It’s very necessary for a housewife to be financially savvy and at least have a bank account. Whatever money she saves from the monthly budget, she can deposit in this bank account. Your Mom is saving INR 500 a month and having her own bank account might persuade her to save more. She might get some money as gifts from relatives which she deposits in this bank account. Your mother can then inves [...] View More

Your husband is the life assured under the life insurance policy. As he has passed away, you must send the claim intimation to the life insurer as soon as possible[NB1].As you are the nominee, you can send the claim intimation. The claim intimation must contain date, place, and cause of death. See if you can contact the life insurance agent your husband used to deal with. It's his duty to help you [...] View More

A corporate health planis taken up by the management of the Company to cover employees of an organization and is customized depending on the benefits the management wants to give its employees. The cover given by your employer might not meet your family's health needs.It is always advisable to have your own family floater health insurance plan. You have your own family floater plan which is a very [...] View More

A family floater is a health insurance plan where all members of a family are covered under one policy. You (proposer) pay the premium of the plan. You can cover self + spouse + 2 children + parents, under this plan. If you and any member of your family are over 45, all members covered have to compulsorily undergo medical tests before the policy is issued. If the proposer dies the policy is not t [...] View More

This is a very good idea. You can get a loan against FD up to maximum of 90% of its value. You get this loan as overdraft against the FD. You get this loan at much lower interest than a personal loan which charges a very high interest as there is no collateral/guarantee. Loan against FD charges interest,which is around 2-2.5% higher than interest paid by the bank on the FD. The tenure of the loan [...] View More

Life insurance plans issued in India, have Worldwide coverage. If you (policyholder) die abroad, your nominee (wife) gets the death benefit. The death benefit is payable only in India and in Indian rupees. Your wife will have to submit documents like claim form, death certificate and certificates from authorities, with the insurer in India. You have a facility in the policy service form where you [...] View More

Occupancy Certificate (OC) is issued by Municipal Authorities under respective state laws and it states that the building is safe to occupy. You cannot legally move into your apartment unless you get the OCas the Corporation/ Municipality can ask you to vacate the apartment. The OC certifies that your building has been constructed according to proper standards and as per local laws. The OC is issu [...] View More

You have sold the property after 3 years of purchase and hence your profit is called long term capital gain. You have to pay tax on long term capital gains at 20% + cess, after adjusting the profits to indexation benefit. With indexation benefits your acquisition price would be adjusted for the inflation and you pay less capital gains tax. Long Term Capital Gains = Sale Price – Indexed Cost [...] View More

Any person, engaged in intraday trading is automatically treated as someone who is engaged in a business and his income shall be assessed as Income earned from Business and tax rate shall be same as any other business activity. Intra-day trading transactions are treated as speculative transactions and the net income earned, after deducting eligible expenses incurred to earn the profit, is taxed as [...] View More

You get the life insurance docket as a physical copy or a soft copy. Some life insurers only give you physical copies and not soft copies.The docket consists of policy document, claims form, policy wording and risk, details of your first premium payment, proposal form and medical report. If you want to take a loan against the life insurance plan, you need this docket. Iyou/your wife/nomineehas [...] View More

Rental yields of most properties including those in Bengaluru are in the range of 4-5% a year. But, the banks charge a much higher interest on home loans (say 9-10% a year). Even with tax benefits, renting a house is a better option. Buy a house/property only if you are confident of good returns (capital appreciation) in a few years. If the value of the property you plan to buy does not double eve [...] View More

There is no need for you to sell your stocks to collect money for the business. You can get 50% of the value of the stocks as a loan against stocks from a bank or an NBFC. Banks have a list of stocks (approved stocks), against which they are willing to lend. Banks open a current account in your name with an overdraft facility. You can withdraw money from this account, whenever you want and re [...] View More

Equity mutual funds usually pay out the redemption amounts within 3 business/working days. If you have not received your money within 10 working days, then the mutual fund has to pay interest at the rate of 15% per year, for every day the payout is delayed. If the mutual fund house is not looking into your complaints, approach the online grievance system, SCORES (Sebi Complaints Redress System [...] View More

Direct plans of mutual funds have a lower expense ratio compared to the regular plan.This is because you invest directly with the mutual fund house and don’t require the services of a mutual fund distributor, saving on commissions paid to him. This saving helps you get good returns over the long term. But, you are a new investor and you may need a financial adviser to help you make the right inv [...] View More

If you are contributing to the finances of the family, you must avail term life insurance. In India its common for the man to avail term life insurance, while the wife even if she is working does not take life insurance. If you are inadequately insured, an unexpected demise can destroy your family’s financial goals, as your husband’s income might not be sufficient to manage expenses and the h [...] View More

