Author: Jagoinvestor

I am Jagoinvestor Admin

6 facts to know before you apply for credit card in India

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

So you want to apply for credit card? That’s great, but are you well versed with the world of credit card? Do you know how does bank evaluate its potential credit card customers? Are you clear about your requirements and why are you so eager to get a credit card?

Most of the people do not spend much time to check which credit card is best for their requirement, but just grab the one that is offered to them for the first time. So today, I want to make sure I give you a sneak 360 view of the world of credit card and what all things one should be looking at before they apply for a credit card in India.

1. Your Income is important parameter for Credit Card Eligibility

When you fill in the application form while applying for a credit card, the lender asks you for various information like your age, city, take home income per month and type of your employment, which all is required to decide if you qualify for getting a credit card or not.

But out of those, your income is a very important parameter because that’s the main thing which determines your repayment capacity of your dues each month.

Someone earning Rs 50,000 per month is generally more eligible than someone who earns Rs 25,000 per month, because higher income is an indication that you will be able to pay your bills on time and on a consistent basis.

You income is also an important information for bank to set your credit limit at the time of issuing the credit card to you. You can see below a snapshot of HSBC credit card page and they have mentioned that the minimum annual income of a person has to be Rs 5,00,000 to apply for these credit cards.

income criteria for credit cards

So if you are earning good enough money, only then banks will be interested to give you a credit card. Make sure you do not apply for credit card just for the sake of it without a minimum threshold income. Also, note that you would need to submit your latest ITR copy for income proof.

2. Existing relationship with bank fastens the process

If you already have a salary account or saving account with some bank, it is relatively easier to get a credit card, especially when you have handled your accounts properly, I mean not have too many overdrafts, maintaining your minimum balance over the years and having a consistent flow of money in your account.

This is because the bank can easily verify your income details and see your activity and how responsible you have been over the years.

So for example, if you want a HDFC credit card, but you have salary account in ICICI bank, it would be recommended that you apply for ICICI credit card first (assuming it does not matter much to you). You can easily apply for the card online on bank website, and even bank will ask if you are an existing account holder in the bank or not. To which you can choose YES

existing bank account for credit card

If you do not want to apply online for your card, then you can also visit the branch and meet the representative face-to-face. Bankbazaar is a good portal to compare and apply for credit cards or any other kind of loans.

3. Your past credit history matters

It also matters how was your past credit history, if you are looking for credit card. If you have taken some personal loan, education loan or home loan and now applying for credit card (generally a second credit card), your CIBIL report will be checked by the company to find out how was your credit history.

Did you make your payments on time? Did you close all your loans and outstanding without any balance or not?

You can see a snapshot by cibil.com below which shows you what all documents are required by the lender before issuing various kinds of loans and it shows that the latest credit score and CIR is mandatory.

apply for credit card document

In fact the CIBIL report is now mandatory check for any kind of loan. Make sure you surely check your credit report once before you apply for your card.

4. Be clear about the purpose of credit card

There are various kinds of credit cards available with bank. You need to understand very clearly what is the main reason you want the credit card?

If you want to use the credit card primarily for dining and shopping, then you can choose the card which gives more benefit for that. If your main spending is on fuel, then there are cards which cater to that requirement. There are tons of ways you can get rewards and cash back on credit cards. It’s important to do a bit of research on this.

Below you can see some HDFC cards examples .

hdfc credit cards

Most of the credit card companies offer cards under categories like Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Titanium and then as per categories like Diners card, Fuel Card, Cashback cards. If you look at HDFC credit card page, you can see categories and various kinds of features as below

5. FREE vs. Annual Fee credit card

There are credit cards which are totally FREE for lifetime and then there are cards which come with annual fees ranging from Rs 99 to few thousands per year. Most of the people want a lifetime free credit card, which is totally fine if your credit card usage is basic in nature.

But if you have very heavy card usage and 40-50% of your spending happens on credit card itself, then it makes sense to go for premium credit cards, which have some annual fees, because those cards offer you awesome benefits and various ways to save money.

You get higher reward points and cash back in those cards. Also, they have special tie ups with airlines, hotels, shopping stores, fuel companies etc and you get maximum benefits by being a premium member.

For example: Those who travel a lot by airlines can look at Signature Credit Card from HSBC which has special tie up with Makemytrip and comes with annual fees of Rs.3,500, but gives lots of discounts and vouchers which can be used by the cardholder. You will not get these offers if you have a normal credit card.

Signature Credit Card HSBC

If you want to learn how can you use your credit card in more efficient way, a good resource is this article written by Shabbir.

6. You can also get credit card against a fixed Deposit

Do you know that you can also get credit card against fixed deposit open with a bank ? Yes – That’s possible . There are many banks, which will offer you a credit card, if you open a fixed deposit and want a card against it as security (These are also called Instant Credit Card).

This is very much beneficial for those people who are not able to get credit card due to low credit score and banks are rejecting their credit card application. So you can apply for a credit card if you are ready to open a fixed deposit and its also one of the good ways to start improving your credit score, if its messed up.

Below is a snapshot of ICICI Bank credit card page about instant credit card

credit card against fixed deposit

Most of the banks have a minimum threshold of Rs 20,000 fixed deposit to be opened with them and your credit limit is always below that FD amount.

So if you open a Rs 40,000 FD with bank and take a credit card against that FD, then your card limit might be 20-25k per month and if you default of payments for a long time, bank will break the FD and take their dues from it, so there is no risk for bank.

This is the reason that it’s much faster to get a credit card against a fixed deposit and there is no income proof required to get credit card against a FD .

Get set Ready

I hope you are now clear on various things before you apply for credit card from any bank. It’s very important to be very clear on your expectations from the card and for what purpose why you need it.

I would be happy to know your views on this and if you can give some tips to a beginner who is looking for cards for the first time

6 money lessons every investor can learn from Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana Posters

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

I recently was reading about Jan Dhan Yogjna and came across some really nice posters created by their team which is used to educate public in their financial literacy camps.

On looking those posters, I was really touched by its simplicity and how powerful they are to install basic foundation lessons. There were many posters in the PDF file I saw on their website, but I picked 6 posters which I was to show you and teach you some important and foundation lessons on money.

I request you to read what I have written for each of them (don’t skip them) to benefit most from them. I know some of you might feel, these points are not for you, but trust me – many of you need them as much as others.

