Atal Pension Yojana (APY): All you need to know about this Social Security scheme

In 2015, pension options for the unorganized sectors finally became a reality in India. Atal Pension Yojana or APY was introduced in place of the Swavalamban Yojana that existed before. The latter provision was not well received, which is why the APY replaced it. Here is a look at some of the features of the scheme and what it brings to the table.

Eligibility for the scheme
You are eligible for the scheme if you are a citizen of India with a valid bank account. You should also be between the ages of 18 and 40 in order to qualify for the pension yojana.

Monthly payments or premiums
The premium depends on the amount of pension you want to receive after you turn 60. The scheme offers pensions starting from Rs. 1000 and go all the way to Rs. 5,000 every month. So, if you want a pension of Rs. 5,000 after you turn 60, you will have to pay higher premiums compared to the amount of premium you will have to pay for receiving Rs. 3,000 after reaching 60 years of age.

The premium also depends on the age at which you enrol for APY. The earlier you join, the lower will be the amount of your monthly premium and vice versa.

Benefits of the pension scheme

1. The scheme allows people working in the unorganized sector to receive a steady flow of money even after retirement. This pension is guaranteed and can be very useful for economically challenged people in the society.

2. Even if the subscriber dies, the spouse will continue to receive the same amount of pension for the rest of his/her life. Furthermore, after the death of both the subscriber and his/her spouse, the nominee in the plan will be set to receive the pension every month.

3. Atal Pension Yojana offers a flexible range for the amount of pension that a person wants. Moreover, the subscriber can change the amount at any point of time prior to turning 60. This can be very useful in case of financial emergencies, which may prevent the subscriber from paying the premium required  for receiving a higher amount of pension.

How to apply for APY?

Signing up for the Atal Pension Yojana is very simple. All you need to do is to visit the bank or post office where you have a savings account. If you do not have such an account, you can open one prior to opting for APY. Next, fill up the APY form and submit the same. You can also opt for the pension scheme online.

The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is a great financial tool that will empower all individuals employed in the unorganized sector by providing them a steady flow of money every month after retirement.

Car loan EMI calculator: Why you need this tool when planning your car loan

A car loan is quite handy for people looking to purchase an expensive vehicle. Such a loan may allow you to get your dream car, even when you do not have the financial standing to pay the entire price yourself. However, before taking the loan, it is always better to check the kind of interest that you would need to pay and also calculate the monthly EMIs for the loan.

A tool known as the car loan EMI calculator can aid you in determining the exact monthly payments for the loan you are about to take. Here is a look at why you should definitely use this calculator before opting for a loan.

1. Determining the EMI for the loan
The monthly instalments for the car loan should be within your comfort range. For instance, if you are comfortable paying Rs. 15,000 a month, then you should take a loan whose EMI is be below that upper limit. The online car loan EMI calculator can aid you in finding the sweet spot when it comes to the amount of loan that you should take so that your EMIs remain in an affordable range.

2. Comparison of EMI and interest rate
If you are looking for a car loan, you would do well to perform an extensive research regarding all reputed lending companies. The interest rate being charged for the loan and the tenure for the same determines the EMI that you would need to pay. The EMI calculator for car loan will help you compare the rates and get the loan that is most affordable for you.

3. Stops you from borrowing too much
When you borrow money without using the EMI calculator for car loan, you are likely to take too high of a loan. However, if you perform the calculation, you would know how much you should borrow which will prevent you from taking a loan that you may have difficulty in paying back.

In order to calculate the EMI for a loan, all you need to do is to open the page containing the EMI calculator. Enter the amount that you want to borrow along with the rate of interest and the tenure for the repayment. Click on the 'calculate' button and you will be provided with the exact EMI sum for that particular loan.

While a car loan is a great tool that will help you in owning your dream car, a car loan EMI calculator is the tool that will make sure that the huge investment does not destabilize you financially.

Corporate banking versus wholesale banking: What is the difference?

Banking is an umbrella term under which there are various facets of the modern day financial system. While most people classify anything related to finance as banking, it is important to know the distinctions between the different terms used in the field in order to gain a proper understanding of finances.

You may have heard the terms corporate banking and wholesale banking services during certain financial conversations. Take a look at what these terms mean and what the differences are between the two.

What is Commercial banking and Wholesale banking?
Corporate banking refers to the financial and wealth management services that are offered to corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or businesses. This is often considered to be one of the most profitable forms of banking, as the commercial banks cater to the needs of entire businesses. At the end of the day, the goal of corporate banking is to assist companies in achieving their financial goals and objectives.

