What is the best money transfer to India, online?

This is a big question everyone wants to know about is which is the best way of online money transfer in India? There is no single best online money transfer service in India. It all depends on a lot of other external factors. Some want best exchange rates, some value for money, some want ease in using and sending the money fast and a host of other things.

When it is an emergency and you want to send the money as fast as possible you could ease the Western Union Money Transfer because it is aimed at people who want to transfer money soon on an emergency basis. They charge a flat fee and the exchange rates too are lower in comparison to the other money transfer services.

Xoom money transfer to India – Xoom is yet another money transfer service which offers a fast and easy money transfer. It has tie-ups with Punjab national bank and is touted to have a good service. They too have fees associated with every transaction. If it’s a check payment the transaction fee is $ 4.99, if you are making the payment with a debit card, there is a transaction fee of $9.99 and if in case you are doing the transaction with a credit card the charges are $9.99 as well.

When you want to have good exchange rates and are not worried about how soon the money will reach your people, you can go for the remittance service to India which requires you to have an account with them. They give good value for money remittance services and good exchange rates but the process isn’t speedy enough.

State bank of California Remittance service – The State bank of California is a US bank and it is more like SBI’s US extension. However they want you to open an account with them in order to use their money transfer services. When you open your account with them, you can add recipients for the money transfer.

TransferWise – This is a new game changer in the world of online money transfer that is transparent and simple and they even claim to have no hidden charges. For money transfer up to $300 they flat charge $3 and for money transfers up to $4999.99 the fee is 1% of the amount, over that the charge is 0.7%.

This means that for a transfer of $6000 the fee would be 1% of the first $4999.99 and then the additional $1000.01 the fee would be 0.7% that would make it a total of $57. When this rate is compared to the rates of the other banks, one can easily find that this rate is much higher.

Here are three best credit cards in India

Credit cards become useful in case you do not have the cash with you and you need to make a purchase. You can use your credit card and own what you want to own and pay later. This feature of a credit card does come in handy but at the same time too much usage of a credit card might also and you up in a lot of debt. However there is some cards which have a lot of reward points and other benefits for their usage. Therefore before going in for a credit card it is always useful that you do a proper research and then choose a credit card that suits you and your purpose.

Here are a few of the best credit cards you can get your hands on

1. Standard Chartered Manhattan Credit Card.
2. ICICI Instant Platinum Card.
3. Standard Chartered Platinum Rewards Card.

1. Standard chartered Manhattan credit card – This is all time favourite card where one can spend almost 90% of the expenses and save a lot of money through cash back and reward points. Nowadays it’s more of a trend to spend money on grocery in stores like reliance fresh; Spencer’s or Big Bazar and this card will offer you 5% cashback on all your grocery spends. Rs 999 are the annual fee for the card which you can get waived off. You also get 5x rewards when you use the card to make payment of your hotels, airline ticket reservation and fuel.

2. ICICI Platinum credit cards – it is difficult to get your first credit card in India. However, if you have a fixed deposit or you have a savings bank account with the ICICI bank, ICICI offers you instant credit cards. There is absolutely no annual fee for the credit card. There are 3 payback points for every 100/- spent, the card has a global emergency assistance facility and the card replacement service is also available. You also get 100/- off on movie tickets twice a month. What’s more a 2.5% fuel surcharge waiver can be gotten on a transaction of Rs 4000 at HPCL pumps.

3. Standard chartered platinum rewards card – if in case you are a salaried employee, you have a better chance of approval for this credit card, you can also get additional 1000 reward points if the transaction is done within 60 days. Now travel in Uber because you can avail 20% cashback on your Uber rides, you also get 5 reward points each on every 150/- spent on
dining and fuel.

What is a two wheeler loan and how to apply it?

Two wheeler loans are those that can be borrowed from the banks or financial institutions in order to procure a two wheeler vehicle. Such a loan can be available by people only when one wants to buy a two wheeler vehicle for personal usage. These loans are easy to get with flexible and fixed interest rates which again might vary from one bank to another depending on the base rate of these banks . The repayment starts once the loan is disbursed which happens in around a week from the loan sanction date.

The main benefits of two wheeler loan is that they are affordable, they have a speedy approval procedure and are often times convenient  and hassle free. Some banks give out special discounts to those who have their accounts in the bank the loan is taken from.

The repayment options are variable and may range fr5om 1 to 4 years and sometimes these are even available at the point of purchase. The repayment can be done through post dated cheques, standing instructions and easy EMI’s.

You have to either be a salaried individual or own a self-business , the age criteria varies from bank to bank. Sometimes there is a clause with banks that the borrower has to be working for at least one year.