Lesson  #1 – Essential Expenses comes first before Non-Essential Expenses

financial literacy from Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana

You always have two kind of expenses, essential and nonessential and whatever income you earn should first go into expenses which are extremely essential in nature like food, house, education, Medication etc .

If you see the porter above, it shows you a pot which in its bottom has all the essential things and all the non-essential things come about it. In the similar way, when you are investing or spending your money always ask this question – “Have I taken care of the essential first ?” .

I know this looks too basic thing and its assumed that even a fool knows this, but reality is very different. You will see lots of parents who have spent 30-40 lacs on lavish wedding of their children, who are now struggling to even buy a house.

There are people who have invested their money in land, which is locked and now they are struggling to pay high education fees for their children. There are parents who are saving for their car, even before they have any money accumulated for their kid’s school fees.

Lesson  #2 – Financial Planning is extremely Easy – if you are ready

financial literacy from Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana

The next poster shows the simplicity of financial planning and how easy is it to implement. All you need to do is be ready beforehand and act on requirement. The above poster is created from a poor person’s perspective, but there are big things to learn .

Whatever is your future need, write it and then find out how much you need to invest on a monthly basis and then DO IT . There is no extra ordinary thing done by those investors who always meet their life goals, all they do is properly save with discipline.

Lesson  #3 – Spend, Reduce and Avoid

financial literacy from Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana

You always have 3 categories of expenses in your life. Needs , which needs to be taken care of no matter what you do and you have to spend on those things, no matter what, like education, food, health, medicine. You should make sure you spend on these things and don’t cut on them provided you have the money for these things. Its essentials of life and they are critical for your existence

However there is another category called Wants, which are “great to have” things in life. Things like expensive clothes, entertainment, holidays – which is something where you have to define your limits. You don’t have to cut them out of your life, but always remember how much you need to spend on those things.

You have to REDUCE your spending on these things if possible and then at last there are VICES, which are bad for you, which destroy lives in long run. Smoking, alcohol , gambling etc which give a pleasure in short-term, but should be totally cut out from your life. Most of the people in lower strata of income always remain poor mainly because of these vices.

Lesson  #4 – Debt will destroy you, if you dont handle it properly

financial literacy from Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana

I love this poster most because I know most of the people can relate to it more than other posters. Debt is like sugar – sweet for now, diabetes for future . Millions of people today are in debt cycle which started very small.

When their career started, they bought a bike on EMI , or they swiped their credit card because they need loan for some not so important purpose in life (and many times, very important) and then from that time, till date they are paying the EMI for some of the other purpose.

Availability of easy credit has made them addicted to loans and credit offers. One side when one has to save and grow their money, people in debt cycle are actually doing the reverse.

If you see the image above, you can see how poor people get in debt cycle, the easy availability of credit from sahukar or friend in their village makes sure that they are always in that debt cycle, because anytime they need money, they can get it (at small level) and the interest they pay does not look huge (because it’s in rupees terms) like Take Rs 1000 and give back Rs 2 every day , that is bloody 72% per year. Avoid it if you can

Lesson  #5 – Save money keeping in mind your life cycle needs

financial literacy from Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana

Most of the people live as if life will always be great and they will always see happy days in life just because their current situation is awesome. Bad things happen in life and you can have it too . It’s important that you save for bad days keeping in mind all phases in life.

I came across a 53 yr old person recently who has spent on everything else in life, but has Rs 0 for him today and now when he is free from other responsibilities in life, wondering how will he manage in his old days since only 7 yrs are left before he will be “senior citizen” .

You will see change of jobs, birth of child, death of someone , lowering of income and many other things which will need money that time which brings an important question – “Are you saving minimum 20-30% of your income for your future needs?” . If not , think on this .

Lesson  #6 – Borrow to undertake an activity, which enhances your income

financial literacy from Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana

I want you to stay grounded with that statement for a moment.

– “Borrow to undertake an activity, which enhances your income“

No statement can make it simpler than this. If you are taking loan, ask the question (unless its emergency) – “Will it be used for something which can enhance my income or build me a growing asset ?” . If the answer is YES – you can go ahead, else refrain from it.

Most of the people I came across have tons of personal loans, credit card debt, car loan which is not helping them build anything in life, it’s mainly for their consumption . To some level I am not too much against it personally, but when it’s beyond the limits – it really troubles you all the life because you never get a good enough start in your financial life in initial years.

Basic, but foundation lessons

Today’s article was a bit basic in nature, but I would say its very important one which builds foundation of every investor. Despite it looking basic, millions of investors don’t follow it and get into trouble. I want you to send this article to at least 5 people you know are starting their career, or you feel need some foundations in personal finance knowledge.

Would love to know what you think of these lessons and did you love these posters ?

What happens when you accidentally transfer money to wrong bank account ?

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Have you ever wondered what will happen if you accidently transfer money online to some strangers bank account ? If you are thinking thats its a rare event, you are wrong. There are thousands of real life cases where a person transferred the money to someone account and then realised that one digit in account number has changed by mistake .

Do you get the money back ?

What are the rules from the bank side and what are your rights as a customer? We will look at this topic today, so that you know what you need to be careful about !

NEFT by mistake to someone else account

Before we go ahead, I would like to show you some real life examples and complains people have given

Real Life Example 1 – How Rajni transferred Rs 30,000 to strangers account

I did online transaction of transferring Rs 30,000 with ICICI Bank on September 30th,2008.By mistake I transferred money to wrong account number which I did not intend to .I wanted to transfer money to Adarsh Kumar A/C – 000501518633 but by mistake i transferred it to someone by name Virender Asati A/C 000501518366.I gave written letter to ICICI bank ,GT Road ,Jalandhar branch on Oct 4th which they are not able to trace and then I gave one more written letter to ICICI,Dwarka Branch ,Sector 5 ,New Delhi where I am holding the account in November and also sent several emails to them through net banking but ICICI back says that they can not transfer the money without Account holder’s permission . (Source)

Real Life Example 2 – How Vipin by mistake sent Rs 1,00,000 to strangers bank account

I am writing to you for a payment of 1 lac rupees through NEFT transfer on 2nd April 2012 to my sister Meena A/C . But due to a very high level technical mistake by HDFC my payment didn’t receive to my sister a/c whereas it had gone to other person account in some where. After few days when I enquired about that same we came to know that you have filled a starting digit incorrect that’s why your payment had gone to other person accounts. Here my question is to hdfc if anybody fill any information inaccurate, account will not be added as i know but in my case my all entries was correct except one digit error as you are telling us. It’s a universal awareness that there are so many mandatory requisite information criteria; when they not simultaneously completed transaction becomes failed like unmatched IFSC Code , unmatched city and even error of gender.