Wholesale banking, on the other hand, refers to transactions between a merchant bank and other financial corporations. These corporations are usually the leading names in a particular industry and are considered to be large businesses.

Thus, corporate banking deals with the needs of the SMEs and wholesale banking system deals with the bigger corporations.

Corporate banking Vs Wholesale banking: The clients
In case of corporate banking, the clients are small and medium-sized businesses that often require the help and advice of financial experts, in a bid to maximize their profit and prevent the corporation from drowning due to one small mistake. There is no limitation on the clients that commercial banks may take work for. However, the same is not true for wholesale banking.

Since wholesale banking involves the largest banks and the leading companies, government agencies, pension funds and the private companies that have the greatest turnover each year can afford it. However, any exchange or transaction between two institutional banks is also considered to be within the bracket of  wholesale banking services.

Eligibility criteria  
For corporate banking, you need to have proper paperwork to become designated as a corporation. If the company that you run is still not classified as a corporation, you are ineligible for the banking service.

For wholesale banking on the other hand, you either need to run a bank or some other large-scale financial institution to qualify.

Now that you know the basic difference between corporate banking and wholesale banking, you can ask your financial advisor more detailed questions about the same and proceed accordingly.

When should you apply for a gold loan?

Loans are necessary financial tools which can be used by people in times of emergency or need. A gold loan is a specialized type of loan which is provided by the lender against the gold assets that you have. The terms and conditions for such a loan differ from one lender to the next.

Gold loans are beneficial under a number of circumstances. Here is a look at some of the conditions under which a gold loan can be quite advantageous and beneficial.

1. Instant fund requirement
When you apply for a loan, you would ordinarily need to wait for a few days before the money is sanctioned. However, it takes no time for a gold loan to get sanctioned. You would just need to visit the lender with the gold that you want to keep as collateral. The lender will then calculate the value of the gold and sanction a loan accordingly.

2. Fast loan repayment
You may need some emergency money at some point or the other. In such a case, a gold loan is the perfect solution. You can take the loan for the time being and repay it within a year or two, since the loan repayment for the gold loan typically has a tenure ranging from 6 months to 2 years. Furthermore, repaying the loan early means that you would need to pay a very limited amount of interest on the borrowed sum.

3. Very small loan needed
Most other kinds of loans have a minimum limit when it comes to the amount of money that is to be lent out. These limits are generally above a few lakhs. However, you may not need that much money to meet your requirements. In such a case, a gold loan is the perfect option for you. The gold loan amount is decided on the value of the gold which you deposit to the lender as collateral. So, in a way, you are deciding the amount of loan that you want.
So, with a gold loan in India, you can borrow as little as a few thousand rupees from the lender, if that is all that you require at the moment.

4. Freedom of usage of loan
Lastly, if you want the loan for something that you do not want to disclose to the lender, you have two options. Under such a circumstance, you can either opt for a personal loan or a gold loan in India. However, the interest charged for a gold loan is much lesser and is therefore the much better option for you.

Thus, a gold loan is a much more flexible option for a person in need of emergency funds or someone who needs only a small amount of money as loan.

How to land a good car loan in these easy steps

Are you not able to decide which car loan you should go for to buy your dream car? You must be looking for the one that will not strain you financially among the plethora of car loans available in the market. Take a look at a couple of tips that will help you to zero in on the best car loan out there.

1. Check your financial condition

The first and foremost thing you should do is checking your credit score. If you have a high credit score, the banks usually lend you money at a lower interest rate and you can easily avail auto loans. Hence you should try to improve your credit score to get a car loans at a cheaper interest rate and a longer tenure.

2. Decide the loan amount

This is a very important thing to consider. Car loans offered in the market range from as low as 1 lakh to 75 lakhs for imported cars. But, that does not mean you should go for the full value of the car as car loan. The value of a car decreases with time and so does its resale value. Therefore, you should consider how much down payment you can make, what the maintenance charges are and how much EMI you can pay based on your income and determine the loan amount accordingly.

3. Check the car loan interest rate

Usually the rate of interest on car finance varies between 8.4 to 13.5% depending on the automobile segment, loan tenure and loan amount. For a given car segment, select that loan which has the lowest interest rate keeping in mind the tenure in which you can repay the loan. Additionally, you should also check out whether the interest rate is fixed or floating. Floating rates are usually lower then fixed rates but fixed rates protect you against market inflation. So, think your requirements through and see if the rate of interest is something that complies with your plan.

