10 minutes video guide to check your FREE Credit Report & Score

Posted on March 27, 2017November 19, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

Do you know that every person is entitled to 1 free credit report and score each year from each of the credit bureaus in India? There is 4 credit bureau in India which are CIBIL, Experian, Equifax and Highmark.

As per RBI guidelines, now each of them have to provide one free report each year. For those of you who do not know, a credit report is a document that has all your past loan repayment history and a score that tells a lender if you should be given any loan or not.

So each lender checks these reports and scores as part of their loan approval process. It’s very important for investors to keep track of their credit scores from time to time.

How to get free credit report and score in India each year

Step by Step Process to Check FREE Score online

So today I am going to share the process of getting the free report and score online from each CIBIL Transunion, Experian, Equifax, and Highmark credit bureau. I have personally checked my own score + report from each credit bureau and I will teach you the step by step process of how you can do it too. The whole process is online and you do not have to fill any form by hand or send any documents anywhere.

Note that your credit report will be available only if you have taken some kind of loan or credit card. So if you do not have any kind of loan, you will most probably not have it, unless someone has misused your documents and applied for some loan.

So let’s start with CIBIL first.

How to check the FREE CIBIL report and Score?

In order to check your free CIBIL Transunion report and score, you need to follow below steps –

Go to https://www.cibil.com/freecibilscore
On that page, click on the link which asks you to apply for a free report
Enter your basic details like name, address, PAN etc and submit
Enter more details on the next page which asks you detailed information
Once you fill the details, CIBIL will send you a temporary password on email
Then go to https://www.cibil.com/mycibil/ and sign in with your temporary password
Change the password mycibilpage and relogin with the new password
Now on this page, you need to verify your details like loans and amounts
If everything is correct, then you will be taken to a page which shows you FREE Report

Note that you should watch the video above to exactly understand the steps required to check your report.

How to Check FREE Experian Report and Score each year?

In order to check your free Experian report and score, you need to follow below steps –

Go to http://www.experian.in/index.html
On the right bottom sidebar, you will see a link for free score and report, click on that
It will take you to http://www.experian.in/consumer/experian-free-credit-report.html
Enter your basic details like Name, Email, and Phone and submit
You will get a voucher code in your email using which you can get a free report
Go to https://consumer.experian.in/ECV/content/landingPageSubmit.action
Enter your current details like Identity Details, Contact details etc and continue to step 2
Confirm your email on next page, and then go to your email to click on a link inside for email verification
On the page, enter your voucher number and move ahead
You will then be asked for some verification questions related to your debt.
Once you answer them correctly, you will be taken to your free report

How to Check FREE Equifax Credit Report and Score?

Here are the steps to check your free Equifax report and score

Download the Equifax India mobile app (android or iOS)
Register your email and get temporary PIN number
Enter a temporary PIN and reset a new PIN and then log in to the App
Enter your Name, Phone, Date of Birth and Adhaar Card
An OTP will come to your phone number which is linked to adhaar card
After OTP verification, your KYC check will be complete
On the app, click on the link “Credit Report”
On the page, click on the link “Request Free Credit Report”
Enter all your details and then click on Submit
Now your “Knowledge-based Assessment” will be in the pending stage.
After 24 hours, your knowledge-based assessment will get generated.
Click on the app, and click on the link which says “Knowledge-based assessment”
Give correct answers to the questions asked, after which your credit report will be in the “Initiated” stage
After 24-48 hours, you will get an email with the free credit report as an attachment
Download the attachment and have a look at your report and score.
You can also login to the app and check your report there

For those, who do not have mobile linked with adhaar, they can send their KYC documents along with a filled form to Equifax customer care, and on verification, they will get their free report in 48 hours

How to Check FREE Highmark Credit Report and Score?

Here are the steps to check your free Highmark credit report

Go to https://cir.crifhighmark.com
Register as a new user and set your new password
Activate your account by clicking on the link inside the email
Again login and choose an option to get a free report on the top of the page
Enter all your details and click submit
You will get a notification that inquiry was successful and now wait for the email
After a few hours, you will get an authentication email
Click on the link and verify some of the information asked on the page
On successful verification, you will get an email with PDF attachment after 48 hours
Open you free Highmark report and check it

I hope the above videos must have given a good clarity on what needs to be done to check your report online, totally free of cost.

Why you should check your report every year?

A credit report is fast becoming a very integral part of the credit system in India from the last few years (it’s already is). It’s highly recommended to have a clean record and a fairly good credit score if you don’t want to get rejected for your future loan applications.

Now with one free report from every credit bureau, everyone should check theirs from each company and make sure that all the credit remakes and details like name, age, score, and other details are correct. If you find any problems, immediately raise a dispute with the lender and the credit bureau and start fixing it.

PRO Tip – Subscribe to each report with the gap of 90 days

One of our readers Krishna mentioned a wonderful trip

Don’t subscribe all 4 reports at the same time. Time them one per quarter so you can monitor your credit report for any frauds frequently instead of once every year.

So the point is that if you divide your free reports checks every 90 days, you will be able to find out if there were any frauds happening throughout the whole year. However, if you just apply for all the reports in a single month, then you will be able to apply them only next year.

Let me know if you face any issues while checking your free report

17 secret tips to book cheap flight tickets in India – Save 20% or more

Posted on February 17, 2017November 19, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

Today I am going to share 17 amazing tips you can use to book cheap flight tickets in India. Many of the tips I will be sharing would be already known to many people, but some tips might be new or unexplored by many.

While you might not get very big discounts using these tips, still you will be able to benefit some margin.

Make sure you read all the tips mentioned below, as some people might feel that they already know most of them so it makes no sense to look at all. I myself got to know 2-3 new things while writing this article.

#1 – Use the special debit and credit card offers

I personally never give a lot of thought to this tip earlier. I mostly used the coupons and codes mentioned on the social media or coupon sites, but there are various special offers designed especially for the debit card and credit cardholders only.

For example, if you have Kotak bank card, you should search for “Kotak offers flight tickets” on Google and you will surely get some page on the Kotak website or flight booking websites which will give you some special codes for getting additional discount.

When I went to that page on Yatra, it shows me various offers.

If you look at the offers above, you can see that ICICI bank offer for yatra website is there with code YTICICI17, but it’s only applicable for the flight before 31st Mar and the airfare should be minimum Rs 3,500.

So I found a flight from Kolkata to Ahmedabad for 15th March and applied the coupon code and it showed me Rs 500 instant discount (It was a real discount, not cashback)

So whatever is your bank name, just search for “bank name + flight discounts code” and you will surely get some offer page.

You may also want to explore the special credit cards which are launched in association with the airlines (like The Jet Airways American Express card) which earns you JPMiles or frequent flyer miles.

#2 – Use the wallet cash to get a further discount

I think goibibo started this and became hugely successful due to this factor. It’s one of the most trusted ways to get further discounts on flights/hotels and other bookings.

All the websites like MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, yatra have this concept of virtual wallets and you get some cash backs in this wallet which can be partially used while making the payments.

Goibibo calls it as goCash, Yatra has eCash and Makemytrip simply calls it as Wallet money. I have been an extensive user of Goibibo and no matter how great other websites offers were, after applying goCash, I always got the best price at Goibibo.

However now I get some great offers at MakeMyTrip compared to Goibibo (maybe because they are now merged).

This virtual cashback can also be used for booking hotels and you keep getting this virtual cash with most of your booking. You can also get Rs 3,000 worth of goCash by downloading goibibo App from this link

My teammate Kunal uses ixigo app, and the best part about it is that they offer the cashback directly into citrus account which can also be taken back in your bank account, so it’s a real cashback in that sense.