From that date I called so many times to customer care and visited the respective branch but I am not getting any proper answer from them and not knowing that what action is taken from your side. This is very sad to me that your are not taking any action and not giving me any assurance of my money. (Source)

Only “Account number” matters for online transfer

Let me give you shock of your life now.

Do you also think that if you transfer money to someone by adding their name, accounts number and IFSC code and if one of those does not match the transaction should fail and you should get back your money in your account. Right ?

But its far from reality ! . As per RBI guidelines, at the end of the day only bank account number should matter and name of the account holder and IFSC code are additional information which should be ideally checked by bank on their end, but there is no rule like that.

If you mess up with the account number, the transaction can go through you the money will be transferred. Its totally a bank choice and a “suggestion” from RBI to banks that they should ideally match Name and IFSC code before the transaction, but its not mandatory.

Below is the RBI notification for you to read, which clearly states this. I suggest you read it fully to understand how the banking world thinks and works.

RBI Notification for using only account number for online transfer

Responsibility lies with the remitter and not beneficiary

As per RBI directions, the final and sole responsibility of cross checking the account number, Name of the account holder, amount and every other detail lies with the remitter (the person who is sending money) and not the beneficiary (who is getting the money) . You can check numerous times before clicking the final button and after that no one else is responsible for your loss or transaction.

You as customer can not blame the bank to not check details at their end. There are thousands of cases where while typing the account number, one last digit got interchanged with another digit and the person did not realise this and their money is then at stake and in most of the cases , they never got it back. (You can learn more about NEFT and RTGS here)

If the account number does not exist, then surely the money will come back to you, because there is no valid destination to send the money. But if the account number exists and its active, then there are high chances that the transaction will go through .

What you should do if you have accidentally transferred money to wrong bank account ?

If you have made a mistake of transferring the money to a strangers account, then you should follow these steps mentioned below

The first step is to make sure you inform your bank the moment you realise that unintended money transfer has taken from from your end. The bank will then contact the beneficiary account holder and try to explain the situation to them. They will ask the account holder to give them permission to reverse back the transaction. In most of the cases, I have read on internet that the recipient of the money have agreed for the reversal (We have good people in this world, despite widespread belief that world is evil) . Below is a real life incident where the person sent back the money.

Getting back money after wrong transfer of money

In some cases, where the other party is greedy (when amounts are quite big) , the other person might not revert back at all or just delay the whole thing and withdraw the money or just don’t take any action . In which case you really are in a fix and it becomes almost impossible to get back your money.

You should then meet the branch manager of your bank, who can go one step further and talk to the destination bank and if they can help in this or in communication with the beneficiary.

One important point to note here is that bank cannot reverse the transaction from their side without the customer approval, because its a breach of agreement and is not the right thing. You never know what exactly is the whole story and who is saying truth (I can pay you and then just say, it happened by mistake)

icici response in case of wrong NEFT transaction

3 Precautions you should always take while transferring money Online ?

Precaution is better than cure, I personally believe that we are ourself responsible for any money transfer done online. Nothing stops us from taking extra precautions while transferring money online.

Lets see few things you can do ..

Trick #1 – Use CTRL-F to verify your account number

Most of the times, we are typing an account number which we have got in our emails, we look at the number (few digits at times) and then type it in other window when we are adding the beneficiary. What I personally do is once I have typed the account number (you cant copy paste the account numbers in all the bank website, as its disabled) . In that case you can just copy your account number from email, and type CTRL-F and paste the number there and you can visually see if it matches with what you just typed. Below is a screenshot I created for you to understand what I am talking about..

copy paste technique wrong neft

Trick #2 – Transfer Rs 1 first and test the transaction incase of big amounts

If you are transferring a big amount to someone, you can go one step ahead and first transfer Rs 1 and then confirm with the beneficiary if they have got it, and then on confirmation, you can trasfer the full amount. But I suggest to use it only in extreme situations when you really want to make sure if the account is genuine or not. At times, you might come across someone who gives you their account number and you are aware that they are careless by nature, and might have made some mistake while sharing account number, In that case you can take this extreme precautionary step ! .

Trick #3 – Verify the account number from right to left

Generally we are programmed to read left to right and we also match the account number that way, truly speaking, it might happen that we sometimes get fooled by our own confidence (4 zero , might look like 5 zero) .. So its better to also cross check the account number digit by digit from right to left. I personally cross check an account number digit by digit 2-3 times because I transfer any money online. I have never faced any issue of wrongly sending money to strangers account or sending excess money by mistake (One excess Zero in 10,000 and it becomes 1 lac) ..

Spend 1 extra minute to save your self big trouble

I hope you are clear by now that its your mistake if you transfer money to someone else account and you cant held someone else responsible for your mistake. Hence its always better to add the beneficiary account with precaution. Always cross check the account number 2-3 times.

I would be happy to know if you benefitted by this article and if there are any real life incidents around this area. Also please share anything related to this topic in comments section.

21 tips you should follow to secure your banking transactions

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

The world of banking has evolved too much in last 10 yrs and the way banking happens now is totally different from past. Millions of people across the world still do not take simple precautions while they should ideally take or they are too casual about things and later regret when they lose money in some kind of fraud.

credit card fraud security

Today I want to talk about simple tips and precautions which you should take in your banking and while transacting with debit and credit cards online. It’s up to you to see which of the suggestions and tips suggested applies to you and how deeper you want to be secured. Here are those tips

1. Scratch your CVV number

It’s one of the most common mistakes almost every credit card and debit card holder does. On the back of your card, there is a 3 digit CVV number, which is very critical information and only you should be aware about it. The first thing you should do after getting the card is that you should memorize and write it down somewhere and then scratch it, so that someone else can’t have a look at it. Note that this step will secure your CVV, but then you have to remember it, you can’t retrieve it back if you forget it yourself!

