Despite having followed due procedure while surrendering my credit card — dropping it at a bank branch, cut into two — I have been receiving bills for yearly charges along with the interest for the last three years. How do I rid myself of this?
Laxman Gokhale
Mumbai
Since you do not have any documentary proof of the surrender, it would be difficult to prove that you had indeed dropped the card at the bank. However, since there are no other debits on your card except the annual charges, it may help in providing circumstantial evid-ence for the surrender. You also need to complain to the nodal officer of the bank on its website. If you are not satisfied with the response or do not get any response in four weeks of your complaint to the nodal officer, you can file a complaint with the banking om-budsman on the RBI website at www.bankingombudsman.rbi.org.in [1]
I am a B.Tech. student. I want to avail of an education loan. My mother is a housewife and the house is in my grandfather’s name. Kindly advice me on the matter.
Tanveer Hussain
Ernakulam
You don’t require any collateral if the loan amount is up to Rs 4 lakh as long as your course is from a recognised university. The bank may ask your mother or grandfather to be a co-borrower for the loan. You should apply to PSU banks that are active in this area.
I’m a 40-year-old housewife and mother of two teenaged girls. My husband is 60. He gives me only enough for maintenance. I have gold worth Rs 17 lakh. Please advice me on my investments as I can invest in gold and real estate only.
Tasneem Maskati
Hyderabad
It is not clear if you want to invest in lumpsum or every month. Without data such as the timeline and value of investment, it is not possible to recommend specifically. You already have a lot of money in gold and further investments are not advisable. Real estate which requires a lumpy investment, may not be possible for you. You should look at balanced mutual fund if your time horizon is more than five years. It is advisable to invest through monthly SIP.
I have been told of a Kotak life insurance plan that guarantees a return of Rs 63 lakh on investments of Rs 30,000 annually for a period of 30 years. Do provide more insight into the investment.
Brajesh Kumar Misra
Kolkata
This is a traditional policy which gives maximum ret-urns of five-six per cent per annum. The figures you’ve mentioned translate into an internal rate of return (IRR) of above 11 per cent. There is no way that this can be a guaranteed return. You are being misled. Assuming you are 30 years old and the yearly premium is around Rs 30,000 the sum assured will be in the region of Rs 12 lakh. Traditional policies do not make sense as an investment option. You would be better off taking a term policy of Rs 12 lakh from Kotak Life (an annual premium of Rs 2,600) and invest the remainder in PPF that should give you the same tax benefits that your present policy gives, but it is more likely to result in a larger corpus of around Rs 33 lakh.
Harsh Roongta is the CEO of Apnapaisa.com. You can send in your queries to movingmoney@deccanmail.com [2]
Links:
[1] http://www.bankingombudsman.rbi.org.in
[2] mailto:movingmoney@deccanmail.com