#3 – Book within 30-90 days in advance

Expedia did a very interesting study and found out that on an average the lowest flight tickets sold was 57 days in advance. They studied various domestic flights prices and saw the trend and found out that booking a flight very early is not always the best option. There is enough time left to fill the seats so airlines are not desperate to grab more and more customers at cheap prices.

As per their study, the prices were moderate in the start, and kept on declining and somewhere around 50-60 days before the departure date, the prices started rising and then shot up during the last 2-3 weeks.

They found out that the average ticket price was $496, while the cheapest one was at $401 and that was sold around 57 days in advance.

Now, this is not a study based in India and things are different here. Also, we know that this is just the average of 100’s of data, the conclusion here is that you should neither buy the airlines tickets very early like 5-6 months (not applicable for international flights) nor too late. Ideally, if you buy it in the window of 30-90 days in advance, you should always great a very good deal.

However, this is not true for festival times and some destinations which see a rush in some particular season. Here a small infographic on this topic.

#4 – Take flights at odd hours

If you are ok travelling very late at night, then you can get a low price on flights. But this might not work when you are travelling with family or when you need to reach your destination at a particular time (like for some meeting or a seminar etc)

However, people travelling solo who do not have a fixed time to reach can explore this option.

I travel from Pune to Ahmedabad many times a year and I like to take late-night flights as they are comfortable for me and I also don’t have to face traffic 🙂 and mostly they are very cheap. Check the snapshot below

I think the simple reason for this might be that many people do not want to reach their destinations by 1 or 2 in night and hence avoid flights at night, which means there is less demand for flights at night.

But you will not get a cheap flight if you are booking it at the last minute.

#5 – Try flexible dates

If you do not have rigid plans, you can surely look at dates which are either 1 or 2 days earlier or later than your planned date. Often, you will find out that many times you might get a cheaper option on a different date very close to your planned date.

A quick way to find this out is to the first search for your flight for the date you have planned for, and then when you try to edit the date, it will show you the calendar with the prices for various dates.

Above you can see how the flight ticket for Pune to Delhi for 10th Mar shows the price as Rs 4930, but the price just 3 days before that and 2 days later is Rs 2402, which is almost 50% less.

According to many international studies on airlines prices, it’s concluded that the cheapest dates to fly are Tuesday and Wednesday, as they are weekdays and the traffic is less. So keep that in mind while travelling.

#6 – Use mobile apps for booking

If you are still using the web browser for booking fights, you are missing some awesome offers provided by various websites. From time to time websites offers some discount codes (not cash back) which will reduce your fights prices by around 5-10% at least.

I recently booked a flight from Pune to Dehradun on MakeMyTrip mobile app and used a coupon code FLTAGAIN which reduced the flight price by Rs 800. This coupon was only valid for mobile app and only for those who got the offer on email.

It surely compensated for all the convenience charges and the travel insurance charges. Here is the snapshot of the offer taken from my mobile

Here are the benefits you generally get when you book your flights from mobile apps

You generally get more reward points (cashback points)
You get exclusive discount/cashback offers
Airlines mobile apps also provide good discount on meals booking

#7 – Make payments by Wallets

Do you know that you can get some additional cashback when you pay from wallets like Mobikwik, paytm, freecharge, payumoney?

Yes, that’s true.

Below is an example of free charge offering 10% cashback on the base fare of jet airways flights. If you book the flight on the app or website of jet airways and make the payment using the free charge wallet, you will get the cashback provided all the terms and conditions are met.

Almost all kind of wallet companies have a dedicated page for these kinds of offers and it will share various deals for hotel booking, bus booking, flights etc..

Like Mobikwik has a dedicated offers page, and I can see that it shows a deal where you get Rs 200 cashback if you book a flight on MakeMyTrip. This is above and over the other discounts and cashback.

#8 – Book two single flights from different providers

If you want to go a little extra mile and are ready to spend your “valuable” time then you can also explore booking two single flights instead of a return flight or connecting flight and maximize the cashback and discounts.

So if you are planning to go from point A -> point B and also returning back, then instead of booking A-> B return flight form a single website, you can book A->B flight from one website (and use their cashback and discounts) and book B->A from another website (use their cashback and discount offers)

While this may not give you a better deal all the times, it’s a good idea to explore especially when you are booking tickets for a higher value or international flights.

Here is an example

Imagine if a website is giving a 10% discount on tickets above Rs 5,000, with a maximum cashback of Rs 500. So if you book your return flight and total charges would be Rs 10,000, but you will get the maximum discount of Rs 500 only.

Instead of that you can book a one-way flight from one website and get Rs 500 discount and the same way you can get Rs 500 discount for other flight on another website.

The only problem in this is that you will have to enter all your details two times instead of one and the same for making payments

#9 – Book directly from the airline’s website

If you are not getting any cashbacks or discounts on the intermediary websites like paytm, makemytrip, ixigo, Expedia, goibibo etc, then it’s a good idea to check the flight rates directly on the website of the airlines. Airlines pay some commission to the middleman websites and often the prices at the airlines are a little cheaper (not much, but a little).

So first you should filter and search for the appropriate flight best suited for your requirement and then note down the flight number and timing of the flight and then head over to the airline’s website and directly book the flight from there because you might end up saving few bucks there.

Why does this happen?

Because you will save on the convenience fees as the airline’s fees are lesser than what is charged by the intermediary websites.

To check this points, I searched for one way fare from Kolkata to Ahmedabad on 3rd Mar 2017 (around 3 pm) and I found out assuming no cashback and discounts are available, would the total amount payable (just before you make the payment) is lowest at the airline’s website?

I did flight comparison on Yatra.com, Makemytrip, Paytm and Indigo website and found out that the cheapest was indeed at the indigo website

#10 – Use incognito mode while “researching”

Most of the airlines now keep changing their flight ticket prices dynamically as per the demand and supply. This is called dynamic pricing.

So when you search for a particular flight on a particular day, and then keep researching about it for next 20-30 min, the airlines and the intermediary websites understand that there is a demand for a particular flight and if you spend too much time just researching, they know that your chances of buying a flight ticket are high now

And suddenly you will find that when you go to book the ticket, the prices go up dynamically ! . There are technical things like web cookies which track and remember what you are searching for, so as a precaution it helps if you use incognito mode while browsing.

Also, note that this might be more applicable when you are using the mobile apps for booking because the websites know who exactly is doing it (you register your email/phone in-app)

#11 – Use Student & Senior Citizen Discount if applicable

Some airlines allow students and senior citizens some basic discount on the base fare, it’s a small discount like 8-10%, but still saves you some money. If you are travelling with your children or parents, you might want to check if you can get some further discounts.

However, these discounts are applicable only on the airline’s websites. For example, Spicejet has an 8% discount on base fare for students. Here is a snapshot

Do read the terms and conditions for this student and senior citizen discount offers as they might not be applicable on some dates or routes.

#12 – Use hand-baggage-only fare tickets

If you are travelling solo and don’t have much luggage, choose the hand-baggage only option while choosing the flight. Airlines expenses increase if the flight is heavy and hence they give incentive to you if you carry less stuff

#13 – Check out for coupons and offers

Something which everyone can do is search for offers while booking for the flights. Almost all the times there are various websites which offer different types of discount or cashback for booking flights.

Sometimes you will find offers for booking both way flights, or for international flights and sometimes it’s based on the total ticket price (like “applicable only if tickets prices are above Rs 8,000”)

It never hurts to spend a few minutes to look at the offer pages of websites like Makemytrip, goibibo, Yatra, Cleartrip and other websites.

You can also try to search for flights coupons on various coupon websites. Make coupons website offer their own cashback to you additionally as they get some commission from the aggregator websites.

#14 – Put the alerts for price decline

Google Flights give you an option to track the prices of a particular flight and will email you from time to time when the prices change. So if you have a lot of time left and can wait for the booking, better wait and track the prices.