2. Make sure your internet banking password is very strong

Your password for internet banking is probably the most important thing you have to take care of. Make sure you keep it very strong. Do not use your date of birth, name, etc in password, so that one can’t guess it and it’s only known to you. Make sure you have Capital Letters, Numbers, special characters in the password (anyway it’s mandatory in most of the banks portals).

strong password for banking

And if possible keep a long password, which makes it tougher to crack and even if someone is watching your fingers typing movement, it becomes extremely tough for them to remember. It’s a good idea to check your password strength on this password strength calculator

3. Make sure have sms alerts enabled for any amount

Make sure you have SMS alerts for all the debit and credit transactions. A lot of online frauds are series of transactions like buying 10 times on a similar site or couple of recharges to various mobile phones. If you get notifications on your phone even for small amounts, it will help you identify the start of a fraudulent activity.

4. Make sure you buy insurance for your wallet and its contents

Companies like OneAssist and CPPIndia have products like wallet insurance, which will cover you from theft and other frauds which are possible in day to day life. Not just that, they have much more than just insuring your credit and debit cards.

If you have ICICI bank Account, you can upgrade your debit card to RubyX and you will get One Assist complimentary benefits for your wallet insurance. Read more on this topic here

5. Do not save your banking passwords in Phone or Email in plain English

It’s a human tendency to take the shortcut route all the times, but when there is your money involved, it’s better not to ! . Do not store your banking passwords etc (I would say any password) in plain English in your emails or drafts or phone. Always make sure it’s in some format which only you understand, like interchange the alphabets one after another (e.g. – 12A47* becomes 214A*7) , so that you know what is the password, but even if someone gets access to it, has to spend some time to crack it. If you can avoid that also, it’s much better.

The other thing you can do is, you can just store start, middle and end 1-2 characters, because most of the times, we just need the start (most of us have multiple passwords). So if your password is MANISH987_FAKEpassw0rd , then you can store it as MA…98…FA…rd , and that’s all . You will most probably be able to recall it considering you are using it from long time, but someone else will not.

6. Never share your CVV / Expiry date to anyone on Telephone or email ever

Being financial literacy at low levels, millions of people are not aware which information is critical and which is not when it comes to credit cards, debit cards and online banking. Things like CVV , your Expiry dates etc are never ever asked by any bank customer care. They ask things like card number, start date, date of birth etc for verification purpose. But there are scams going on internationally where scamsters pose as actual customer care and in name of verification call, they ask for CVV number and Expiry Date, which is extremely confidential information and no one other than the cardholder should know.

7. Don’t let others punch your PIN at restaurants or Petrol Pump

I have seen tons of people who share their debit card CVV number at hotels while dining or even at petrol pumps just because its shortcut, and in 99% cases, nothing happens too and you are safe. But that 1% case is dangerous where someone looks at your expiry and CVV number, and then do the online transaction without requiring your OTP password (6 digit) on international websites (that last level authentication is just applicable for Indian websites)

I personally think you should punch your PIN yourself and not share it with others. Most of the time some restaurants even carry the EDC machine and bring it to you. If you are sharing your PIN with others and handing over cards at hotels, don’t be surprised if someday you get a sms saying – “You just purchased …. worth $340 at amazon.com” , it happens and very much can happen with you too! . Read the incident below

Four unauthorized transactions happened to my ICICI credit card on 27 Jan 2014 in USA in a Grocery Shop amount $1200 (Rs 70000) approx. The Credit card was with me all the times at Bangalore and I never shared my credit card or personal info to anyone. I was using the ICICI credit card from last 6 years. The transactions happened in night and in the morning I show the sms alerts and called customer care about that. (Source)

8. Have the customer care numbers in your mobile for emergency purpose

You should make sure that you have your credit card company customer care stored in your mobile to inform them as soon as possible in case there is some fraud transaction with your account or card. At times, we come to know about the fraud and we feel that we will inform the customer care as soon we reach home/office. But that can actually turn against you because of delay.

9. While using your ATM card, make sure you block the view of others

Looks are deceptive . You never know who is watching you and your activity and what’s their plan? It’s always a good idea to cover your hand while punching the PIN and make sure no one is looking at you. If its ATM, make sure no one is around you. I know many must be thinking that they should probably skip this point, but only when some fraud happens, you realize how important it is.

It’s like people start wearing helmets only after an accident and buy health insurance only when someone in relatives had paid a big bill at hospital.

block hand while entering ATM pin

10. Avoid ATM transactions very late at night or at lonely places

If possible, it’s better to avoid ATM transactions at lonely places or at nighttime especially after 10-11 pm . If you are using ATM’s at remote locations, you have to be extra cautious. There are numerous cases where someone entered the ATM while someone was using it and they at gunpoint looted them or because it was lonely and dark, someone tried to rob someone coming out of ATM.

ATM robbers , not safe at night

11. If you don’t swipe your cards regularly, keep it at home

I do this myself. I generally use only credit card when I am transacting offline, and use credit card only for online transactions, so I don’t not carry my credit card at all (haven’t seen it from last one year actually). So if you do not use it on a very regular basis or only in some pre-know situations , then it’s better to carry them only when you require them. Else just keep it at home.

I know this does not apply for many people, but you can still learn from this point .

12. Do not put much info on Social Media

I have seen numerous cases of people sharing their bank account details, phone number, email id, PAN and even date of birth online one various portals online (even on this blog) especially on consumer complaint websites. Note that you can write your entire story without your critical details too. Never share your personal details with anyone stranger or on public forum

13. Enable Two Factor Authentication for your transactions

Enabling two factor authentications means that you will be asked to enter your transaction password and then either an OTP (which comes on SMS) or your card grid values. So there is security at two levels.
e
debit card grid value
Most of the banks now have this by default, but if your bank has a choice of it, then you should enable it and if your email accounts are too precious, then even they have two factor authentications now (Gmail)

14. Never click on links on email to go to sites

You should never click on the links which come on your email and visit the website of a bank or credit card company. That might be a fraud email, which is taking you to a similar looking website. As far as possible, always make sure you only open the website either by clicking on a pre-stored web address or book marked one by you or type it yourself and always make sure it starts with https://

Below is an example of one such email which was sent by a fraudster on the name of Axis Bank Security update, which was taking the person to some other website on clicking the link mentioned in the email.

axis bank security alert mail

Image Source (read the full story on this link)
15. Never access your internet banking passwords and accounts from cyber cafe and someone else PC

You should make sure you do not access your internet banking (and even your important mail accounts) from a public computer or unsecured networks. Places like cyber cafes are a NO NO .. I would even make sure that I do not operate my internet banking from someone else computer too. You never know what kind of softwares are stored on someone computer. There are programs called “Key loggers” which record your which keys are you typing and it keeps a note of it and can later be retrieved.