If your total income exceeds the basic threshold limit, then you must pay tax as per the income tax slab you fall under. Your total income is the income from all sources including your salary.As your combined income from both organizations is INR 4 Lakhs which has exceeded the basic threshold of INR 2.5 Lakhs, you must file ITR for the relevant financial year. You get a tax deduction under Section [...] View More

Understand the difference between traders and investors. Traders are in the stock market for short term gains. Traders can invest for the short term if they are disciplined, hard working and have working knowledge of the stock market. You are an investor not a trader. You need to invest for the long term. Unfortunately, you have behaved like a trader and so have lost money in stocks. First sto [...] View More

This is a very good idea. You can get a loan against FD up to maximum of 90% of its value. You get this loan as overdraft against the FD. You get this loan at much lower interest than a personal loan which charges a very high interest as there is no collateral/guarantee. Loan against FD charges interest, which is around 2-2.5% higher than interest paid by the bank on the FD. The tenure of the loan [...] View More

There are several complaints against builders, the most common being deficiency in service, ceiling leakage, no proper drainage system, low quality of electric wiring. These are unfair practices committed by builders against their customers. You can file a complaint before the consumer forum for deficient service rendered by the builder. The builder would have to repair/correct these defects at hi [...] View More

It is compulsory for you to disclose all information about your health at the proposal stage when the policy is being issued and you have done so. Medical tests were conducted and your obligations are fulfilled. If you are hospitalized the insurer must settle your claims as per the insurance scheme. If your health insurance plan has guaranteed renewal for life, the insurer cannot refuse to renew [...] View More

A few fund houses are known to offer systematic investment plans (SIP’s), which offer the benefit of insurance protection. You get insurance under SIP-cum-insurance plans which is 100 times your monthly SIP. The maximum amount of insurance cover you get is INR 20 Lakhs. You get less cover during the initial years of the SIPs. You don’t have to pay any additional amount for this insurance. You [...] View More

As you grow older, revise the sum assured of your health insurance plan, upwards. Medical treatment can be very costly in elderly years. You can simply seek an enhancement in the sum assured with your existing insurer under your current health insurance plan. If you and spouse are in good health, you can go for a top-up health insurance plan which has a very affordable premium, instead of availing [...] View More

You get tax benefits if you take a loan from relatives and friends and the purpose of the loan is the purchase or construction of a property. You have to convince the tax assessing officer that the purpose of the loan is the construction or purchase of a house/property and if you are constructing your house, the construction has been completed within 5 years and other conditions have been met. You [...] View More

You can get hospitalization expenses reimbursed under both group health insurance plans (yours + spouse). You must first make a claim under your employer's group health insurance plan. You make a claim of INR 1 Lakh under your employer's group health plan and the remaining amount of INR 60,000 under your wife's employer group health plan. If you have the cashless facility, just show the health[NB [...] View More

Life insurers give you a time period of 15 days from the date you receive the policy documents called the free look period, within which you can reconsider the decision to buy the life insurance plan. You must write an application form giving the reasons for returning the money back policy. This can be any reason[NB1] . You must send this application within the free look period. The life insurer c [...] View More

You can invest in mutual funds jointly with your mother, under both your names called joint holding in mutual funds. A joint holding can have a maximum of three account holders. You and your mother, both need to be KYC Complaint. While choosing the joint holding, you are given 2 options: “Joint Holding” or “Either or Survivor” You need to be very careful while selecting these options. [...] View More

Pre-approved home loan is a written guarantee by the bank that you have secured the home loan. Loan officers of the bank will check your salary/income details, credit history and all other checks just as in a home loan, except property title check as you have not finalized the property. The bank sanctions the amount depending on your eligibility. The pre-approved home loan has a validity of around [...] View More

It is a very popular practice to buy a single term life insurance plan with a large cover, to provide protection for wife and kids. It is believed that if you declare all information about your health correctly and get medical tests done, the life insurer cannot reject your family’s claim. But, claims do get rejected even if the probability is small. You definitely want your nominees to get the [...] View More

With a term life insurance plan, you pay a premium for a fixed time period. If something untoward happens to you within the term of the plan, your nominees get money called the death benefit. Your nominee gets nothing if you survive the term of the plan. If you discontinue the endowment life insurance plans, the insurer charges a very high surrender penalty. You could pay the surrender penalty [...] View More

You can withdraw your money from the equity diversified mutual fund using SWP (Systematic Withdrawal Plan). This is a method of redeeming money from your mutual fund investment. You can setup an SWP to withdraw INR 30,000 every month on[NB1] a particular given date. In the last month you can set it up so that all the remaining money can be withdrawn. The benefits of using SWP to withdraw your m [...] View More