Just make sure that you should be clear when you will book the flights, else it might happen that you just keep prices to fall down and never book it and then pay a lot towards the end).

#15 – Subscribe to the Airfare Newsletter

Various airlines and intermediary sites keep sending various offers from time to time, you can subscribe to their newsletters if you don’t mind constant emails on offers. I will surely help someone who travels a lot.

#16 – Book now, Pay Later

Some websites like goibibo and Yatra have introduced options to book the flight without paying the money (it’s like blocking the seats). You can block it and pay it later after a few days.

So if you are not sure about your schedule or plans, just block the seats and pay when your plans are confirmed OR if you are not getting cheaper flights later:).

The cancellation and rescheduling charges are very high anyways.

#17 – Don’t be loyal to one website itself

If you are loyal to one website (intermediary) or an airline, then you might be missing some good offers from other websites. I know some people feel it’s not worthwhile to spend a lot of time trying to save few bucks, in which case it’s ok to be loyal, but otherwise, you can quickly surf 3-4 options and then choose the best option.

However … Here are the precautions

While I have talked about various things you can do to book the cheap flight tickets in India, there are a few points I want to make.

If you feel you are getting a good deal already, just try a bit to improve it and book it. Don’t get paranoid trying to bring the price down. While it’s great to get some discounts, you should check for yourself if it’s really worth your time.
If you like to eat every time you are on the plane (like me), it makes sense to prebook the meal, What you can get at Rs 300 in-flight without booking is available for Rs 250 or Rs 200 if you pre-book it. So if you are already clear that you will be eating, why not save that money.
If you are looking for cheap international flights, some of these points might not be applicable, but still, you should try most of these as it would be great to save money because of high prices for international flights to US and European countries.
Make sure you consider the full cost going from point A -> B. If you choose a cheaper ticket which has a 6 hours overlay in a city in between, please understand that you will also spend on food, lounge or some entertainment etc. It should not happen that to save Rs 200, you have spent Rs 500 in between. People don’t consider these points while searching for the cheap tickets
Also, consider your time worthwhile finding low-cost tickets. If your time is highly valuable and you can spend 2 hours in something valuable like writing a book, or solving some important thing worth something, then don’t waste your energy and time waiting for the connecting flight just because you are saving few hundred rupees

In the end, you want some more information on this topic, you can look at this infographic which will give you some more understanding about how airlines work and where they spend etc.

Let me know if I missed some points or some trick?

Duplicate UAN? Here is step by step process to solve it!

Posted on November 30, 2016February 6, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

Today we will talk about the issue of duplicate UAN, which has confused a lot of employees. A lot of people have contacted us that 2 UAN were generated for them by their past employer and current employer and now they have no idea what is to be done in this case.

duplicate uan

You can see following question which was posted by one of the reader of this blog.

Hello Manish,

I left my previous company on 1st April 2014 and joined new company on 7th April 2014. Now problem is I have been allotted UAN no. from both employer. I want to withdraw whole amount of EPF (Employees’ Provident Fund) of previous employer.

So kindly guide me what to do in this situation?

Why does multiple UAN get allotted?

UAN (Universal Account Number) as you all know, is a single unique number for each EPF member for all this EPF accounts under them. You can see the UAN as the folder (UAN) which has various files under it (EPF accounts)

Before we discuss how to solve the duplicate UAN problem, I want you to know how two UAN are generated and why does it happen?

Reason #1 – Not disclosing old UAN number

A lot of employees do not want to disclose about their past employment, hence they do not quote their old UAN number to new employer. In that case, the new employer will generate a fresh UAN for the employee. This is one of the reasons for having duplicate UAN number.

Reason #2 – Past employer did not furnish ‘the date of exit’ details in the ECR

ECR or Electronic Challan cum Return is an electronic return filed by employers to EPFO to submit your EPF payments and other things. In this, they mention “the date of exit” for those employees who have left the job. So incase due to some issue the employer does not mention this date of exit.

This is another reason why another UAN gets generated by new employer. I have no idea why that happens, but this is the reason which is mentioned by the EPFO in their recent circular which talks about the issue of multiple UAN allotment

duplicate uan issue

How to solve the two UAN problem?

Note that each person should have only one UAN number (like PAN), hence if you have multiple UAN, it’s not allowed and creates problem in the EPF system, because is no proper track. Hence, as soon as you come to know that there are multiple UAN assigned to you, you should cancel one of the UAN (mostly the old UAN) or should try to deactivate one of them

Process to deactivate old UAN

Step #1 – The first step if that you should start the EPF transfer for all the EPF’s which are not under the latest UAN generated. This can be done using the OTCP portal of EPFO . I am not going in details here, but first you need to make sure all the old EPF’s are transferred and linked to the new UAN.

Step #2 – In the next step, the EPFO system will automatically identify those UAN for which the EPF transfers have happened and completed. Once they find the idle UAN, they will automatically deactivate that UAN. You don’t have to do anything here. This deactivation process will take place from time to time as per decision taken by EPFO. Once the deactivation happens, your old member id (your old EPF accounts) will be linked to new UAN.

So, from your side all you need to make sure is that all your old EPF’s are transferred to the recent EPF account.

How to solve two UAN problem

If you are already sure that your past UAN does not have the EPF linked to them, then you can mail your old UAN number along with recent UAN to your employer and to [email protected] . They will verify your UAN’s status and deactivate the old UAN.

Let us know if you have more clarity on this subject or if you have already completed the process for the benefit of other readers.

How to withdraw your PPF account money anywhere in India? Here is the Process

Posted on September 26, 2016November 14, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

Today I am going to share very interesting and rare information related to PPF with you all.

Have you ever wondered how can one withdraw their PPF money without visiting the base branch (from where PPF was opened)? A lot of people open PPF account in one city and then move to another city. It’s really a headache to travel to another city just for the sake of closing the PPF account or withdrawing the money either at maturity or partially.

withdraw ppf from any branch

I tried to see if this is a problem that PPF holders face, and I found that a lot of people search for “Can I withdraw PPF from any SBI branch”? This means that this is widespread query and I decided to write on this.

There are many articles and people on internet who will tell you that you need to visit the base branch only to withdraw or close your PPF account, but recently I figured out that its not true and there is a process using which you can close or withdraw PPF money from any city without visiting the base branch where you opened the PPF account.

Here is one reference of a query like that on Yahoo answers

I want to share with you today that its a big myth and its actually POSSIBLE.

A few days back, I got in touch with Priyesh Sampat, Legacy & Succession Counsellor from Mumbai, who has handled hundreds of PPF related cases in the past. He shared with me how is it possible to withdraw money from the PPF account without visiting the original branch and he has seen it work in real life for his old clients.

He was very helpful and shared many insights and his experience on this topic. I thank him for that.

Steps to withdraw from your PPF account from a different city

Before I share the steps for PPF withdrawal from a different city, I want to mention that the steps below are applicable when you have your PPF account with SBI or some other public bank like PNB, Vijaya Bank, etc.

The steps below will not work in case you have PPF with Post office, in which case you first have to transfer your PPF from post office to SBI bank and then you can take the following steps.

Step #1 – Arrange your KYC documents

The first step is to make sure you arrange all your KYC documents like

Form C – For PPF withdrawal
Canceled Cheque – The account in which you want to money to be credited
Your Identity & Address Proof
Your PPF passbook (in case it is available with you)

Do not sign these documents at the moment, because these need to be signed in the presence of the bank officials. You can download PPF form C here

Step #2 – Go to a local branch of the bank

The next step is to visit the local bank branch of the city where you reside or are present and talk to the staff there. Tell them that you want to withdraw your PPF, but it’s base branch is in some other city, so you want them to attest the documents.

