In addition to a personal loan, we tried to buy a health insurance policy. The site forwards details to insurers who get in touch with policy details. Health insurance is one of the trickiest products to shop for as the devil lies in a policy’s exclusions. These exclusions need careful scrutiny. An insurer’s representative ended up directing Mint to the relevant insurer’s website. The complexity of an insurance package, perhaps, makes it tough to market over the phone. If customers have to visit the insurer’s website, there is no point in using a neutral website.
The problem
Loanraja.com did not lead to the same level of response as its competitors. Since it forwards your financial particulars to direct sales agents, you have to wait endlessly for them to revert. Unlike the other sites featured here, there was practically no response from anybody other than two insurance agents. This could be due to the fact that Loanraja.com still doesn’t have a large number of banks or financial institutions attached to it.
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Know
Equated monthly instalments (EMIs) are the monthly payouts that go towards
paying a loan. They consist of both the principal and interest that needs to be repaid. Generally, banks calculate EMIs in two ways: flat rate and reducing balance. Reducing balance is what you should look for as the calculation under this method is considered more favourable. The banks subtract the principal already paid through earlier EMIs and charge interest on the outstanding amount of principal. In contrast, flat-rate EMIs remain untouched through the entire repayment period.
Sanjiv ShankaranDo
What if your bank goes bust? If it’s a commercial bank or an urban cooperative
insured by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (DICGC), your fixed, savings, recurring and current account deposits are protected up to Rs1 lakh. You get back both your principal and the interest payable, subject to this ceiling. The limit applies to a per-bank-per-person basis. So if you have multiple accounts with the same bank, you won’t get more than Rs1 lakh even if the amount you hold is more. But if you’re dealing with two banks, you can get up to Rs2 lakh if both go bust.
Namit GuptaInvest
You have made a capital gain on the sale of your house but have not been able
to buy a new one before the end of the financial year in order to avoid paying capital gains tax. Don’t worry. You won’t be taxed if you deposit the money in a specially designated Capital Gains Account with State Bank of India or any other designated bank and use it to construct or buy new property within three years. And the account needn’t be a fixed deposit—it can also be a savings account, which means you can make periodical withdrawals from it. Remember, though, that the amount should be used solely for buying or constructing a new house within 60 days from the date on which it was withdrawn.
NGDo