Make a note of this, Rural agricultural land in India is excluded from the purview of the term "capital asset". You have to first find out if this land is rural agricultural land or urban agricultural land. The land is rural agricultural land if it satisfies these conditions: 1. Agricultural land which is situated in an area within the jurisdiction of a municipality and which has a popula [...] View More

You can take a home loan from the bank, but the land owner (father) will have to be a co-borrower of the loan. Your father will have to give a NOC for building the house on this land. Your father cannot sell , gift , transfer or create third party rights on the house without bank consent. It is advisable to get the property transferred in your name either by your father executing a registered gif [...] View More

You can either store the life insurance policies in physical form or electronic/demat form, but not both. You can opt to keep some policies in demat form, while some in hard copy/physical format. If you have an e-insurance account, your insurance plan will be dematerialized (converted to electronic format) and stored in your account, just like shares in a demat account. The insurer issues and main [...] View More

ELSS are equity schemes that invest most of their corpus in stocks. You can get a tax deduction up to INR 1.5 Lakhs a year under Section 80C if you invest in ELSS, a type of mutual fund. SIPs allow you to invest at different levels of the stock market. The stock markets will invariably be at different levels on the date of your monthly SIP, allowing you to average out your investment in the EL [...] View More

If you sell a property after two years, the profit is treated as long-term capital gains and taxed at 20% after indexation. You can get the exemption from long-term capital gains under Section 54 if you purchase/construct a new house/apartment. The tax exemption is only up to the extent of your LTCG: The time limit for purchase of a new flat is two years and the time limit for construction of [...] View More

Yes, you can make an investment in any mutual fund scheme of a mutual fund house in the name of a minor child. Your son is the first and sole holder in the folio. Joint holders are not allowed in the folio. You can be the guardian of the folio. You will have to submit the proof of age and date of birth of your son, which is the birth certificate or a copy of the passport. You will have to show pro [...] View More

HRA and home loans are part of two different income tax sections. You can very well claim HRA exemption under Section 10(13A) as you are staying in a rented apartment and deduction on interest on home loan as you own a house in a city other than your current residing city and presently you are in a rented accommodation.You get tax benefits on Home loan (EMI) principal under Section 80C up to INR 1 [...] View More

Diabetes is considered a pre-existing condition and is covered only after a waiting period which can be around 4 years. There are health insurance plans which cover diabetes after 1-2 years, but charge hefty premiums. Many insurers offer plans which you can enter even at the age of 65-75 years. They are renewable for lifetime. If your mother is not suffering from any diseases normally associat [...] View More

Minimum Amount Due (MAD) is the minimum amount you pay to the bank by the due date to keep your account regular and avoid payment of any late payment fees on the credit card. MAD is typically 5% of the balance outstanding on the statement date. If you keep paying MAD, you have to bear a high interest cost and you cannot enjoy interest free credit period. This is just a short term measure: As y [...] View More

If you have paid the premium for at least 3 years or more, you can surrender the endowment plan if the premium paying term is 10 years or more. The premium paying term of your plan is more than 10 years and you get a guaranteed surrender value as you have paid premiums for at least 3 years. The guaranteed surrender value of the endowment plan would be 50% of the total premiums paid, if surrendered [...] View More

You have inherited this property under a WILL. Your inherited property will not be taxed. Any income arising at a later point in time from the property (i.e., rental or deemed rental or capital gains from sale of the property) shall be taxed in your hands. if your total income exceeds INR 50 lakhs during the relevant financial year (FY), you would be required to disclose the cost of each of the h [...] View More

You get a tax deduction on the EMI (Interest) on your home loan, up to INR 2 Lakhs a year, under Section 24. Section 24 of the I-T act mentions the word interest payment "payable" on housing loan. This means that even if you have missed the EMI payment in a year, you can still claim the tax deduction on it, provided there is an interest liability. Keep this in mind if you have missed an EMI p [...] View More

If you need money for business, liquidating your mutual fund investment is not the only option. You can approach a bank or non-banking financial company (NBFC) and request for a loan or overdraft against your mutual fund investments. The interest rate is much lower than a business loan. For equity-based mutual funds, you can get as much as 50% lending on the Net Asset Value (NAV) of your funds. S [...] View More

If your parents are renewing the existing health insurance plan without increasing the insurance cover, they do not need to declare their medical status, as these diseases are not pre-existing. If your parents want to increase the sum assured, they must declare these diseases in the insurance proposal form. The insurer will assess your parents’ medical condition and make a decision. 1. The i [...] View More

A joint term life insurance plan allows you and wife to buy a single term life insurance plan to cover both of you. Some joint life term policies pay out on first claim basis, i.e. the sum assured is paid on the death of whomever of the two policy holders dies first and the policy ends thereafter. However, in case of certain other joint life policies, there is a payment on the death of each of the [...] View More