They will ask you to sign on the documents in your presence and might also put their signature or seal on the documents confirming that your attestation is complete. Also, request the attesting banker to mention his/her name and signature code issued by RBI. This makes the attestation complete in all regards.

Step #3 – Send documents to Main Branch using Speed/Registered post

Once the bank staff completes your verification and attestation, it might happen that they keep the documents and tell you that they will themselves send the documents to the main branch, in which case take an acknowledgement from them which has their signature and seal, so that you have the proof that you gave the documents to local branch.

Otherwise, you yourself will have to send the documents to the base branch where you opened your PPF account by speed post or registered post.

It’s important that you use a speed/registered post so that you have confirmation when the documents are delivered. Also as post office is a govt organization, you have all the records and you can also find out information using RTI later.

Step #4 – Get PPF money credited in your account by NEFT/RTGS

Once the original branch gets your documents, they will process them and credit back your PPF maturity amount by NEFT/RTGS.

In earlier days the banks used to hand over the Pay orders or DD which was supposed to be received by a person, but now with NEFT/RTGS facility the money is transferred electronically.

So the process for PPF withdrawal is very simple as explained above, but let us see some finer details or cases now

Can I use the same process mentioned above in case of partial withdrawal?

The answer is YES. The above process is not just for the PPF withdrawal at maturity, but even in case of partial PPF withdrawal after completion of 7 yrs.

I have PPF in Post office, how can I withdraw?

As I mentioned above, the above process will work only in case you have your PPF with a PSU bank, so the first step is to transfer your PPF account from Post office to the PSU bank. The steps are already mentioned in this article. Read the comments where many people have shared how they successfully transferred their PPF accounts to PSU banks.

I am an NRI, how can I withdraw my PPF account from outside India?

If you are an NRI, first thing you should know that that you cannot extend your PPF account after it matures in 15 yrs period. I am sure most of the NRI’s keep travelling to India every year or once in a while if not every year. So whenever you visit India next time, you can follow the same process which is given above.

However, if you still want to try withdrawing your PPF from abroad, let me share you the process which is not guaranteed to work always, but it’s already tried by Priyesh on one of her NRI clients and it worked for them.

The process for PPF withdrawal by NRI

Basically the PSU bank can only process your PPF withdrawal request if your signature is attested by an authority, which can be the PSU bank itself (which will need your presence) or some other authority.

If an NRI has an NRE/NRO account in a bank (a good bank balance or relationship with a bank will be a plus), then they can follow this process

Courier the documents to India in the city where you have the NRE/NRO account. Make sure you send these documents to a person (relative, parents, siblings etc or friends)
Give an authority letter mentioning that you are allowing the person to follow this process on your behalf
Ask the person to go to the bank where you have NRE/NRO account and ask them to attest these documents (mainly the signature part) . At this step you can expect the friction, because this is not a standard process.
Once the attestation is done, then you can ask your person to visit the PSU bank for PPF withdrawal and they might accept these documents which are attested by your bank.

Note that Priyesh has done the same steps for one of her NRI client and it worked because the NRI was giving a very good premium each year to the bank and bank was more than happy to “help” the client 🙂

Why can’t you withdraw PPF from any branch?

Truly speaking I have no answer for that.

I know that with the advancement of technology, the PPF withdrawal process should be smoother now and it should be possible with a button of click, but as of now, it’s not the reality.

A lot of people still wait to travel to their base branch city where they opened their PPF and follow the process. However many investors never withdraw their PPF because they are not clear if it’s possible or not.

It was my attempt to bring this process in notice of yours so that you can at least try this and see if it works. If someone has done something different and successfully withdrawn their PPF from a different city, please share that with us in comment section and we will add it in the main article.

We would like to know if you got any new insights or not and this article was helpful or not?

From 1st Oct, Insurance policies will be issued online (even renewal policies)

Posted on September 17, 2016November 14, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

Starting 1st Oct 2016, all the insurance policies are going to be issued in electronic form.

Yes, you heard it right

Few years back IRDA had come up with the concept of 13 digit e-Insurance Account (EIA), where an investor had the option to convert their existing physical policies into demat form, but till now it was not mandatory. However now things have changed and starting 1st Oct,2016 it has become compulsory.

Now, every insurance company has to issue all kinds of insurance policies in an online format. So if you are buying any kind of insurance policies (life, health, motor, pension policies and all kind of general insurance policies too) you need to have an e-Insurance Account (EIA) and the policies will be issued in Demat form only in that account.

This will be true even for renewal policies. So even if you are not buying any fresh new policy, at the time of your policy renewal this will apply to you

Under which cases, is this e-insurance account mandatory?

This e-account is required only if the annual premium crosses Rs 10,000 for most of the policies like term plan and health insurance or if the sum assured is above 5-10 lacs. The exact requirement is as follows for various kind of policies (source link)

e-insurance-rules-policies

How to open E-Insurance Account?

Step 1: Choose the Insurance Repository

There are 5 registered insurance repositories in the country, licensed by IRDA, out of which you need to choose one. These are …

CAMS Repository Services
SHCIL Projects Limited
Central Insurance Repository
Karvy Insurance Repository
NSDL Database Management

Note that you can choose any one of them, and there won’t be any difference, other than level of service. At the backend, everything will be the same. Also if you are not satisfied with your insurance repository provider service, you can switch to another one later.

Step 2: Fill up the form and submit the documents

The process now is very simple, once you have decided the repository company, all you need to do is fill-up the form and attach your KYC documents and submit it to their office in your city.

CAMSrepository also has an option where you can first fill-up the form online and then download the filled form. I think it will work for most people and save time. If you want to fill the form offline, you can download e-insurance account opening form here

Following are the documents you need to submit

e-Insurance Account form (fill by hand OR filled online one)
Date of Birth Proof (PAN , Passport, Voter Id etc)
Photocopy of ID proof (PAN or Aadhaar Card)
Photocopy of Address proof (Aadhaar, Passport, Electricity or Telephone Bill etc)
Canceled cheque
Passport size photograph

Note that the canceled cheque is required so that the information of the bank account is captured beforehand, Any maturity proceeds or claim amount will be paid in this same account. Ideally, this should be the same one from where the insurance premium is paid, but not mandatory.

All the major insurance companies like LIC, ICICI, HDFC, and others have already joined hands with this facility.

Check out this short video created by CAMS team

Once you submit the documents, it will just take a few days to open the account.

If you need the detailed list of the documents required, you can view this PDF document (2nd page)

The concept of Authorized Representative

A special feature called “Authorized Representative” is introduced in this e-insurance account where an investor can assign someone trustworthy or close to being AI (authorized representative) who will be able to access the details of the account in case of death of the policyholder. This is different than the nominee.

For example, I can give my close friend name and details in the AI section ask him to have a look at all my details in case I am dead and ask him to communicate things to my family as per my plan.

Features and Benefits of e-Insurance Account (EIA)

Let me know to share some benefits and key points of this e-insurance account and how it will benefit the overall insurance industry as well as the investor, even though it may look like another hassle to you right now

FREE account – This account will be 100% FREE account for investors, there are no charges or maintenance fees to be paid by anyone. One person will have only a single account (like PAN)
All policies at one place – This will be the single point of contact for investors to view, download and manage their insurance policies, be it life, health, motor or any travel insurance policy.
No KYC repetition while buying new policies – After doing the KYC first time, you won’t have to do it again and again when you buy new policies. All you would need to do is mention your EIA number and buy the policy.
Get reminders – You will get reminders for your policy maturity, payment reminders and any other important updates.
Single place to update your KYC – IF you want to update your mobile, address or other details, you will just have to update it in e-insurance account and not in each policy individually.

Understand that with this initiative, the insurance companies will simplify their process and a good amount will be saved as there won’t be a lot of paperwork involved (printing of documents, courier etc) and that’s why insurance companies will fund this initiative and will keep it FREE for investors.