Even some viruses and Trojans might be stealing your important information on real time and you might be at risk

16. Make sure your computer firewall is turned on and are running antivirus software

A lot of people turn off their firewall to increase the speed of internet . Make sure you avoid keeping it off. The firewall of your computer is extremely important to protect you. Also, make sure you have a good antivirus installed in your computer and keep cleaning it from time to time. You never know what bad thing got installed while you were downloading something over the net (especially when you use torrents)

17. Use Mobile Antivirus in case you access banking from your phone

If you use your mobile frequently to access banking, then it’s a good idea to have even mobile antivirus installed . Most of the troubles come from the least expected people and place.

18. Do not choose to save your passwords in browser when it asks for it

When you login to any website with username and password, browsers often ask you if you want to save the password, so that you it auto populates it next time.

don’t save password in browser

19. Keep your computer OS and browser up-to-date

Its highly recommended that you have an up-to-date browser and Operating system (I hope no one has Windows XP or Vista or old version of IE/Mozilla/Chrome) . There are several security updates which keep coming and many loopholes are detected and fixed from time to time. Almost all the banks suggest it clearly that users should keep their OS and Browsers updated. ICICI bank also mentions it on their security tips webpage ..

keep browser up to date for secured banking

20. Use Virtual Keyboard if possible

You must have seen a keyboard kind of interface which can be used while typing password and username, you can use it to make sure you are safe. As I explained before, there are programs like ‘Spy Ware’, which can detect which keys are you hitting and can steal that data. But when you use the virtual keyboard, it can only record which keys you pressed because it’s not happening on your computer, but one the bank server (experts on this topic, please correct me if I am wrong)

virtual keyboard for online banking

You should read more on this topic here

21. Use a separate browser for banking purpose

I think it’s a great idea to use a separate browser itself for banking purpose. Like if you are using Chrome for your other browsing, you can keep Firefox reserved for the banking related activities. I know this might sound like it’s going to extreme level of security, but then it depends on how paranoid you are about this security thing. It’s a personal choice of yours. If you do this, you can choose to disable the cache at all and not save anything in browser at all by default, no plugins , no add ons .. just pure minimal level of browser.

Secure your Banking NOW!

I know that most of the people might be following a lot of things mentioned here. Now it’s time for you to follow the other things mentioned here. Banking is one of the core element of your financial life, which can be considered the central element I would say. It’s extremely important to take care of it with highest level of security.

I would love to hear your comments and any new tips if you want to give from your side?

When exactly does PPF account mature ? Answer is not 15 yrs !

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

When does a PPF account mature ? If you thought that its 15 yrs from the date you started your PPF account, then you are wrong ? Yes – there is a myth around this topic and most of the people do not know how does it actually work.

Its extremely simple to find out when exactly your PPF account matures, and let me show you how to calculate it!

How is PPF maturity date calculated for PPF account ?

The maturity period for PPF account is 15 years from the close of the financial year in which the initial subscription was made. Its that simple. So if you open your PPF account on 4th Nov 2014, this date lies in the financial year 2014-2015 , then the financial year ends on 31st Mar, 2015 .

So the 15 yrs will be calculated from this date (31st Mar, 2015) and the lock in year would be 2015+15 = 2030 . So the exact date would be 1st Apr, 2030 in this case.

ppf maturity calculation

Note that PPF maturity always happens on 1st Apr , and not any random date of a year. Most of the people just add 15 yrs to the date of opening of PPF account to find out the maturity date.

Below you can see a short video which will explain PPF maturity calculation to you. Have a look at it.

So technically your PPF account can mature in 16 yrs in best case, suppose you open your PPF account in the first week of Apr, then your 15 yrs will be calculated from the next year (financial year ends on 31st Mar of the next year).

Jagoinvestor Android App Launched – Read articles on your Mobile

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

I am happy to share that finally we have launched an android app for the blog and an iOS app is in making and will be launched very soon.

You can do various things on the mobile app like reading the latest articles, checking your portfolio (for clients only), do your mutual funds investments and redemptions. You can also visit our knowledge section and check out some education material or use financial calculators on the app.

Here is the Android app link

jagoinvestor mobile android app

 

I hope this will make life easy for many people. You can download the app on any mobile or tablet which is on android platform. Give give your suggestions and comments on this.

Everything you wanted to know about Advance Tax and Penalties under it

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Are you paying your income tax only at the end of the financial year ? If your answer is YES, then understand that you are doing it in wrong manner. Today we will learn about Advance Tax which is not widely understood and its quite important thing to know. I know that majority of the people don’t follow this process and pay the income tax at the end of the year only (infact on the last minute many times), But today you should understand if advance tax is applicable in case your case or not.

You can either view the youtube video below to learn about it, or skip it and read the article below.

What is Advance Tax ?

As the name suggests, Advance Tax is part payment of your income tax liability in advance. So instead of paying everything at the end of the year, you pay it 3 times in a year in parts. The concept of Advance tax exists because govt wants you to pay income tax as you earn month after month and not at the end of the year. Advance tax is to be paid when your annual tax liability exceeds Rs 10,000 overall .

However important point is that Advance tax is applicable on your Income from sources other than your Salary like

  • Interest on FDs or Savings bank deposits exceeding Rs. 10,000/-
  • Rental income on House Property/properties
  • Capital Gains on sale of Mutual Funds or Shares
  • Income from any other sources not mentioned as above.

Which means that if you are a salaried employee who does not have any other income source and if your employer deducts TDS regularly, then Advance Tax is not applicable in your case. You dont need to worry about it.

On which date you have to pay Advance Tax ?

You have to pay advance tax 3 times in a year, which is 15th Sept , 15th Dec and 15th Mar and you should be paying not less than 30% , 60% and 100% of your income tax liability before these dates. Below picture makes it clear for you.

advance tax payment

Which means that if your income tax liability for a year is Rs 1,00,000 , then you should pay advance tax of Rs 30,000 by 15th Sept, another Rs 30,000 by 15th Dec and rest Rs 40,000 by the end of 15th Mar

What if I don’t pay Advance Tax on time ?