Children’s Gift funds are dedicated mutual fund schemes which are positioned as Child plans to meet children’s future financial needs like education, marriage expenses and so on. These are hybrid funds which invest in both debt and equity. These funds can further be classified as ‘Hybrid – Equity Oriented’ (equity exposure 65% or more) or ‘Hybrid-Debt Oriented’ (average debt exposure [...] View More

As the name suggests, advance tax refers to paying a part of your taxes before the end of the financial year. It should be paid in the year in which the income is received. You are required to pay advance tax in four specified instalments (i.e., by 15 June, 15 September, 15 December and 15 March). You have to pay advance tax if the total tax liability on your estimated income is likely to be I [...] View More

These are really tough times and mostly a temporary setback.If you are unable to keep up your car loan commitment, the first thing you need to do is to talk to the bank and request it to permit you to hold off EMI payments until you get a job. If the bank does not agree, you could think of liquidating some of your existing investments/assets to repay the loan. A credit counseling centre offers [...] View More

Claim settlement varies depending on the insurer. You must select an insurer that has settled at least 90%-95% of their death claims. Also check the number of grievances raised against the insurer. If there are a lot of grievances against the insurer, its best not to opt for a term insurance plan with them. Since it is natural for grievances to increase with the book size of the insurer, also chec [...] View More

An MIP is a debt oriented mutual fund which gives you income, in the form of dividends. They generally have 75-80% of money in debt and rest in equity and cash. MIP’s with dividend option provides you an income in the form of dividends. There is an option to receive this income monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly. So you have to choose the option at the time of buying the MIP. Divide [...] View More

Any person, engaged in intraday trading is automatically treated as someone who is engaged in a business and his income shall be assessed as Income earned from Business and tax rate shall be same as any other business activity. Intra-day trading transactions are treated as speculative transactions and the net income earned, after deducting eligible expenses incurred to earn the profit, is taxed as [...] View More

Health insurance plans cover pre-existing ailments but after a period of 36-48 months. Some plans cover pre-existing ailments even before 36 months. This coverage of pre-existing diseases is conditional upon the buyer honestly making all medical disclosures at the time of buying the policy. This means that in case a person actually suffers from a disease at the time of buying the policy but i [...] View More

Life Insurance is meant to protect your family against uncertainties. At a young age, the likelihood of death due to a natural causes seems extremely low. However, it is not improbable. These days even young people do encounter critical illnesses such as heart diseases or stroke.If your parents are dependent on your income thenterm insurance can protect the future of your parents in uncertain circ [...] View More

According to law, a nominee is a trustee not the owner of the assets. In other words, he is only a caretaker of your assets. The nominee will only hold your money/asset as a trustee and will be legally bound to transfer it to the legal heirs. In the case of an unfortunate occurrence, the nominees will be able to get the units transferred to their name relatively easily, compared to a case wher [...] View More

Banks/NBFC's consider your income, repayment behavior across the loans and valuation of the asset pledged you have already availedfor deciding your creditworthiness.All past loan repaymentsare recorded in your credit report. If you pay your EMIs on time your credit history will be good and you get a good credit score. Likewise, your credit history is adversely impacted by any delays or defaults on [...] View More

You get a tax benefit under Section 80E if you avail a loan for the higher education of self, spouse or children. Deduction can be claimed by an individual only if the loan has been taken in his/her name. The deduction allowed is the total interest part of the EMI paid during the financial year. There is no limit on the maximum amount that is allowed as deduction. No Tax benefit is allowed for the [...] View More

Most health insurance policies cover treatment costs for disabilities that may be because of third party negligence. You don't need to look at any specific health cover which covers disability due to medical negligence of the doctor. If a person loses his eyesight due to medical negligence of the doctor, the health insurance plan takes care of the hospitalization expenses. You must also consider a [...] View More

A child life insurance plan is an investment plan that pays a benefit that is linked to milestones in your child’s life. Its purpose is to build/accumulate a corpus for a child's future needs. Marriage and a college education are the main reasons to invest in a child life insurance plan. These plans generally have an inbuilt waiver of premium rider that keeps the insurance active for the child e [...] View More

To raise working capital in India, you can approach a bank. Banks generally ask for Audited financials of last 3 years, Bank statements of previous 6 months, VAT / sales tax returns, Identity proof and address proof documents. If you are not comfortable availing a business loan from the bank, you can avail this loan from an NBFC. 1. NBFC's have quick registration and you don't need to stand i [...] View More