Converting your existing physical Policy in Electronic form

I know you must be thinking about what will happen to my existing policies which I have bought till date? So, there is a simple process to convert them online.

Once you open the e-insurance account, you can apply for conversion of your existing policies into the online form (its good that you do it beforehand, because at the time of renewal it’s going to happen anyways going forward)

As per Cam’s repository FAQ point 18, you can just mention your policy number and it will be converted into an online format

18. How do I convert my existing paper policy into electronic form?

If you already have eInsurance account, log in to your eInsurance account, click on “ePolicy conversion” and enter your policy number, name of Insurance company that needs to be converted into ePolicy. In the next few days, your policy will be converted into ePolicy.

You can also download the policy conversion form and submit it for offline -> online conversion of policies

Please share what do you think about this new rule? Do you think it will help investors and the insurance industry?

How to correct CIBIL report mistakes in next 30 days – A step by step Guide

Posted on August 16, 2016November 14, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

Today I am going to teach you some step by step process which will help you to correct your wrong CIBIL entries, which will, in turn, improve your CIBIL score. Most of the investors take some of the other kinds of loan and if they are not able to pay the EMI’s on time or default on the loan, their CIBIL report gets messed up and they don’t get further loans in future.

This is because once your credit history becomes bad, then lenders are not very excited to give you loans.

correct credit report mistakes

How to correct the CIBIL record?

I recently got a question from Mukesh Kumar, who saw a wrong entry in his CIBIL report. See what he says…

I have an error in my cibil report that I applied for loan in 2009.but it is wrong entry. How can it be corrected.

CIBIL report can contain mistakes either due to the investor’s mistake and their ignorance, but many a time the errors happen because of bank mistakes or manual issues.

Some reasons for mistakes in the Credit report

The lender did not update the correct remarks with CIBIL
The lender updated the wrong remark with CIBIL
CIBIL makes mistake in name, address, gender or date of birth while creating the report
The mistake happened while generating the CIBIL report
There was some fraud using your documents and hence the wrong entries

4 Step process of correcting the CIBIL mistakes

Let me help you with the step by step process if you want to fix the errors in your credit report. Here you go ..

Step #1 : Check your CIBIL report

You will not be able to move ahead unless you properly understand your current situation. So the first step is to apply for your CIBIL report and understand it properly.

You can go to CIBIL website and pay the fees to get your report. Once you pay the CIBIL charges, you will receive the PDF report in your mail almost instantly which will contain your credit score and the report. Below is a nice video tutorial by the CIBIL team which shows you how to read the CIBIL report.

Step #2 – Raise a Dispute Resolution with CIBIL

Once you have understood your report, you should make the list of all the errors and mistakes in the report.

After that, your first point of contact is CIBIL. You should raise something called a CIBIL Dispute Resolution at https://www.cibil.com/dispute/.

You need to fill up some details and mention the issues in your report which you think should be corrected. Once you do this, your dispute will get recorded and CIBIL will get in touch with the lenders one by one and ask them to relook at the issues if they would like to send a new update (the correct one).

Note that CIBIL will never make any changes in your report themselves. They will only do it once they get a go-ahead from the lender because at the end of the day, your CIBIL report is the collection of all the information CIBIL gets from various lenders.

How online dispute resolution with CIBIL works?

dispute resolution cibil process

It can take anywhere from few days to 30 days for your dispute resolution to get sorted out. But I suggest waiting for 45 days. If you have questions on this, I suggest you read the FAQ on dispute resolution here

This dispute resolution can be raised even if you have not bought the report yourself but got it from the lender while applying for some loan.

Now, in this case, it might happen that the lender refuses to correct some information because they think that they are correct and the investor is wrong. In which case the investor should take the 3rd step.

Step #3 – Contact lenders directly

If the dispute resolution works, then the changes will happen in the report. But at times some lenders might disagree to some point and refuse to make the changes.

At this point, CIBIL can’t do much and you will now have to follow-up with the lender yourself.

Let me give you an example.

Suppose there is a guy who checks his credit report and see that one of the loans which he paid off fully, is marked as “WRITTEN OFF”. In this case, he can raise a dispute resolution with CIBIL and let’s say the lender says that the loan was still not paid off and some amount was remaining and with interest and late payment charges, the loan becomes bigger and later they marked it as WRITTEN OFF.

In this case, the guy has to contact the lender himself and then sort things out.

He can ask for all the explanation proofs and loan statements and prove if there was any loan outstanding or not. In this case, it would have helped if the person had taken a NOC once he thought that the loan is complete and paid off.

Contact lender through email + phone

Coming back to this point, the first step is to send an email to the lender, stating your case with proper dates and the error in the report. If possible, also attach a snapshot of the CIBIL report. Then wait for a few days for their response, and if you don’t get any response, then you should visit their branch in the city.

Meet the manager there or whoever is the in-charge of the CIBIL loans section. If 30 days are over and you are not getting any proper response, it’s the time to raise an online complaint with banking ombudsman. This way you have at least raised one leg of investigation and waged a war against the lender.

To give you an example, see how lender did not update the correct status with CIBIL in this case below

I have taken loan from fullerton India long back and paid the same. they have also given me NOC. But the same is still not updated in CIBIL records. My financials status is now good and I can pay loan installments regularly. I am good salaried and paying IT also regularly. Can this improve my CIBIL Score and Can I get Loan ?

In case you face any issues, feel free to contact CIBIL team. Here are the CIBIL contact numbers on this link. Call their customer care number and mention your issues, at times this can bring faster results.

Step #4 – Close your Past Dues and Outstanding amounts, if any

Finally, once you contact the lender, it might happen that there was a genuine mistake from the lender’s end. If they agree, they will update the correct status with CIBIL and your issue will get resolved in 60-90 days. But if not, then mostly the issue is due to some past outstanding amount which did not pay.

Loan Settlements and not paying EMI on time.

In most of the cases I have seen, the issue is some past loan for which 100% outstanding was not paid off by investor and it was settled for a lower amount. For example, support you owe Rs 1 lacs in the loan, but are unable to pay it and you do the settlement for Rs 60,000.
Years later then you see a remark on your CIBIL Report which says “SETTLED” or “WRITTEN OFF”. At this point the situation is very bad because most of the investors don’t want to pay this surprising amount just to fix things.

Check out this real-life case

I took Durable loan with Capital-First in Feb 2014 with period of 9 months. I paid first 6 EMI’s on time but the last EMI I didn’t paid, one fine day I got call from Capital-First Legal team and they asked me to clear rest of amount. So I paid remaining amount in single shot using Capital first online portal in Aug 2015.

Recently in Feb 2016 I pull CIBIL Report and I found the above account marked as “WRITTEN-OFF” and Raised Dispute with CIBIL, I observed in latest (in May 2016) CIBIL report that the status changed “WRITTEN-OFF” to “POST(W/O) Settled”. I discussed with Capital First Customer care many times. They just gave reply like “you paid amount in stage of WRITTEN-OFF status. so it should be POST(W/O) Settled. it won’t change further”

Is that true? and How do I remove that status from My CIBIL?

In this case, it’s very difficult to improve your score, because that bad remark will be there for many years/decades, unless you clear off the loan.

Get in touch with lender

So if possible try to get in touch with the lender and speak to them about this. Ask them how you can get a “closed” remark for a loan. At times lenders are ready to take a lesser amount and update the entry as “Closed” with CIBIL.

Once you follow all these steps and correct your CIBIL mistakes, your CIBIL score will go up over time.

I hope you got a fair step by step process on correcting the mistakes in the CIBIL report? In case there are any questions, I will be happy to take them in the comments section.

