Access to Your Own Credit Report
Nov 8th
Did you apply for a loan but the bank turned it down without giving you sufficient details on why they turned down your application?
The Reserve Bank of India has been receiving a number of complaints, including under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, that customers are unable to get their own credit report from the banks. Continue reading “Access to Your Own Credit Report” »
14 tax-free incomes for FY 2009-10
Nov 7th
In a few months’ time the taxman will coming knocking on your door. However, he cannot tax you on the following 14 important items of income and receipts, as they are fully exempt from income tax and which a resident individual Indian assessee can use with profit for the purpose of tax planning.
Pay for withdrawals at other Bank ATMs
Oct 17th
Barely six months since the usage of other bank ATM’s was allowed for free — the rules have now changed.
Effective 15th October, 2009 customers will be allowed to withdraw a maximum of Rs. 10,000 per transaction from non Bank ATMs. What this means is, savings Account customers will be allowed 5 free cash withdrawals per month on non Bank ATMs. A charge of Rs. 20 per transaction will be levied for additional ATM cash withdrawal on non Bank ATMs beyond the first 5 transactions.
So its clear that as long as the end customer was paying the per transaction charges earlier the banks were happy — but once they had to start paying the fee from their own pocket to the other bank (whose ATM was used to withdraw cash) it had begun to pinch them hard.
Save entry load on SIPs
Aug 15th
Beginning August 1, 2009, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has said, there will be no entry load for any mutual fund scheme and the upfront commission to distributors will be paid directly by the investor.
Did you know you could be still paying an entry load even after Aug 1, 2009?
Here’s how — if you started investing via systematic investment planning (SIP) before Aug 1, 2009 then you will be paying the entry load on each SIP amount every month even AFTER Aug 1, 2009 till the term end of your SIP. Most funds deduct an entry load of 2.25% on each SIP installment. Continue reading “Save entry load on SIPs” »
ICICI Bank to recover credit card dues from salary account
Aug 2nd
In their constant pursuit of recovering dues from credit card customers, banks are empowering themselves with a tool that allows them to ask employers to deduct the outstanding amount from the salary. Employees who may have defaulted on payment, however, cannot object to this deduction of dues at source, according to the new clause introduced in the ‘terms and conditions’ by the country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank and expected to be adopted by others as well. Such deductions will be remitted to the bank and will continue till the entire dues are recovered. The deductions shall be of such amounts, and to such extent, as ICICI Bank may communicate to (and instruct) the card holder’s/card member’s employers,” says the revised terms and conditions of the bank.
Latest ATM substitute
Jul 31st
Although the Reserve Bank of India has allowed shops to act as ATMs, the people meant to serve as banks’ new touch points – the shopkeepers – will have to be convinced first.
On July 22, the Reserve Bank of India had issued a circular permitting cash withdrawals of up to Rs 1,000 per day from point-of-sales (PoS) terminals at merchant establishments. PoS terminals are machines where customers can swipe their credit or debit cards to pay for purchases. Says Jayesh Sangoi, a Mumbai-based clothes’ retailer, “Already, there have been many cases of credit fraud. What happens if a customers just walks in with a fake card, and leaves with cash?
Read more here
Know your challan status via SMS
Jun 21st
photo by Erik Schlange
National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) has launched a Short Message Service (SMS) based facility to know the status of challans. The procedure for availing this facility is as under:
1. The tax payer can send an SMS to 575758 with a message containing the word CSI followed by a space and CIN provided by the respective Bank at the time of making the Direct tax payment.
2. The CIN should be separated by comma (,).
3. Challan Identification Number (CIN ) consists of details such as BSR Code of Collecting Branch (seven digit) , Challan Tender Date (DDMMYYYY) and Challan Serial No (length less than or equal to 5 digit) and Amount. Continue reading “Know your challan status via SMS” »
9 tips on how to select a fund
Jun 6th
photo by seven_null7
1. Don’t just blindly buy what the financial advisor sells you. See if the stocks the suggested fund invests in are relevant and missing from your portfolio.
2. When a scheme’s return have run up too fast, it’s time to exit and not enter a scheme.
3. You don’t have to invest in a hot-selling fund just because a colleague is investing in it. Maybe it’s too hot to handle. Continue reading “9 tips on how to select a fund” »