If Advance Tax is applicable in your case, then you should be paying it on time, but if you don’t pay it on time, then you can pay it on the next due date along with the interest. So those who have not paid the first installment (i.e. September 15) of Advance Tax (if applicable to you), then you can pay it together with second installment (on of before 15th Dec), but with interest on the first instalment for deferment of the same by three month and if you are not paying it even on Dec 15th , then you can pay it by the end of the year along with the interest.

You will be charged with penalty under Sec 234B and 234C incase you ddon’tpay your advance tax on time. Let me quickly share what is sec 234C and sec 234B

Understanding Penalty under Section 234C

Lets first understand sec 234C. Under this section, if you don’t pay your installments of advance tax on time, then you are charged 1% of simple interest for next 3 months on the amount of shortfall. So this is the penalty to be paid because of DELAY!

Understanding Penalty under Section 234B

If your total advance tax paid by last due date (15th Mar) is less than 90% of your advance tax liability, then you will have to pay 1% interest on the balance amount each month until you complete the payment. which means that suppose your income tax liability is Rs 1,00,000 in total and if you have not paid anything upto 15th Mar, then you will be charged 1% on the outstanding balance (Rs 1 lac in this case) each month, unless you pay it, so if you pay in June , then you will be charged for 3 months penalty and it would be Rs 3,000 in total other than penalty under sec 234C.

Lets understand sec 234B and 234C with help of case studies. Lets assume that your total Income Tax payment for the year would be Rs 50,000, then as per rules of Advance tax, you should be paying

  • Rs 15,000 by 15th Sept
  • Another Rs 15,000 by 15th Dec
  • And Rest 20,000 by 15th Mar

Now imagine you don’t pay any advance tax , then how much penalty you will pay under sec 234B and 234C under various situations ? Below I have explained 4 situations where you pay your full income tax on different dates. Check out how much penalty you will have to pay under these situations !

advance tax payment example

How to pay Advance Tax ?

Now comes the final question, that how can you pay your advance tax ? Most of the people are worried on this, as they feel that paying advance tax would be very tough or involves lots of hassles, but thats not correct. You can make payment of your advance tax in less than 5 min.

There are mainly two ways of payment advance tax.

1. Offline option

Almost all the banks have tie up with govt for accepting the advance tax from the taxpayers, you can go to the banks which have the tie up and fill up the challan number 280 and pay your advance tax to them.

1. Online Payment of Advance Tax

The other faster way to make payment online. Here is how it works

Step 1: Go to https://onlineservices.tin.egov-nsdl.com/etaxnew/tdsnontds.jsp

challan 280 for advance tax payment

2. Choose Advance Tax option and other details and make payment

When come to the next page, you will have to choose various details here. Make sure you choose your

  • PAN Number (of utmost importance)
  • Advance Tax (under Type of Payment)
  • Email, Phone and Address details
  • Assessment year (to know more about this, click here)

Once you choose these details, you can then click on “proceed” and it will connect you to the Bank which you had selected, It will show you your NAME on the next page, so that you can confirm there was no mistake from you end, then you can make the payment online, and you will be able to print the receipt online (you will also get it on email)

Online Payment of Advance Tax

Are you paying your Advance Tax

I guess, you are now clear about the advance tax and how its calculated . Its a good practice to pay your advance tax on time and do not delay it because it can mean a penalty of few thousand rupees in most of the cases. I know its tempting to delay the headache and complete the payment once in a year, a lot of people might be ok with paying some penalty, but then you also invite related problems with it. Pick your choice.

Join Action Month – Take-up 30 Day Challenge to complete your Life & Health Insurance (Download E-BOOK)

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

We are back with Action Month ! … You may be high on knowledge, but check if action is missing in your financial life or not ? If thats the case, action month will be of great help to you.  We invite you to see Action month as an opportunity for you to get into action.

Action month is a group campaign where you can choose to be a part of it and promise yourself to complete long time pending tasks in your financial life. This time we will provide full encouragement and support to bring a turnaround in your financial life.

If you are ready to take-up “30 DAY CHALLENGE” we would love to have you as action month participant.

We decided to bring back the action month in the month of Dec, 2015 and its mission is to help you in protecting your family.There are two area’s which you need to take care if you want to protect your family and yourself and they are

  • Life Insurance
  • Health Insurance

Top 5 Reasons – Why people remain under insured in Life and Health Insurance

  • Casualness: A lot of people are casual when it comes to buying health and life insurance cover. They are simply not present to the importance of this area and so they end-up without adequate life and health cover
  • Over analysis: A lot of so called “intelligent” investors choose to remain busy with their product over research habit.Because of this they continue doing analysis all the time. Over analysis keeps them away from taking right kind of action
  • Confusion: There are innumerable products available in the market and any investor can very easy fall into confusion trap. Confusion is one big reason why people fail at buying life and health insurance policy.
  • Procrastination: A lot of investors know they need to buy life and health cover but they are victim of procrastination. They continue to procrastinate and remain under insured
  • Fear: A lot of investors are afraid to approach companies and advisors. They are afraid of either getting wrong advice or they think they will be pressurized to buy wrong products. Inside this fear they do not initiate conversation of having life and health cover.

Bonus Reason to Join Action Month

I will give you one more reason for joining action month. Its already the month of Dec, and in next 1-2 months you would need to submit your investment receipts in your company to avail income tax benefits. If you complete taking life + health insurance in this month, you will have your recipts by Jan and you will be able to save income tax under sec 80C and 80D .

How will this Action Month Work?

Step 1

 Calculate your Life Insurance and Health Insurance status by using the calculators below

Step 2

 Register for the action month by filling up the form below we will send a joining kit which has 2 ebooks on life insurance and health insurance as GIFT in 48 business hours.

Step 3

 You then become part of our 30 day challenge action month, where you promise yourself to complete your actions before the end of this year (within 30 days).You have choice to take actions on your own or take Jagoinvestor support in completing both the actions.Claim Settlement Assistance – Jagoinvestor Team will be providing claim assistance service to all the clients who will buy TERM PLAN under our guidance.

Calculate your Life Insurance and Health Insurance Status

Below is a simple life insurance and health insurance calculator, which will help you understand where you stand in these areas. Put your numbers and see the output, and then fill up the form below these calculators to be a part of this amazing action month.

Join the Action Month REVOLUTION and be part of 30 day challenge

Finally, fill up the form below to register yourself in the action month and be part of our 30 day challenge. When you fill up the form below, you  officially register yourself in Action month and after 1 month we will ask for your actions and what is the status. Once you get policy in your hand we will ask you for a picture of you holding your policy with your loved ones.