10 steps to ensure safety of your ATM/Debit/Credit Card usage

Posted on August 10, 2016November 14, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

In the last 10-15 yrs, card usage has replaced cash transactions to a big level at least in urban India. We no longer go to banks to withdraw cash. Almost everyone prefers to pay by cards when we visit malls, grocery shops or when we fill petrol in our cars.

Increase in Card Frauds

While the ATM/Debit/Credit card usage has increased, so has the frauds related to the cards. Most of the time, card fraud happens due to negligence of the cardholder. In this post, I will talk about several things you should keep in mind which will safeguard you against fraud or any crime which can potentially happen. The things we talk about in this article will be for ATM cards, debit cards, credit cards, and even internet banking transactions.

atm safety tips

1. Destroy the CVV number on the back of the card

Once you have used your ATM card several times, it’s suggested to scratch the CVV number on the back of the card. Almost everyone will memorize the 3 digit CVV number once they have used it 5-10 times. You can also write down the CVV number in your mailbox and email it to yourself if you want to record it in someplace.

While this will not make you fully protected from fraud, but it will surely reduce the chances.

2. Change the PIN as soon as you receive the card

Once you receive your card for the first time, it’s suggested that you activate it asap and then change the PIN. Try to avoid keeping the PINs that resemble your birthday, Pincode or phone numbers. Make it a random number or some combination which you can relate to.

If you do not change your default PIN which the letter contains, it might happen that someone looks at it and misuses your card, given they have access to it. That’s the reason you should also destroy the old password document.

3. Activate SMS Alerts for any amount above ZERO

It’s suggested to activate the SMS and mail alerts for all transactions.

If you do not want any SMS for a specific amount like Rs 500 or Rs 1000, then you can set up the alerts above that amount, but make sure you do it. A lot of people who come from the old generation like our parents, uncles etc are new to these card payments and do not activate these features. Please do it for them

4. Keep the customer care number saved on the phone

It’s always a good idea to store your bank/card customer care numbers on your phone so that you can inform them about any fraud or issues as soon as they happen.

Imagine you lost your card and you are thinking – “Once I am back home, I will call customer care and share about this incident so that they can block my card”. This is not a great situation, because, within a few minutes, the who has the card can swipe it and use it (given he knows other details)

Better avoid being late in informing about the incident, because once the money gets debited from your account, then matter becomes complicated and you will spend lot of times in fixing the issue and following up

Prevention is better than cure …

5. Avoid using the ATM in night or places which are not safe

There have been instances where I wanted to withdraw cash from ATM around night-time, and my wife always tells me that we can always do it the next day in the morning because it’s better to avoid ATMs at night especially when it’s not an emergency.

I think that makes sense.

While, out of 100 times, 99 times nothing will happen. But then that one bad incident is what you want to avoid..

RIGHT?

I am not saying that never use the ATM in the night, but as far as possible, try to refrain using your cards at night at lonely places, because you never know who is keeping an eye on you.

Here is a video from Bangalore, where a 38 yrs old lady was attacked by a guy inside the ATM. Something like this is very much possible to happen if you take things lightly at night when it’s lonely.

Hence, if are going back home in midnight and thinking of withdrawing cash from an ATM which is located on a lonely road, I suggest that you avoid it unless it’s emergency. It’s always safer to come back in the morning and withdraw the money from ATM.

6. Don’t let any once enter the ATM while you are using it

If there is only one single ATM machine inside the room, then don’t allow anyone to enter the ATM when you are using it. You can directly tell the person to enter the room once you have used it.

At times, People are not civilized enough to understand that ATM usage is a very private activity and they should not enter or look at your screen.

stop atm fraud

(Image Source)

7. Never leave an incomplete transaction

There are many ATM frauds which have happened because the person left without completing their transaction. You should never leave the ATM screen unless the “welcome screen” appears back.

There are cases, where the computer hangs in between the transaction either because of a technical issue or because someone had done some trick to it. Always press the cancel button once you are finished or sense that there is some issue.

Below is an excerpt from a report from Indian express which shares more details about keypad jamming fraud in ATMs.

Keypad jamming fraud

The risk department of the banks have termed it so because the modus operandi of defrauder involves jamming both the ‘Enter’ and ‘Cancel’ buttons on the ATM machine by applying glue or by inserting a pin or blade at the edge of the button. So when the customer tries to press the ‘Enter/OK’ button after entering his ATM PIN, the key does not function and the customer can’t proceed with his transaction. At this juncture the customer thinks that the machine is not working and tries to cancel the transaction, which also does not go through as that button is also jammed. Thinking that the transaction is cancelled, he leaves the ATM machine.

As soon as the customer leaves or is prompted to visit the nearby ATM machine, the fraudster takes over the machine and since the transaction is active for around 30 seconds in most cases (some banks have reduced it to 20 seconds), he keeps the transaction active by pressing some functional buttons and in the meantime removes the glue or pin from the ‘Enter’ button to go ahead with the transaction. The fraudster then withdraws the cash from the customer’s account, leaving the customer unaware of the fraud till he checks the message from the bank.

If your ATM screen is hanged or incase of any issues, make sure you contact the security guard or at least call the customer care while you are inside the ATM.

All ATMs have a CCTV machine and it will record your activity which will help you later in case of any problem or dispute. Here is a real-life case of how ATM fraud can happen from a fellow blogger BasuNivesh.

8. Never share your debit card PIN when you shop

When you go to Petrol Pumps to fill your car or while you are dining at restaurants, try to avoid sharing the ATM PIN while making the payments. A lot of people let others enter their PIN because they don’t want to walk all the way to the swipe machine.

I prefer to walk down and enter the PIN myself or ask them to bring the swipe machine near me.

While it surely adds to convenience by sharing the PIN, but it also exposes you to the risk of debit/credit card fraud. No one is stopping the person who has your card to note down your card number, expiry date, CVV number (most of the people don’t scratch it) and write down the PIN you shared with them. In some extreme cases, your card can be swiped to the skimming machine to steal the information and duplicate the card.

how debit and credit card skimming work

A lot of people think that just because someone has their card details, they are still secured because the OTP comes to their mobile or the 6 digits extra password is asked while doing a transaction online. However, they are mistaken.

While one will surely fail while doing the transactions in Indian websites, they will succeed while using the card on international websites, because OTP is not sent there. Also, that extra layer of 6 digit password is not asked while doing transactions at many websites outside India.

9. Never share your PIN, OTP, CVV and other sensitive details

My father in law is a senior citizen and despite being a bank employee for many years – I can clearly tell you that even he might fall prey to many online frauds related to banks because he is very new to these card payments and internet banking. He belongs to that old era and his banking is very different than today’s banking.

Like him, your parents, and grandparents and in-laws will surely be from the generation who does not understand very well how these online things work.

When they get a call from someone who says – “I am calling from Bank and …”, for them it’s a genuine call and they can’t tell a difference between fake call and a genuine one. And they are always on the list of fraudsters.

There are various online frauds going on these days, where a person poses as a bank employee and then scares the person on other end saying things like

“This is a verification call from the bank, please share the OTP which has just come on your mobile”
“You will now get a new card because the old one is canceled, please share the 3 digits on the back of the card to approve this”
“We notice that a 20,000 transaction has happened just now, did you do it? Please share an OTP which has come to your mobile to verify that you are the cardholder”

Listen to this YouTube conversation, where a girl is posing as SBI staff and trying to get information. Imagine if your parents or some senior citizen gets this kind of call, how will they react?

Here is a good FAQ related to fraud protection related to cards from ICICI bank

10. Don’t expose the cash withdrawn from ATM

I have done it a few times, and I now understand that it was a mistake.

When you take out cash from ATM, if it’s a big amount – many times a few people come out of ATM holding the bundle of cash without realizing that someone might be watching them.