For the loan the documents required are your

Proof of identity: Any one of the passport copy / a photo credit card- front and reverse/ voters ID card/ Driving license/Pan card / Copy of company ID/Ration card

Address proof: Any one of the Passport copy a photo credit card- front and reverse/ voters ID card/ Driving license/Pan card / Sale deed/ property purchase agreement/ credit card billing statement (latest)LIC policy/ Letter of company or company provided accommodation/ Address proof in the same name of the applicant’s spouse or parent’s name is acceptable.

Income proof – for salaried individuals: latest salary slip for government employees; if salary slip isn’t available only salary certificate is accepted with deductions.  For Partnership/ Proprietary firms & Pvt. Ltd. Co's- Salary Certificate to be accepted with the following mitigants: Salary Certificate to clearly state the deductions, Name & Designation of the authorised signatory.

For Self-Employed: Copy of the latest I. T. return.

What are the interest rates and charges for the loan

The loan processing fees are maximum 3% of the loan amount, the documentation charges are maximum 3% of the loan amount. There are prepayment charges as well that vary from every bank, in case of late payment of the EMI the banks also charge late fee penalty that varies from bank to bank. Inc as the cheque bounces there is again a penalty to be paid but these charges vary from bank to bank.

What is a recurring deposit calculator and how to use it?

Recurring deposits are the mostly procured investment schemes in India. A recurring deposit is very popular amongst the salaried class people because it is affordable and easy to procure and art the same time it also doesn’t require a huge deposit amount.  And most of the banks in India irrespective of being private or public offer recurring deposit accounts.

And at name suggests, a recurring deposit calculator is utilised in order to get the maturity value of the recurring deposit. With the help of a simple formula the interest on a recurring deposit account can be calculated obviously with the help of a recurring deposit calculator. Having said  that there are some very important things that the customer should pay attention to before he/she calculated the interest.

Customers must be sure to take each month’s installment as a separate deposit and that compounding takes place at the very end of a financial quarter and not at the end of every month.  A different amount of interest will be earned at the end of every month. The amount that one gets during the maturity of the recurring deposit is the total of the enhanced value or every month’s deposit.

What is the formula for calculating the recurring deposit?

The compound interest on the recurring deposit amount is added only one the first quarter is completed. This si how the financial quarter in a year is determined:

April to June is the first quarter

July to September is the second quarter

October to December is the third quarter

January to March is the fourth quarter

Compounding happens after every quarter which is why until then a simple interest calculation will take place . This si the simple interest formula

I = Prt

I means interest

P means principal

R means annual rate of interest applicable

T is te tenure of the time period of the scheme

He below is the formula given by the Indian banks association to calculate recurring deposit it ne4rest

M=R [(1+i) n-1]

1-(1+i)-?

Where M means Maturity value

R means monthly installment

I means rate of interest divided by 400

And n means number of quarters

Therefore with the above formula if a person deposits Rs 1000 in January, using simple and compound interest formulas he/she will have Rs 12,801.90 as maturity amount at the year end at 12% rate of interest.

How do you calculate compound interest on a recurring deposit?

As has been already mentioned, compound interest  is calculated in every quarter and then is added up to the final amount that the customer gets, the formula is:

A = P (1 + r/n) ^ nt
A is the final amount procured
P is the principal amount
R is yearly interest rate
N is the number of times the interest has been compounded each year
T is the tenure of the recurring deposit scheme

Types of life Insurance policies

Here are the types of life insurance policies. Every single life insurance plan and policy is built around these basic insurance policies and permutations and combinations of these.

Term insurance policy

This is now available as E-term life insurance policy is a complete risk cover policy that covers anyone who is insured for a specific time period. In this the sum that is assured is paid off to the beneficiaries or the family members if in case the policy holder dies within the policy term. For example, if in case a person makes a term life insurance policy of Rs 20 lakhs for a period of 10 years and he expires within that period, the money assured i.e. the entire Rs 20 lakhs is given to his family and if he survives, the premium paid isn’t returned. The only advantage is that the premiums paid are tax-free and just because this insurance is meant to provide a 100 percent risk covers the premiums too are very low  and these insurance plans don't  have any additional or hidden charges.

Whole life insurance policy

A whole life policy covers the policyholders against death, throughout his/her life term. The validity of this kind of life insurance policy is undefined and therefore the life cover is cherished by the individual through his/her life. In this kind of insurance policy anyone who holds a whole life insurance policy pays the premiums and on his death the entire corpus is paid to the family. Until any untoward event happens in the life of the individual the policy does not expire and what’s more the premiums that are paid towards the policy are exempted from tax.

Endowment policy

The most sought after life insurance policies that are available in the market. When a person purchases an endowment life insurance policy, they benefit in two ways. The beneficiary gets the sum assured in case of death of the policyholder during the tenure of the plan and in case the policy holder survives the tenure of the endowment policy plan the premiums that he paid for the policy are given back to him with other investment returns and benefits more like a bonus. Along with the normal endowment policy there are other options like marriage endowment and education endowment  plans as well.