ACTION MONTH IS CLOSED

Welcome to the 100 crore Club

(We want to HELP over 100 families in having adequate life and health cover)

We really wish that in this action month, the combined sum assured taken crosses at least 100 crore. Even if 100 people take 1 crore sum assured, it will be total of Rs 100 crores, which we call as 100 crore club. Are you going to be part of it ?

If you have any doubts or issues regarding this action month, you can ask your question below in comments section.

13 awesome ideas to make extra income other than your regular job [part 5/5]

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Do you want to make extra income on a consistent basis apart from your regular job ? In this 5th article under “increasing income” series, we are going to look at some of the ways you can make some extra money other than your salary. I will be discussing 13 ideas, out which which most of the things can be instantly tried out by most of you.

Note that, here were are not talking about creating passive income which requires huge investment. We are mostly going to talk about ideas which can be implemented without requirement of huge capital, but only some time and dedication.

Lets look at these ideas one by one..

1. Consulting in your domain

If you are expert in some area, you can always give your consultancy service to smaller businesses who cant hire big companies. When we were brainstorming with a client of ours to generate second line of income, he identified that he has some great knowledge in the area of terrace gardening. He could see that he can help families with large enough terrace to setup their own balcony garden and earn some fees over weekends or extra time.

consulting

Look back at what all you know and have learned over these years, and you will realise that you have some really deep knowledge in some field, and surely there are many who are looking for someone like you, who will guide them well for a lesser fees (compared to professional fulltime companies)

2. Referral Business

Connecting two entities is another great way to make extra money by spending less energy. So can always have an agreement with some business entity to give clients on referral basis and earn a commission. I recently hired a designer for some work and I asked him if he knows someone who can PRINT the designs for me. He referred me to his friend who done the printing work. I am sure he must have got some cut for the referral and there is nothing wrong in it. Its a smart way of earning money.

Here is what Ajay shares in our last article.

I used to refer students to a local computer institute where i myself learnt ms office. they used to pay me 10% of the course fees paid by the student. i used to earn average between 1000 to 3000 monthly those days.

You might not know that even builders pay you 20-30k for each client referred (who bought the house). So now, have you got a friend who is into business or some kind of service ? Just talk to him if you can pass on clients to him and earn some money on it.

3. Create products and sell on Ebay

With websites like Ebay and OLX, you can now sell virtually anything on internet to those who are looking for products. So you can do some handicraft or anything else, which can be created at home in extra time and then it can be sold on ebay. Or you can find some local product which others would find awesome, but its not available in other parts of country and then start selling it online for a profit. Even you can look at some products which are selling at huge discount at stores (wholesale market or under clearance sale) and then sell it on amazon at regular price.

Earning from Ebay

Earlier, when you wanted to sell something along side your job, you needed to have a shop and someone was required to be at shop all the day, not anymore !.

Ramit has a great article dedicated on this topic.

4. Create a Course and Sell on Udemy.com or Skillshare.com

If you are an expert in some area, which you think can be taught to others by creating a course out of it, you can always sell it on udemy.com or skillshare.com and make money on the fees recieved by the students. So if you are an expert on cooking, Yoga, SEO , Designing, MS Excel, Java, Python … whatever.. Create a nice rich course , record your videos and done ! .. You can tie up with these websites and then earn a lot money. Just understand those models and work on it.

skillshare

5. Freelancing online

If you have extra time with you over weekends or after your job, you can freelance and take small projects. There are many websites like elance.com , odesk.com or freelancer.com where you can earn money by working on projects. There are thousands of people in India who are working full time on these kind of freelancing websites and believe me, they are earning in lakhs. Look at it as a serious way of making money and not just a time pass activity.

earning from freelancing

6. Become a Tutor online if you love teaching

If you have a knack for teaching and if you are an expert in some subject, you can become a tutor online for students. There are tons of websites like TutorVista or Tutor.com where you can try out this. You would need a great internet connectivity for this. It can work best for someone who is ready to work late in nights as many students from US and Canada would be right fit for you then.

7. Tutions at Home

This is the old favorite way of earning some side income. You must have listened to great stories of how many people have supported their families and their own studies just by taking tuitions. Then why not to extend your income even if you have a job ?

Do you know Music ? Are you an expert in Maths ? Vedic Maths ? Yoga or may be cooking ? Do you live in a residential society which has 100’s of other families? Then tutions is a perfect thing you can start give you are good at what you claim to. You can always dedicate 2 hours (if you really have them) and do some basic advertising in your apartment or nearby places and take students to teach them at home. The best part of this kind of tutors is that you refresh your dying knowledge, earn some money at the comfort of your home and you kill time which goes into unproductive things most of the times. myprivatetutor.com is a good place to register and start with.

7. Rent your empty house/room on Airbnb.co.in

Do you know that next time you head over to Goa for a family holiday, you can just rent out the whole house for 6-8 people at just Rs 5,000 a day . Thats correct!

airbnb in india

Airbnb gives you great way to rent your house or even an empty room, if you want to earn some extra money out of it. You can always give your extra room to travellers and people who are looking for 1 day-week stay on Airbnb.co.in. Just put pictures of your house/room, explain your conditions and rules, put the facilities and thats all. Clients will find your listing, make the payment online, and if you accept, you host them!.

The best part is that you keep 97% of the fees paid and you don’t have to search for clients yourself . Serve them as they come. If you have a full house at some great tourist place like Goa/Shimla/Manali or those kind of places, you can put your whole house on rental basis. Many people who have a second home or extra room, hire a maid and offer the full range of services of a regular basis. Imagine if your extra room is rented even 5 times a month and you earn Rs 1,000 from it ? Its Rs 5,000 extra income !

8. Teach someone live on Google Helpouts

If you have a skill, you can teach someone live on google helpouts. There are tons of categories like Arts and Music, Cooking, Home and Garden, Fitness and Nutrition and many more .. which you can choose from.

Google Helpouts

In this era of globalisation, I am sure there are enough number of people in the world who would like to pay to someone to learn some thing unique.

9. Do Odd jobs at Fiverr.com

Imagine you want your logo/brochure to be designed or want your website andriod app to be created ? It can be done at only $5 (Rs 300). There are tons of odds things you can do at fiverr.com . Most of the times its a small manual task, which is super easy for you, but tough for others.