It’s always suggested to keep a bag with you and put the cash inside it or at least keep the cash in your wallet or pocket till you reach your car or home. There might be many bad elements nearby and they will keep an eye on you. They might be behind you and later they may attack you. What they show in CRIME PETROL actually happens in real life too 🙂

Don’t Get Paranoid

While it’s suggested that you should be alert and careful while using your cards or internet banking, but I would like to also add that you should not become paranoid and start behaving like a maniac :). You should judge the situation and use your presence of mind when someone is really being helpful and when someone is trying to trick you.

Please share any other tips or suggestions which I have not added above.

Applying for home loan? Here are 4 highly critical checklist you should follow

Posted on June 1, 2016November 20, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

Are you going to apply for a home loan in the near future? If Yes, then this article is written exactly for you, because I am going to share with you a checklist which you should follow to make sure that your loan application process is smooth and also to increase the chances of your loan application getting approved.

We all take various kind of loans these days, be it home loan, car loan, personal loans or even credit cards. I will show you some very important checklists which if you follow; you will save yourself from various issues faced by other loan seekers.

Note that while this article is primarily written with a home loan in mind, but the checklists discussed will also apply for any kind of loan.

Checklist one should follow before applying for home loan in India

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Checklist #1 – Check your CIBIL report/Score in advance

Don’t underestimate the role of credit reports/score in loan approval process these days. The first thing the lender looks at is your credit score/report when you apply for any kind of loan (even credit card).

The moment you enquire for a loan with a lender, they check your report from CIBIL or any other credit bureau like Equifax or Experian and based on the remarks on your report and your score, they either reject your loan application or forward your case for further checks.

There are many real-life cases, where a person applied for a loan and found out that it got rejected because of this credit report is messed up. It might be due to a credit card settlement he did a few years back or because he was not able to make timely payments on his past loans.

Imagine a person who has already paid the booking amount for a car or a house and then he is stuck because he/she can’t get the loan approved. That’s not a situation; you would like to get into!

personal loan rejected because of CIBIL

CIBIL score of 750+ is a good score

How much CIBIL score can be considered good enough to get any kind of loan? Well, there is no guarantee that you will get a loan just because your credit report is high, but as per CIBIL, out of every 100 people who got a loan approved, 79 people had a score of more than 750.

This means that if your score if more than 750 out of 900, there is a good chance that your loan will be approved, provided there are no bad remarks on your report and other things like income proofs are in place.

cibil score required for home loan approval

Apply for your CIBIL report in advance

So when should you apply for a CIBIL report?

I think it should do it much before you apply for a loan. I suggest at least 6 months in advance because if there is some issue in the report, you get enough time to rectify that mistake.

There are many cases, where a person applied for a home loan after paying the down payment money, and their home loan is not approved because of CIBIL related issues. Now they are stuck as they are not getting back their down payment money back and their application is also not getting approved.

They run around to fix their issues or try to improve their CIBIL score, but now it’s very late because it takes many months to follow up with CIBIL or Banks involved. Last-minute fixes do not work, that’s the reason this check needs to be done well in advance.

Checklist #2 – Make a simple Cash flow statement

If you are applying for a big loan like a home loan or a car loan, then it’s very important to understand where you stand financially. You should have a very clear idea about the maximum down payment you will be able to make (and you should also try for that) and what is the realistic EMI you can pay each month.

As our wealth is scattered across various financial products like saving bank account, fixed deposits, mutual funds etc, it’s important to note it down in an excel sheet to get better clarity.

You should also list down the income and expenses details so that you can get an idea about how much you save each month. Your surplus each month is a very important criterion used in calculating your loan eligibility by the lender.

Below is a sample working of cash flow in an excel sheet, which gives the good enough indication of the down payment amount and the potential EMI a person can afford.

sample cash flow calculation before applying for a loan

Download this Excel Sheet and Calculate your numbers

It should not happen that you applied for a loan much beyond your capacity and then at the last minute, you are wondering where you will arrange for extra money. It can be a very frustrating situation, where you are stuck in a deal and you are not able to figure out how to arrange for the money.

Checklist #3 – Increase your home loan eligibility

When most of the buy a house, they wonder how big a house they will be able to afford? Just because they have a high salary, they think that they will get a big loan, which most of the time is true, if you don’t have any existing loans.

But then a lot of people have several small loans running like a personal loan or a bike loan or any other consumer loans, and these small loans come in the way of your loan eligibility because they show up in your “pending loans” or “Existing EMI” list.

So one the actions you should take is to close off any small loans you have because they will increase your “surplus” as the EMI will get stopped, and also you will have one less commitment to take care of and lender likes that.

Below are some handy tips if you want to increase your home loan eligibility.

Let’s see an Example

Suppose, your per month income is Rs 1 lacs and you have a bike loan (or personal loan) currently running with Rs 8,000 EMI per month with 10 more installments to go. Now with this profile you are eligible for Rs 43 lacs of home loan.

How can you increase your home loan eligibility in this case? You can prepay your entire bike loan as it’s a small loan if you look at the outstanding amount; you can dig into your other savings and pay it off. This will surely reduce your savings a bit, but increase your loan eligibility by another 8-9 lacs because now you have another Rs 8,000 surplus each month.

See the home loan calculator snapshot below which shows you this.

Home loan eligibility calculator example

Even your CIBIL report will also show that you have successfully completed and paid off a loan provided you do this a few months in advance before you apply for a home loan.

Close you credit card outstanding also

You should also consider to pay off your entire credit card outstanding bills. May people keep rolling their credit card debt by paying the minimum dues, but that’s not a good thing if you want to get some loan in coming future.

If you are looking for a home loan, then go to this home loan eligibility calculator, enter your details and our trusted partner will help you in securing the best home loan. You also transfer your home loan by applying here

Also, decide if you want to apply for a joint home loan

One way of increasing your home loan eligibility is to add your spouse or any other earning member from your family as a co-borrower of the property. This is one factor you should consider if the spouse is already an earning member. Even if it’s not a significant amount, still mentioning that they bring in some small income helps your loan application, as it adds to the “stability” factor.

Checklist #4 – Arrange all documents required for a home loan

Some background preparations on the documentation front can help you save last-minute hassles and running around. I have often seen many people running around, for ITR proofs and other documents because they didn’t plan well in advance. Below are various documents that might be required for your home loan documentation purpose.

It’s a good idea to prepare a file and arrange all these documents well in advance. These documents are keeping in mind a salaried resident Indian.

KYC related Documents

2-3 Passport Size photos of applicant and co-applicant
Identity proof like PAN or Voter ID card, Passport, Aadhar card
Address proof like Electricity bill, Telephone bill, Employer Certificate, Aadhaar Card

Income & Employment-Related Documents

Past 3 months salary slips
3 yrs ITR (Income tax Returns)
Latest 6 months bank statement attested by the bank in original
Latest Form 16 for 2/3 yrs
Proofs of all savings like FD’s, mutual funds, gold etc (for a down payment)
All ongoing loan account statement for past 6-12 months
Relieving/Experience letter of the previous company if current employment is less than 2 yrs old

Property Related Documents

Original copy for Sale Deed or Agreement to Sale
7/12 extract
Commencement Certificate
NA certificate
Search and Title Report
Building Completion Certificate (if available)
Latest Tax receipts
Development Agreement

Below is a video from IREF, where a guy (seems to be from a bank) is explaining the home loan process and overall documentation requirement. It’s a 7-8 min video in Hindi, kindly view the full video to understand why some document is needed.

