GOI relaunches Kisan Vikas Patra

According to media reports, after discontinuing the Kisan Vikas Patra in 2011, the government has recently re-launched it offering 8.67% interest and doubling the principal with a maturity period of 100 months.

Though the investment matures in eight years and four months, you can redeem it after the lock-in period of two years and six months and thereafter in blocks of six months by 

getting a predetermined maturity value.

It will be available in denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000. Further, there is no cap on the amount that can be invested.

The plan is to initially sell the certificates through post offices, which will be later available at designated branches of public sector banks.

The certificates can be bought singly or jointly and can be transferred to any person/persons multiple times. The facility of transfer from one post office to another anywhere in India is also available. One can also avail of a loan against the certificates.

However, before you jump on the investment bandwagon it is worth noting that the interest earned will be taxable, although, tax will not be deducted at source. The investment is also eligible for income tax deduction.

However, if you are looking a better return, with easy liquidity, then the bank fixed deposits are a better option. If holding period is not a concern, then a better long-term investment will be the Public Provident Fund, where the interest, final sum and the deductions are all tax free.

Plan your ATM transactions

Beginning December 1, 2014 as per the new directive issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) dated August 14 and October 10, 2014, the number of free transactions at ATM's of your own bank has been reduced to 5 per month, and for other banks to 3 for the cities of Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad, while for others it is 5 per month.

What that means for you is, you will end up paying more if you are in the habit of withdrawing cash every now and then. On a very conservative estimate, just 10 extra transactions in a month at an ATM, will lead to an expense of 2,400 per year! Now, that's some neat money! 

Some of the ways in which you can beat this increase in expense, is to use your net-banking more, or to use your debit card more. Yet another is to transfer some amount into another bank or banks and use the debit cards of those banks.

But that said, we sincerely hope that this increase in cost leads to better security arrangements at the ATM's!

10 Steps To Tackling Your Credit Card Debt

First of all, you can take comfort in the fact that you are not the only one fighting credit card debt problems. There are hordes of people who have even worse credit card debt problems when compared to yours; all of them seeking an effective way to eliminate the credit card debt. So what is the solution to your credit card debt problem?

Well, the solution really is to smash the credit card debt with full force and eliminate it completely. Now how do you do that?

There are many ways in which you can solve your credit card debt problem. Different people suggest different ways of tackling it. However, here is a simple step by step account of what you can do to get rid of your credit card debt.

1. Take stock of the situation i.e. draw up a table with the following fields – Credit card name, balance, payment due day (the day of the month by which you are required to make payment of your credit card bill), APR, reward points earned, redemption offers applicable for your reward points balance, remarks.

2. Fill the table up with data from your various credit cards.

3. Check if any reward points that you may have accumulated can be used to make partial payments or cover any kind of fees or even if the points can be bartered for something you need.(spending less means preventing the credit card debt problem from getting worse).

4. If you have any available credit on any of your credit cards it would worth your time to call those credit card companies and check on the availability of lower interest rate balance transfers. If they offer reduced interest rate balance transfers, it would be wise to transfer any balance of a higher interest rate credit card.

5. You may also consider applying for another credit card (I know, I know, your trying to eliminate your credit card debt, not create more.) Hear me out first. If you can get a lower interest rate balance transfer credit card that you may be able to consolidate one or more of your credit cards into one, this would allow you to do two things: first you can eliminate at least one (hopefully more) of your higher interest rate cards. Second, it will cause your required monthly payment to be lower allowing you to pay a larger amount towards your principal, not just your interest.

6. First eliminate debt on the credit card contributing the most to your credit card debt problem i.e. highest APR (interest rate) and highest balance. Start with one. Pay the minimum required monthly payment on all the other credit card while applying the most money you can afford to the credit card first on your list to pay off. This will allow you to reduce the balance faster and to break the cycle of the never ending balance payoff.

7. Once you have eliminated the debt from one credit card, do yourself a favor and destroy it. In todays day and age it is almost a necessity to have a credit card, but you only need one and if you have to use it, you should pay the balance off completely every month.

8. Practice controlled and healthy spending habits (after all you are looking to get rid of credit card debt problem for good and not just temporarily.

9. Look for alternative means of adding to your income (more money means earlier termination of credit card debt.)

10. See your debt reduce with time and celebrate the day when you finally put an end to your credit card debt problem.

Remember,it is ultimately up to you to make a change in the way you use and percieve credit cards and credit card debt. You CAN take control of your financial future and put and end to credit card debt forever.