A small assignment can be done at fiverr.com for $5 and you can raise the fees depending on the complexity involved. There are tons of people in world who are looking at delegating some task at a small fee.

fiverr

I have used it 2 times myself to get some work done and paid $5 two times.

10. Cooked meals Pickup

I recently ordered some amazing Egg Biryani in Pune (the most delicious) I had till date and the lady sold it from her home through registering at tastykhana.in. I had to go to the place to pickup the biryani.

That got me thinking how many people in our country cook some amazing things, but never capitalize on it. So if you have people at home who cook some speciality and you feel that it will loved by people in your city, you can start pickup service at home. Get the order, prepare the food , opt to deliver at home (at extra cost) or ask them to pick up from your place. And if you are thinking about preparing “Andhra meals” in Pune, I am your customer already.

11. Starting a Creche at Home

I am not talking about professional/big size creche here. If your home is big enough and there is a scope of it, a simple creche can be started. There will surely be some market for it. If most of the couples living around you are into full day jobs, you can surely cash on this opportunity and think about it.

Even if it means renting another 1 BHK flat and starting your creche there, its worthwhile. See how you can actually implement this – I just gave a direction

12. Freelance writing for someone websites/newspapers

If you are strong in writing and can put your ideas on paper in creative manner, then you can write for newspapers and magazines. I get tons of emails myself for freelance writing (i don’t do it but). Here is what Abhijit kulkarni has done..

earning by freelancing

Checkout how you can put your writing skill to earn more..

13. Sell nutritious health drinks around the Park nearby

One of our readers shared this idea with us. If there is nearby park or place, where people come for walk, jogging early morning, then you can always sell health/vegetable drinks and various healthy breakfast too. I am sure it will help you also personally to take care of your health and earn some extra income.

If you don’t have some one at home to do it or you lack time, you can employ a part time person to do this for 2-3 hours and pay them salary or a profit cut.

14. BONUS IDEA – Be a passive partner in someone else business

I know most of the people can’t do fulltime business, because they are into a regular job. But you can always invest your money, your ideas and some basic level of administration to run a side business along with a 3rd party whom your trust.

There are many awesome people, who have the ability and passion to do some business, but they dont have money or experience or some ideas to implement. You can partner with them and offer to invest money in the business and also contribute your time over weekends or after work if its possible for you.

Example 1 – Image a person who has a shop, you can help him/her start a internet cafe – because you are an expert in computers, networking and know the technical side of how to do it. You can build the systems and overall business. You do the backside work and the other person does the front office job. Divide the profits !

Example 2 – Do you know someone who is looking for a job and can drive well, but has limited time? How about you buy a Maruti Van and ask him to use it to start a pick and drop business for children in school . Divide the profits ! ..

Sonme months back, I heard the founder of Tastykhana.in in a TIE talk, where he shared that when they desperately needed some money in the starting years of their business, that time – one of the employee of an IT company put in Rs 1 lac in their business and within a year or two, he got back 20 lacs return through an exit option when they got funding later (it was something like this, if not exact)

Can you see a point I am making? I know its not an as easy as it sounds, but at the same time, its not as tough as you imagine. You need to take some level of risk and try out these things if you want to earn extra income.

How to handle .. “But .. “

I know these ideas must have pumped a lot of excitement in you and a lot of you might have a feeling of “But … and followed by some reason”.

Note that earning an extra income apart from your regular job, takes huge commitment. Its simple, but not an easy task. Its not for weak hearted. You will have to keep aside some of your reasons,come out of your comfort zone and take some pain in order to implement it.

It might means waking up early, it might mean sacrificing something in life (Read the story of Anupam on creating second income) , you might have to redesign your schedule, ask for support from others and taking some tough decisions. There is no shortcut when you want to make money in life.

This is exactly why most of the people never create any additional income, because they never take efforts for it. They are just focus on reducing their expenses, where the possibility is limited. Today I invite you to look at the other side, thats INCREASING YOUR INCOME, which has unlimited potential.

Also do not focus on the quantum of money you earn in the starting. What about Rs 1,000 extra in the first month ? It pays your PHONE BILL ! . Thats big thing .. Its EXTRA money afterall. I hope you loved these ideas and you would surely try out atleast one of these over the next 1 month. Plan for it and take action.

I would like to hear some more ideas from you, no matter how silly or crazy they sound. Even if its something which can earn you Rs 100 extra, please share it. Any contribution is appreciated.

What happens if policyholder dies within grace period ? The answer may surprise you !

Posted on by Jagoinvestor

Do you know what happens when the policyholder dies within the grace period provided after the due date of paying the premium. The answer might surprise you because there is a big myth around this topic.

Every life insurance company provide a grace period of 30 days for paying the premium after the due date is over. Companies send reminders on SMS and emails to make sure the customer pays their premiums on or before the due date. But if they forget to pay the premiums on time, still they get 30 days of grace period.

If premium are not yet paid after the grace period, then the policy is considered to be LAPSED and no death benefits will be given if the death happens after the grace period.

Do you get sum assured if death happens during grace period ?

And the answer is YES. As per the rules, if the death of the policy holder occurs on the due date of the premium payment or during the grace period, still the policy is valid and the beneficiaries will get the sum assured. But after deducting the the unpaid premium for the current year.

As a proof I am putting up a proof of what the website of Max New York Life Insurance says below. You can see the exact wordings below.

Grace Period in Life Insurance

So if a person has taken a 1 crore term plan for a 30 yrs period with premium Rs 10,000 per year on 20th dec 2010 and imagine the policy has run for 3 yrs , and now its the 4th premium is to be paid on 20th dec 2014 . The grace period will be upto 20th Jan 2015 .

Now if the premium was not paid and the death happens on 25th Dec 2014 , then its during the grace period. How much will be the sum assured paid to the customer family ?

It would be Sum Assured – all unpaid premiums for the current year

= 1 crore – 10,090
= 99.9 Lacs

Payment of Sum Assured if death happens during grace period

There have been a lot of cases, where a person just discontinued his policy for some reason and they faced an accident and died. Internet is full of these kind of cases.

A lot of times death happens during the grace period and because the family is not well educated on this aspect, they don’t know that they are still liable for a claim (we provide our clients family claim assistance service).

Conclusion

So make sure you do not forget to pay your premiums and make sure you do not wait for the reminders from the insurance company. You can set up your own reminders and be more alert and proactive on this.

Let us know if you knew about this information or not ?