Your Home Loan EMI consists of Principal and Interest component. The principal component is allowed as a deduction under Section 80C, up to INR 1.5 Lakhs a year. However, if you sell your residential house/apartment within five years, you may have to forgo your tax benefits. The entire amount of deduction claimed under Section 80C in prior years on the amount of the principal repayment will be add [...] View More

You can port your health insurance plan at the time of renewal. You may port your policies into any health insurance policies that offers cashless facility at a wide network of hospitals. You need to keep in mind that cashless hospitalization is just a facility, not a benefit. 1. You should also pay attention to the list of hospitals on the prospective insurer's network and also find out whet [...] View More

A critical illness rider provides a lump sum in case you get afflicted by one of the specified diseases like cancer, heart attack, kidney failure or a stroke. Your claim becomes payable when the illness has been diagnosed. Claims are only paid if the insured survive a waiting period. The waiting period is between 30 days and 180 days. There are a few critical illness riders available which do [...] View More

SIP investments are commitments that an investor makes to his/her own self and future financial well-being. They are not obligations made to the mutual fund companies. If you decide to temporarily suspend your SIP investments, there will be no penalties imposed on you. However, your bank may charge a penalty if a debit request from the asset management company (AMC) cannot be honored due to lack o [...] View More

An employer is obliged to make the payment of tax deducted from the salary of an employee and he is obliged to file a TDS statement in Form 24Q giving the complete details of the employee including PAN of the employee. Once the TDS statement is processed and accepted by the TDS department, the amount of TDS is reflected in the Form 26AS of the employee. 1. In your husband's case, the employer [...] View More

You should disclose your alcohol consumption if the proposal form asks for it. Most insurers will accept applications from people who drink in moderation without any premium increases. The exclusion you refer to typically excludes cases that are caused due to abuse of alcohol or drugs. You need to be careful of the interpretation of this clause: 1. There have been a few cases where insurers h [...] View More

You need to write to the bank's nodal officer about this issue. Normally, a housing loan application is processed within five to 15 days and if the bank wants additional information or clarifications, the same has to be sought within a reasonable period. 1. The bank is supposed to inform the client if the proposal is accepted or rejected. In case of the latter, the bank has to communicate the [...] View More

When a redemption is rejected due to signature mismatch, you would need to go to your bank (preferably the bank that holds the account attached to the mutual fund folio), and get the signature attested by the bank manager. The bank manager would attest to your identity and require you to sign the request in his/her presence. Then, he/she would certify the signature stating that it is indeed your s [...] View More

A critical illness cover is very important especially for those in higher age groups. In your case, critical illness cover beyond the age of 61 would be vital to ensure you are adequately covered. A critical illness policy can be bought as a stand-alone policy or as an add-on, popularly known as rider, on a life insurance policy. In fact, some of the health insurance plans come bundled with critic [...] View More

You can switch your loan to another bank even if it is partially disbursed. You can convert your partially disbursed loan to a fully disbursed loan and convert your pre-EMI to an EMI. You are paying a high interest rate as apparently the interest rate on home loan is linked to the base rate and not the marginal cost of funds rate (MCLR). This has to be converted to an MCLR rate. MCLR is closely li [...] View More

The last date for filing your income tax returns for the financial year 2016-17 is just a few days away, 31st July 2017. While filing your return, you are supposed to disclose all your incomes under all the income tax heads, irrespective of the amount of income or whether the income is considered tax-exempt or taxable. You may have to pay penalties if you under-report your income while filing your [...] View More

Equity investors pour more money into the markets when they are going up and stay away during downturns, which can hurt returns. To protect investors from such behavioral bias, there is a category of mutual funds called dynamic equity funds. Dynamic equity funds manage their equity portfolios, by investing more when markets are down and less when they are up. 1.Dynamic equity funds tweak thei [...] View More

Killer diseases like heart ailments, cancer, stroke and diabetes can by far be prevented, if diagnosed early in their stages. This can be achieved by regular preventive health check-ups. Within the maximum limit of INR 25,000, you get a benefit of up to INR 5,000. This means, if you pay premium of INR 20,000 towards your health insurance premium and undergo a preventive health check-up costing Rs. [...] View More

By surrendering a life insurance policy, you lose out on all the benefits of the policy and receive a much lower amount than the premium you have already paid. If you want to discontinue the endowment plan, there are two options: 1. Convert this policy into a paid-up policy without exiting it. The Sum Assured of the policy is reduced in proportionate with the number of premiums paid and tota [...] View More

The EPFO allows you to withdraw money from your EPF account to fund the purchase or construction of house or flat or to buy land. EPFO members will be able to withdraw up to 90% of their accumulation (employer's as well as employee's contributions, including interest) in the PF account or the cost of the property, whichever is less to provide for the purchase or construction of house/flat or for b [...] View More