4. Compare the charges in the loan

Apart from interest rate, there are other charges like pre-payment charge, processing charge associated with car finance. Processing fee varies from bank to bank and is usually between 0 to 2% of the entire loan amount. While some banks don’t have pre-payment and late payment charges, some do include them in the terms and conditions. Therefore, you must definitely look out for these and select the loan with minimal additional charges.

Buying a car is a huge financial investment and to make a decision that does not financially destabilize you is extremely important. Following these steps will help you in making the right choice for car loan.

Why is it important to know the IMPS charge before making a transfer?

IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) is the best fund transfer system out there. It takes only seconds to transfer money through IMPS and you can do fund transfers at any time you like, even on days that are declared bank holidays. Additionally, there is a need for you to give the bank details of the beneficiary for fund transfers. You just need to login through your net banking portal or the bank’s mobile banking app, provide the amount, the registered mobile no. as well as the 7-digit MMID (Mobile Money Identifier) of the beneficiary and that’s it – your transaction is complete.

However, IMPS fund transfer has certain charges associated with it. The reason for this is that for IMPS, systems and servers need to be setup and maintained which cost the government as well as the banks. Thus, some negligible charges are put on these transactions towards recovering those costs. For instance, Rs. 5 is charged on IMPS fund transfers of up to INR 1 Lakh. It is important to know about these before you do a fund transfer because of the following reason

• Knowing what the charges are for IMPS fund transfer helps you in situations where you want to go for a low-cost fund transfer option. Usually fund transfer systems have different charges for different ranges of amounts. Knowing the IMPS charges will help you compare IMPS with other fund transfer systems to help you find the one that is apt at that point for that particular transaction.

• Sometimes, in rare cases, additional amounts get deducted as charges from your accounts due to unforeseen technical issues like server failure/restart at time of transaction, etc. If you know the IMPS charge rates, then you can identify such deductions and notify the bank, who will then refund the additional amount into your account.

The benefits of IMPS fund transfer far outweigh the modest charges it incurs. Apart from being a cashless transaction method, it can be used anywhere on the go through your smartphone, laptop, etc. While other transaction methods such as RTGS and NEFT can be conducted only designated business hours on working days, all IMPS transactions can be conducted round the clock and on public holidays as well.

With two-factor authentication mechanism that asks for a pin as well as a transaction OTP, it is also the most secure form of electronic transfer as well. You need to be aware of the IMPS charges and why you are being charged so that you can do your transaction without any difficulties.

Are you aware about these benefits of the UPI payment?

Are you in a pickle thinking about how you are going to transfer funds on a public holiday? And how many times has it happened that you left home for a trip with friends and forgot the wallet at home? Don’t worry as UPI is here to save you in such situations from now onwards. With UPI, you can do any transaction with a few taps on your smartphone anywhere, anytime. There is no need for carrying any cash or waiting in the long queues at banks either to conduct an important transaction. UPI (Unified Payments Interface) is a payment system developed by NPCI (National payments Corporation of India) for conducting instant money transfers between two accounts that may belong to the same bank or two different ones. While the advantages of a quick and cashless transaction are evident, there are some other benefits that you may not be aware of. Take a look-

1. In online transaction through debit/credit cards we have to give out details like card number, CVV number, etc. Similarly in net banking you need to give bank account details. But for UPI payments, you only need the beneficiary's Virtual Payment Address (VPA), which is usually in form of xyz@bankname. Thus, it helps protect your bank details by not exposing them unnecessarily and also saves your time as you don't have to enter the account number, IFSC number, MICR number and other such details for each transaction.

2. If you have multiple accounts in different banks, you need not install an UPI app for each of them. You can link multiple accounts to one UPI app and can use it to make UPI payments through the account of your choice.

3. You can schedule payment reminders through UPI. When you want to collect money from someone at a later date, you can set a time limit for the other UPI user to authorize payment. If the other user exceeds the time limit you can also send reminders to them for authorizing the payment. When the other user authorizes the transaction, the transfer will occur instantly.

4. Usually, when you register for online transaction systems such as net banking, you have to wait for a period varying from 30 minutes to 24 hours before you can conduct any transaction. For UPI there is no such waiting period and you can start transferring funds immediately after registration itself.

5. While ATM withdrawals for more than 5 times a month have charges around Rs.20, in UPI payments no such charges are deducted. UPI is also comparatively cheaper than NEFT and RTGS.

The benefits mentioned above make UPI the preferred mode of bank transactions for many. If you want to make hassle-free and cheap transactions round the clock at from possibly anywhere, then UPI is just what you need. So, if you are not using UPI already, start now!