Extra documents for self-employed and business professionals

In case you are not a salaried person, then some documents will be different in that case, which is as follows

3 yrs ITR, along with profit and loss statements certified by a CA
Your bank account statement for last 1 yr
Shop Act License
Partnership deed or Company related documents
Brief write-up about your business and the nature of work/revenue

This common floor article mentions even detailed list of documents

Some Important points to remember before applying for a home loan

In case you are planning to quit your job or planning to change the job, it’s better to first apply for a home loan and then quit/change, otherwise, it will get very tough to get a home loan later.
If you are sure of getting an increment very soon or your pay rise is on the cards, then wait a bit and apply for the home loan later as it will increase your home loan eligibility

I hope this article gives a clear direction and action checklist to someone who is looking forward to a home loan or any other loan. Please share any other critical checklist which I have missed out. Also, I request other members to share their experience when they applied for a home loan.

Download Form 12BB to claim LTA, HRA and Home Loan Interest

Posted on May 25, 2016November 20, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

In a recent notification, income tax department has come up with a new form 12BB, which from now onwards has to be submitted if you want to claim your LTA, HRA and Interest on Home loan interest.

It’s a single form, which you need to fill and attach all proofs and furnish all information related to these exemptions. This form will be applicable from June 1, 2016.

What all information is asked in Form 12BB?

Following is the list of various things you need to arrange before you fill up this form 12BB form

LTA (Leave Travel Allowance) – One has to provide all the proofs of travel like tickets, invoices, boarding pass (in case of flight). More info here
HRA (House Rent Allowance) – For claiming HRA, If the rent paid is above Rs 1 lacs a year, one has to provide Name, Address and PAN of the landlord and Rent receipts.
Interest on Home Loan – To claim this, one has to furnish the name, address and the PAN of the lender organization
Deductions under 80C & Others – You will also have to furnish the details and proofs of the actual investments done under Sec 80C and others

You can download form 12BB here, It’s a PDF version (We don’t have excel format). Below I have provided a snapshot of the form 12BB format, so that you can have a look at it and see what all fields you have to fill up.

Form 12BB to claim HRA and LTA

Main reason to introduce this form 12BB?

The primary reason why this new form is being introduced is that till now there was no standard process to collect all the proofs and information regarding the various deductions.

IT department thinks that with this new change, fraud will go down. Here is what Financial Express says on this point

You may no longer be able to provide fake bills to claim income tax deductions for leave travel allowance (LTA) and house rent allowance (HRA).

Changes announced on Tuesday in reporting format for individuals claiming tax deduction on leave travel allowance (LTA), leave travel concessions (LTC), house rent allowance and interest paid on home loans is aimed at plugging leakages on account of fake bills, experts say.

So with this form, all the information will be captured in one place and even the employers will be made accountable for checking all documents and if the proofs are genuine or not.

Please share what do you think about this new form? Do you think that this will add more work and headaches for salaried employees?

6 smart ways to PAY OFF your credit card debt trap in India

Posted on May 11, 2016November 20, 2019 by Jagoinvestor

1,90,000 crore was spent using credit cards in India in the year 2015. Over the last decade, the usage of cards has increased many folds and while that’s great for the economy, it also means more and more people getting into credit card debt as many people are now dealing with credit cards.

In the graph below which was published by Livemint, it shows the growth in the card usage in our country

credit card transactions in India

How investors get into Credit Card Debt Trap?

Credit cards if not used properly can get you into debt trap very easily. We get several emails and comments regarding how to handle credit card debt. Below is one of the comments

“I have a SBI card in which I have an outstanding balance of Rs 100000 so I went for settlement and they offered me a settlement amount of Rs.78000. Can it get it still reduced? Because I am not in a position to pay this amount”.

A lot of investors who do not use credit card in a wise manner end with a large outstanding on their cards and finally have to go for credit card debt settlement which lowers their credit score and puts a black mark on their credit report and this inturns hampers their chances of getting loans in future.

In this article, I am going to share some of the options which one can explore. If you want to quickly look over those 6 points, you can just watch the video below

Note that these points to be looked in order. I mean first, you see if option 1 is applicable to you or not. If not, then you move to option 2, if it still does not help you then you move to another option.

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Option #1

Break your investments and pay the bill

Option #2

Pay off the credit card debt in 5-6 payments

Option #3

Take a loan from friends/family and pay off the credit card outstanding amount

Option #4

Take a personal loan to pay off credit card debt

Option #5

Convert your credit card loan to EMI

Option #6

Use a Credit Card Balance transfer facility

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So here you go

Option #1 – Break your investments and pay the bill

There are many people who keep rolling their credit card debt, and at the same time have money in their bank account or a fixed deposit. It does not just strike them that they can just pay off the full outstanding by breaking their FD or cash into the account.

This happens out of ignorance most of the time.

So if you can restructure your money here and there and can pay off the credit card debt, it’s the best option.

Option #2 – Pay off the credit card debt in 5-6 payments

If option #1 is not feasible for you, then the next best option is to pay off the debt in 5-6 parts. Most of the people get too attached to the minimum balance amount and then they just stick to it because that’s the minimum required to be paid to save the penalty.

But then the interest is anyways to be paid, which makes sure you never get out of the debt.

So go beyond the minimum balance amount and pay 3-4X of the minimum balance each month. For example, if your credit card debt is Rs 2 lacs and the minimum due amount which can be paid is Rs 10,000.

Then try to pay 2-3X of that amount, which is Rs 30,000 or Rs 40,000 per month. If not that much, then at least 20,000. That way at least you will pay off the entire debt in next 1 yr if you are disciplined enough.

minimum due payment credit card debt

Option #3 – Take a loan from friends/family and pay off the credit card outstanding amount

The 3rd option is to try to get some loan from friends or family members and pay off the credit card debt in one go and then pay back the person later as per what you agreed with him/her. One can often get free loans without any interest from a close friend or a sibling if you communicate your problem well.

Make sure you pay them back exactly within the time frame mentioned.

Most of the people have burned their fingers by giving money to their friends and relatives because it gets very tough to ask back the money and it can bring sourness in the relations due to money matters.

So you can also choose to pay some interest because the person can anyways earn some money from FD, so better offer to pay 10% interest per year. It’s a win-win situation if it works out!

Option #4 – Take personal loan to pay off credit card debt

If you don’t get loan from someone close in family/friends, then you can go for a personal loan and use that money to pay off the card outstanding. Interest will be in the range of 14-18%, but still, it’s better than paying 40% on a yearly basis.

This does not clear your debt, but just shifts your debt from credit card to a personal loan. Much better option. For those who already have a home loan going on, they can also look at the top-up loan facility which will be much cheaper to a personal loan.

Option #5 – Convert your credit card loan to EMI

If you are not getting a personal loan, then you can convert your debt to an EMI option from the same lender. Almost all the big banks give an option to convert the credit card debt to EMI for tenures like 3/6/9/12/24 months. The interest can range between 13-18% depending on the lender.

convert to EMI credit card

Option #6 – Use a Credit Card Balance transfer facility

There is a facility called Balance Transfer provided by many credit card companies, where you can switch your current credit card outstanding to a totally new credit card. In this case, the new credit card will pay off your old credit card and will also offer you some benefits like an interest-free period of 3 months or low interest for the first few months.

credit card balance transfer facility

Almost all the major credit card companies like SBI credit card, ICICI credit card, and HSBC have this credit card balance transfer facility service with them. SBI credit cards even provide 0% interest for the next 60 days.

However, before opting for this option, please check if there is any processing charge or not? It might happen that the lender is providing free interest period, but then high processing fees will nullify the advantage 🙂

However, note that this is a temporary solution for the next 2-3 months and by that time you should look for further solutions.

Use your credit card wisely

Below are some high-level points which will save you from getting to credit card debt

Pay your Credit Card 3 days before the due date, keep a reminder on the phone if it helps
Don’t spend much more than you can afford.
Carry debit card instead of credit card, You will pay only what you have
Don’t keep very high credit limit, if you can’t control yourself when it comes to spending

Please share if you have any more solutions?