If you plan to e-file your returns on the income tax website all by yourself, you will have to first get both the Form 16's with you. Your employers have given you Form 16 which will have details such as gross total income from salary, tax deducted at source and deductions under 80C. 1. First, you have to pick the right ITR form and then provide general information such as address, full name [...] View More

Insurers hesitate to insure you if you have undergone surgery or have major treatment history. You have undergone treatment recently and this stands against you. If you want enhanced cover you must consider 2 options: 1. You must apply for a regular individual health insurance plan with a low sum assured, say around INR 5 Lakhs as large insurers would be less lenient when underwriting a lesse [...] View More

The purpose of having a benchmark for a fund is to be able to compare returns between a passive investment instrument (index) and an actively managed fund and thus determine the value that the fund manager is delivering to your investment. Depending on the category a scheme belongs, a benchmark index is chosen that is appropriate. 1. For example, a large-cap fund that invests in the largest com [...] View More

Choosing the right lender to avail a loan depends on multiple factors, but interest rate is definitely an important one. You also need to check the tenure of the loan, eligibility in terms of loan offered, processing charges, penalties, speed of disbursal while deciding on a lender. 1. It is possible in certain scenarios that the rates offered by some banks may be better than your home bank. Y [...] View More

You have to file ITR even if TDS has been deducted from your salary. The finance ministry has said it won't extend the July 31 deadline for filing income tax returns this year, however, it got extended to 5th August. The government has not put any monetary penalties for crossing the deadline of July 31st. The penalty proposed for people missing the deadline doesn’t apply till next year and [...] View More

ELSS is a type of diversified equity mutual fund which is qualified for tax exemption under section 80C and offers the twin advantage of capital appreciation and tax benefits. It comes with a lock-in period of 3 years. SIP allows you to invest a certain pre-determined amount at a regular interval (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.). 1. Liquid funds are the least risky of all mutual funds and inv [...] View More

It is not compulsory for you to intimate your insurer with whom you have this health insurance plan about the bypass surgery. You need to do so only if you are applying for a change in the terms and benefits of the policy or an increase in the cover limit. However, if you want to apply for an increase in the sum assured, you will have to disclose this bypass surgery and any change in the health st [...] View More

We are sorry to hear about your troubles and we hope that you are able to recover from this tough situation very quickly. As regards your home loan EMI payments to the bank, you do have a few options. 1. You can meet the loan officer, explain your financial situation and request for a grace period during which you will not be required to make EMI payments. The bank may charge some penalty for th [...] View More

The sale of the house property inherited by you and your family will attract capital gains tax. As the property is inherited, the period you have held this property would include the period of holding by your father. If the property was held for more than 24 months, the gains resulting from the sale would be taxable as (LTCG). 1. You will be taxed in respect of your respective share of LTCG at [...] View More

Yes, debt funds have the potential to generate higher returns than FDs on a post-tax basis. Income funds are a type of debt mutual funds that Invest in a combination of government securities, certificates of deposits, corporate bonds and money market instruments. They are managed by expert fund managers who seek to generate returns both in declining and rising interest rate scenarios by managing [...] View More

As per new insurance rules, the concept of beneficial nominee has been introduced. A beneficial nominee is the spouse, child or parent of the insured. On death of the insured, the beneficial nominee becomes the ultimate beneficiary of the proceeds, irrespective of other legal heirs to the deceased’s estate. Nominees other than beneficial nominees are only the custodian of the legal heir. Insurer [...] View More

Congratulations on clearing the home loan and being the proud owner of your own home. Irrespective of whether you are closing your loan at the end of the tenure or prematurely, keep these points in mind to ensure a successful loan closure. 1. Once all the payments towards your loan are done successfully, request the bank to issue a no objection certificate (NOC). Do not fail to check if the NOC [...] View More

You first need to get the mutual fund units transmitted in your name, and only then you would be able to redeem them. Transmission is the process by which units of a deceased account holder are transferred to the nominee. To get your uncle's mutual fund units transferred you must: 1. Write a letter to the AMC requesting transmission of units in the format prescribed by the fund house. 2. Su [...] View More

You can continue with your corporate cover, but remember to convert the corporate coverage to an independent individual health cover with the same insurer when you exit/retire from the company. Involve your HR department in converting your policy to enjoy all benefits, which were available in the corporate cover. With steadily rising hospital and medical costs, you must take two additional cove [...] View More

Sorry on your loss. Yes, the term life insurance plan of your brother is considered to be in force. The receipt of the hard copy of the policy is not mandatory/a prerequisite, for the risk cover to be effective. Term life insurance policies have no waiting period. So, coverage is immediately applicable. The only exception is that suicide is not covered in the first year of the policy. 1. The in [...] View More