Money back policies

This is another favourite life insurance policy for the main reason that this policy gives  periodic payments during the term of the policy. Actually, the amounts that are paid during the periodic intervals are the portion of the sum assured. If the policy holder survives the term, he gets the balance sum assured. The beneficiaries receive the entire sum assured in case the policyholder dies during the term. The premiums paid for this money back life insurance too is exempted from tax.

What are the basic types of insurance policies available to us?

Term insurance:

These are the most elementary form of life insurance. Term insurances provide life cover with no savings or profit component. The term insurance plan is the cheapest of all other insurance plans out there because the insurance premiums too are very cheap when compared to the other kinds of insurances out in the market. The lower insurance premiums are because of the pure life coer that are given by the online term insurances. The fixed sum that is assured is given to the beneficiaries if the policy holder expires during the policy term however if the death of the insurance policy holder doesn’t happen, no money is given to the beneficiaries.

Endowment plans

The endowment plans are very different from the term insurance particularly in the maturity benefit aspect. Term plan pays out the maturity amount along with profits earned only on the occasssion of the death pf the insurance policy holder and Endowment plans pay put the sum insured in the case of the survival or the death of the policy holder. While this definitely can be taken as a benefit, the down idea of it is that these endowment plans have a greater premium, higher fees and expenses. The profits are the premiums that we invested in the asset markets as equities and debts.

Unit link insurance plans

The unit link insurance plan is a little tweak on the conventional term insurance, they pay out the assured sum or the investment portfolio only if it is higher on maturity. The performance of the unit link insurance plans are linked to the markets. The insurance policy holders can select the allocation to the stock and debts. The value of the investment portfolio happens through the net asset value.

Whole life policy

Such types of insurance policy covers the insurance holder’s whole life. The main benefit of the whole life insurance policy as the name suggest is that the value of the cover is undefined and therefore the benefit of the insurance is enjoyed by the insurance policy holder for his entire life. The policy holder pays premiums until his death and on the occasion of his death the corpus is paid to his beneficiaries or his family. The expiration of the policy happens only in case of an eventuality because there is no pre-defined tenure of the policy.

Money back policy

This kind of insurance policy is a variant of the endowment policy. It gives out periodic payment over the entire term of the policy. A part of the assured sum is paid out at regular intervals. If the policy holder lives through out the, he is entitled to the balance sum assured, in the occasion of the death of the policy holder the beneficiary gets the complete sum assured.

Do you know what a two wheeler loan EMI calculator is?

India has the highest numbers of two wheeler in the world! Yes, it is a fact! The reason behind this is the economics and the logistics of the country. For the most of the citizens of the country the most convenient way of travelling is a scooter or a bike. Biking has become a huge business in the nation. In the last few years the nation saw the advent of many international bike brands in the country. There are so many that it is no almost a clutter and one doesn’t know which one to pick. There are so many choices on the platter that it becomes difficult to pick one. However not everyone has the finance to independently own one and hence it makes absolute sense to go in for a loan and own a two wheeler for yourself. Today almost all banks of the country offer two wheeler loans.

However before picking up a bank for a two wheeler loan, it is better to weigh the pros and cons of a particular lender. Because of the rise in the trend of online banking g today picking one lender who has good financial terms is not a difficult task. Banking has become far more convenient and easy and decisions are on a roll. The banking procedures have become extremely transparent.  And for a lot more convenience and ease, some of the bank websites and other financial institutional websites offer the option of a Two wheeler loan EMI calculator in which you can actually calculate how much EMI you have to pay on the loan amount that has been sanctioned for your two-wheeler.

Did you know what an Two wheeler EMI calculator is?

The two wheeler loan EMI calculator is an online tool that is made to calculate the EMI amount that has to be paid by you on the loan amount that has been sanctioned to you for your two-wheeler.  You require to put in the details of your loan and post which you will see the monthly EMI that has to be paid by you on loan amount.

It doesn’t just end there, along with that  you will also get a lot of additional information that will help you zero in on the most appropriate terms. Then once you know the EMI you have to pay every month, it will be easy for you to fix your budget keeping that in mind as well.

Some of the main upper hand of using a two wheeler EMI calculator

Using an two wheeler EMI calculator lets you know the EMI value, it helps you know more about the terms and choose the best suited for you, it also helps you in comparing the rates of other Two wheeler loans that are being provided by other banks or other financial institutions, it helps you in negotiation of the rates of interest, it also provides a break up of costs involved int eh loan such as the charges and the processing fees, it also provides the EMI amortization table  that provides a monthly break up of the principal amount and the interest charges levied.