Many of us have grown so fond of rewards points that we even want to make our investments through credit cards. Sounds good, right? It is like having a cake and eating it too. Many times, I hear this question (investment through credit card) at the end of the financial year when many of us… Continue Reading
I do not think there will ever be a crisp answer to this question. First, when the “right property” comes along, you will convince yourself to stretch your budget and go for a larger home loan. So, all the calculations and discussion on this topic may be futile to some extent. Well, nothing wrong in… Continue Reading
Refinancing a loan simply means availing a loan from a new lender to pay off an existing one. You approach a new lender for loan refinancing/balance transfer. The new lender sanctions the loan and settles your loan outstanding with the existing lender. Subsequently, your obligation with the existing lender terminates and a new repayment obligation… Continue Reading
You may be really excited to have negotiated a good interest rate for your loan with a bank. However, is the interest rate the only aspect in determining your cost of loan? What about the ancillary charges? Such charges also affect the cost of your loan, don’t they? [pullquote] FACTORS IMPACTING OVERALL COST OF LOAN… Continue Reading
[pullquote]A floating rate loan is offered at a spread over the benchmark. MCLR and Base Rate are benchmarks. Loan is given at MCLR (or Base Rate) + Spread.[/pullquote] I have discussed the question of whether you should switch your home loan from Base Rate to MCLR in an earlier post. Most of us focus only… Continue Reading
Most salaried employees get their annual bonuses in the first quarter of the financial year. Many of us plan to spend it way before we actually receive the bonus. You have to keep up with the commitments that you made to your kids, your spouse, your siblings or your parents. You may have an eye on… Continue Reading
When you walk into a shopping mall, you will be flooded with credit card sales people offering co-branded cards with your favorite store. A co-branded card offers you special deals in the store. One bank offers a co-branded card in a tie-up with Big Bazaar while another offers in Lifestyle stores. And it does not end… Continue Reading
In our parents’ generation, many had to wait almost till retirement to own a house. Now, with rising salaries and easy availability of home loans, you do not need to wait till your late 40s and 50s to purchase a house. Many want to take it to the other extreme and want to purchase a… Continue Reading
Your close friend has been planning to buy a house for a long time. However, when he approached the bank to apply for a home loan, bank insisted to getting someone to sign as a guarantor for the loan. Lenders can ask for a financial guarantor if the credit history is weak or repayment ability of… Continue Reading
Whenever I write about credit cards, I focus mostly on things that can go wrong when you use credit cards indiscriminately. You may end up spending more than you can afford to. The debt can suddenly pile up if you don’t pay bills on time as the interest rate charged is exorbitant. In this post,… Continue Reading