When you buy a car via a loan, the car is hypothecated to the lender/bank. The car is pledged with the bank, while the car remains with you. The hypothecation letter is part of the car registration papers. Once you have paid all your EMIs, you must make sure to change the owner's name in the papers. Though the Car remains with you, it is hypothecated to the bank. If you default i.e. does not pay [...] View More

If you happen to be among the new ITR filers, remember that after you file the return, you have to verify it. You can do it offline as well as online. If you opt for offline verification you have to download the ITR-V (acknowledgement form), sign it physically and mail it by ordinary post or speed post to the Income Tax Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) within 120 days from date of uploading th [...] View More

You have multiple health insurance plans and you have the right to choose the policy to make your claim. The main criteria here is, the health insurance plan should provide the cover for the ailment, for which the claim is being made. 1. If the claim amount exceeds the sum insured opted for in the policy, then you can make a claim on the other health insurance plans. 2. It is important to n [...] View More

The change of date for your SIPs can be done by submitting an SIP transaction slip. Every mutual fund company has such a common transaction slip, using which any such changes can be taken care of. A better way to manage your SIPs would be to use one of many digital platforms that are available for this purpose[NB1] . 1. You[NB2] can easily issue a one-time mandate that will allow you to set-up [...] View More

You should be guided by your financial goals when you invest in an equity mutual fund.You should sell a fund and get your money out when you need it. Check your financial goals and decide why you have invested in equity mutual funds. You should stay invested for around 4 to 5 years, continue your SIPs, till the money has grown to what you need.Now, your financial goal may be money for a down pay [...] View More

You must take this term life insurance policy and get it endorsed under (MWPA) Married Women's Property Act. This simply means that any insurance policy taken by you on your own life and which is endorsed under the MWPA in favor of your wife or children, will always be their property. None of your creditors will have any right over the policy or the death benefits. Take a look at these points: 1 [...] View More

First of all, Don't panic. Many people do not file ITR because they are under the belief that since TDS has been deducted, they don't need to file ITR. It is mandatory to file ITR, if total income exceeds INR 2.5 Lakhs before considering Chapter V1-A deductions.You have most probably got this notice because you have filed ITR in the past, but have not filed your ITR for a particular year. So check [...] View More

Yes, your education loan is unsecured and you may be tempted to default as your friends suggest. These points will tell you what happens if you default on the loan. 1. Bank could send recovery executives to your residence who could talk to your neighbors. Your reputation would be lost. 2. Not only your cibil score but also your father's cibil score is affected as he stood guarantor to the loa [...] View More

You can avail tax benefits in respect of the interest paid on the home loan availed for the second residential property and the quantum of interest that qualifies for the tax deduction would vary depending on whether the second residential property is let out or self-occupied. You can claim a tax deduction towards repayment of principal in respect of the housing loan borrowed from specified len [...] View More

You can claim a deduction under Section 80E of the income-tax Act in respect of interest paid on an education loan, subject to other specified conditions, but only where the loan is taken by you to fund your higher education or the higher education of your wife/children or a student for whom you are a legal guardian. There are certain conditions which must be followed to get the tax deductions: [...] View More

If you have already bought a health insurance plan anytime before the age 60 or 65, it is better to continue with it. Individual or family floater health plan allows you to buy them till age 65, and have lifetime renewability. As per the IRDAI guidelines, you may continue renewing the family floater health insurance plan for a lifetime. Senior citizen health insurance plan, in that case, is not r [...] View More

When it comes to redemption, the amount of redemptions does not matter. So even if you redeem more than INR 2 Lakhs, it shouldn't be a problem. As you pointed out, for domestic equity funds (that is, funds that invest in the Indian stock market), the redemption pay-out timeline is typically three business days (T+3). So, if you make a redemption on Monday, the money would be in your account by Th [...] View More

The insurer is allowed to accept or reject a proposal at the underwriting stage. A counter-offer can be made to you (customer) by the insurer. It is up to your discretion to accept or reject the counter-offer. You can also apply for reconsideration. Your reconsideration request could be supported by either similar cases issued at lower rates or with a rationale to be considered as a standard case. [...] View More

It's very good that you asked for the medical report based on which the loading has been advised. Insurers are allowed to accept or reject a proposal during the underwriting stage. In select situations, they can issue a counter-offer to the customer. It is up to your discretion to accept or reject the counter-offer. Insurer cannot force the counter-offer on you. In your case, you can reject their [...] View More

Most health insurance policies require minimum 24 hours of hospitalization for a claim to be admissible. The exception is day-care surgeries. Surgeries that can be done without hospitalization or less than 24 hours of hospitalization, due to advancement of technology, are classified as day-care surgeries.Dialysis and cataract are common types of day-care surgeries. However, these will be covered a [...] View More

