PERSONAL FINANCE


Moneylife Digital Team 15 May 2012
Life insurance is plagued with several issues of mis-selling by intermediaries and even more by banks. Moneylife Foundation has handed over a memorandum to IRDA which highlights the citizens' concerns     Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has the task of keeping...

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Moneylife Digital Team 15 May 2012
Health insurance is a cause of concern for everyone. There are several issues that need regulatory intervention and direction. IRDA has been handed over a memorandum by Moneylife Foundation highlighting the actions for each consumer concerns   The Insurance Regulatory and Development...

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New India Assurance admitted that a software glitch resulted in overcharging mediclaim premium, but has dragged its feet on providing information. It now says that it gave a wrong date for refund eligibility on its website. New India’s mantra seems to be “If you cannot convince them, confuse...

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Where is corporate governance in all this? A prominent Sound Bite in Moneylife (issue dated 19 April 2012) quotes Amitabh Chaudhry, CEO & MD, HDFC Life, as saying: “A lot more needs to be done about traditional insurance plans. The commissions are much higher, the products lack...

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Is New India Assurance sitting on crores of extra premium collected due to a software glitch? It does not even know how many policyholders paid excess premium and is stonewalling all questions Is New India Assurance trying every trick in the book to avoid returning crores worth of...

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Moneylife Digital Team 10 May 2012
State Bank of India (SBI) launched a ‘virtual’ electronic debit card for e-commerce transactions. It can be created by a customer using the SBI’s Internet banking facility. The product allows the user to create a virtual card for any online transaction. The customer is not required to share...

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Moneylife Digital Team 10 May 2012
South Africa-based financial services group, FirstRand Bank said it has entered into retail and commercial banking operations in India by opening of a branch in Mumbai. The Bank hopes to introduce some technology-based products in the country in the near future. It will tie up with various...

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Moneylife Digital Team 10 May 2012
The National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) launched e-Platinum in April 2012. An investment product in platinum, e-Platinum is offered in demat form under the NSEL’s e-Series banner. e-Series is a unique commodity investment segment introduced by NSEL in 2010 to meet the growing demand of retail...

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Moneylife Digital Team 10 May 2012
Providing relief to home-loan borrowers, RBI asked banks not to levy any penalty on pre-payment of loans taken on floating rate. “Though many banks have… voluntarily abolished the pre-payment penalties on their floating rate home loans, there is a need for ensuring uniformity across the...

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Moneylife Digital Team 10 May 2012
RBI  has made it mandatory for all banks to print the MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) and IFSC (Indian financial system code) on the passbook and statement of account of the customers. “Currently, the MICR code is available on the cheque leaf along with the IFSC code of the...

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Moneylife Digital Team 10 May 2012
RBI has ‘advised’ all banks to offer all customers a ‘basic savings bank deposit account’ without insistence on a minimum balance. Such an account should offer certain minimum facilities. However, RBI has not guided about the ‘basic savings bank deposit account’. Currently, the minimum...

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G Venkatesh 10 May 2012
What if a job interview is merely a cover to collect information? G Venkatesh writes about such a case A few days ago, one of my friends (a security surveillance expert) got a call from the HR head of a second-rung, Bengaluru-based, real-estate developer (with a supposed turnover of more...

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Mark Huffman (ConsumerAffairs.com) 09 May 2012
About 2 lakh homeowners from the US could save as much as 30% of their monthly payments under the program ConsumerAffairs.com, in a report said that Bank of America (BoA) has begun contacting some of its mortgage customers who may be eligible for a mortgage balance reduction. The bank is...

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Moneylife Digital Team 09 May 2012
New India warned for overcharging IRDA has warned New India Assurance Company Ltd for violating the ‘file and use’ guidelines by charging mediclaim premium in excess. IRDA got to know of this after a policyholder complained and has directed the insurance company to refund the excess premium...

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Moneylife Digital Team 09 May 2012
IRDA has increased the premium of the mandatory third-party motor cover by up to 20% with effect from 1st April. This may not pinch private car owners as the hike will be smaller compared to that on commercial vehicles; third-party motor cover premium forms a very small part of the overall...

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Moneylife Digital team 09 May 2012
The impact of changes in the Budget and the new directives of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) will lead to fresh challenges in the new financial year. Here are the key issues that will affect insurance companies and the public. Sum Assured: The sum assured has to be...

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Moneylife Digital Team 09 May 2012
The touch screen phone available in ‘Jet Black’ and ‘Ivory White’ colours comes with a plethora of features that enables the handset to provide a complete multimedia experience MUMBAI: Spice has launched a touch-screen handset, FLO TV - M 5600 that adds an Analog TV to your device to give you...

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G Venkatesh 08 May 2012
Team dynamics play a vital role and therefore need to be considered while hiring. Many firms are taking the right steps by conducting personality assessments to gauge the ability of a hire to work well in teams Despite all precautions, there is no way to tell accurately whether a new recruit...

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IRDA has launched a new website to educate and protect you. It wants you to live worry free. While the initiative is laudable, taking the contents as gospel may lead to disappointment The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority’s (IRDA) newly launched consumer awareness website

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G Venkatesh 07 May 2012
You can’t select a candidate just because he was an outstanding performer in his previous job. Neither can you reject one because of mediocre performance in his last role. Are companies thinking creatively? Amol Kale (not his real name) is devastated. A star-performer in a well-known...

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