeks back. A consumer forum bench directed ICICI Bank to pay Rs 55,000 to a borrower. Here is how this happened. The borrower signed up for a home loan of Rs 30 lacs for 10 years from ICICI Bank in 2006. The loan… Continue Reading
You are struggling with your loans and credit card debt. And you don’t have just one loan. You have quite a few. Your cashflows don’t permit you to attack all of them at once. At the same time, you don’t want to let your cashflows affect your credit score in a big way. To put… Continue Reading