You have money in liquid funds and you can transfer it to equity diversified mutual funds using the Systematic transfer plan (STP). STP is essentially transferring investment from one asset or asset type into another asset or asset type. The transfer happens gradually over a period. If you sell your liquid funds before three years (36 months), you will have to pay short-term capital gains tax. S [...] View More

Being a freelancer gives you dual tax benefits.As individuals, you can claim the Section 80 tax-saving deductions that are available to your salaried counterparts, and as freelancers, you can also claim the deductions available to business owners. You are eligible for deductions on taxsaving investments like ELSS, NPS and PPF under Section 80C, deduction on house rent under 80GG and so on. You ca [...] View More

Payment banks can accept deposits restricted to Rs 1 lakh per customer, and are allowed to pay customers interest on the money that is being deposited in savings accounts. You will be able to operate your account using the mobile app offered by payment banks.It allows transfers and remittances through the mobile, offers services such as automatic payments of bills, cashless purchases, chequeless t [...] View More

All enquiries for CIBIL Score through any Bank will finally go to, and will be answered by the Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited or CIBIL, which is a Credit Information Company (CIC). Credit Information Report (CIR) and CIBIL TransUnion Score are very important in the loan approval process, to identify consumers who are likely to be able to pay back their loans. Inquiry about CIBIL [...] View More

You already know submitting rent receipts to your company’s human resource department can help you save taxes. But, what you may not know is that submitting a fake rent receipt can put you in trouble with income tax department. A recent judicial pronouncement has given powers to your assessing officer to check all your documents to see whether the House Rent Allowance (HRA) claimed by you is g [...] View More

If you switch on your TV, you will see the highly popular Ad, Mutual Funds Sahi Hai. This is a campaign launched by AMFI (Association of Mutual Funds in India), whose aim is to create awareness on mutual funds. As a rule, you should invest in debt schemes to achieve your short-term financial goals which are less than three years. You may invest in equity schemes to achieve your long-term goals [...] View More

Yes, several health insurance plans cover Ayurveda treatments. The coverage of ayurvedic treatments is dependent on the particular insurer. A few policies would cover such treatments up to the full sum assured, while several policies would limit the expenditure and cap the overall sum assured. There may be a cap on the amount covered which usually ranges from 7.5% to 25% of Sum Assured. Some healt [...] View More

Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) is a small deposit scheme for the girl child currently fetching an interest rate of 8.3% for FY 2018-19 and provides Section 80C income tax benefit up to INR 1.5 Lakhs a year. A Sukanya Samriddhi Account can be opened any time after the birth of a girl child till she turns 10, with a minimum deposit of INR 1,000. To meet the requirement of your daughter's higher educ [...] View More

If you have the policy number, use that along with know your customer (KYC) details of your mother to seek the policy details from the insurance companies. Insurers should be able to provide you this information through their customer service helpline. You may have to visit the issuing branch to get these details.

If you have make a death claim, you would need the original policy document [...] View More

It is always a good idea to have your own health insurance cover over and above the one provided by your employer as an individual health insurance policy will remain with you, regardless of your retirement. You must take adequate health cover, well before you retire. With age, the health risk increases and also to be applicable for the pre-existing disease coverage, you would need to spend at le [...] View More

Before transferring shares between demat accounts, you have to first understand how your shares are maintained in depository systems. In India two organizations are authorized to hold your shares called depositories. 1. NSDL (National Securities Depository Limited) 2. CDSL (Central Depository Services Limited) Your broker will be attached to either one of them. You want to transfer share [...] View More

You must avail a home loan with a shorter tenure which helps you complete the loan repayment quickly. This means you pay lesser interest. If you opt for a shorter home loan tenure, your EMI's are higher, but the principal amount gets repaid earlier. Since the rate of interest is calculated on the principal, once the bank recovers the principal amount, the absolute interest pays out decreases margi [...] View More

You are eligible to receive income tax refund when you have paid more tax to the government than your actual tax liability. You can claim the refund of the excess tax paid/deducted during a financial year while filing your income tax returns for that year. · As per the Income Tax Act, youare required to file returns in the relevant assessment year by July 31 to claim the refund. [...] View More

If you have the policy number, use that along with know-your-customer (KYC) details of your mother to seek the policy details from the insurance company. Insurers should be able to provide you with this information through their customer service helpline. You may have to visit the issuing branch to get these details.

If you have to make a death claim, you would need the original policy [...] View More

It is always a good idea to have your own health insurance cover over and above the one provided by your employer as an individual health insurance policy will remain with you, regardless of your retirement. You must take adequate health cover, well before you retire. With age, the health risk increases and also to be applicable for the pre-existing disease coverage, you would need to spend at lea [...] View More