Looking for a house loan then read on….

Consumers are getting more and more frustrated by paying house rents. The rent amount which is demanded is really absurd nowadays and the rent is different in every area. When the popularity of the area increases, the rent also increases simultaneously. Everyone is looking forward to buy their own house to get rid of this problem. They can rather pay the interest instead of paying the rent. When the decision for buying a new home is made, and everyone in the family would be excited. The only problem is to find the money that is needed to get the house. The best option is to apply for a house loan and go along with it, you get tax benefits too.
For starters who do not know anything about loan, here are few tips on how to decide the perfect bank which would suit you and your needs. There are two types of banks which are the private and the government owned bank. The government owned bank generally offers less interest rates but the process is always hectic when compared to the private sectors. The private sectors have a higher rate of interest but the process is simple. There is also difference in the rate of interest; we have the option of getting floating interests and the fixed loan amounts.
The quantum of loan varies from each person’s income and assets. So when looking for the loan, it is very important that you find the particular bank which provides the amount of loan that you expect. Each bank will look into your credit rating, financial security and income. Regarding the factor, each bank will decide on the amount of loan that they sanction.
Interest rate is really important when it comes for getting a loan from any bank. When the interest rates are high, we are stuck with paying that much amount to the bank every month. Consider you have taken a loan for the amount of 10 lakhs and the interest rate is 10 percent then you end up paying ten thousand to the bank every month. So the higher the rate of interest, higher you need to pay every month. But even when you are in a fixed interest rate, then it is subjected to change when there is an overall change in the interest rate.It is better to find out which bank will benefit you and whether they have good customer service and if they are customer oriented or money oriented. All these factors play an important role when you are choosing a bank for housing loan. Ask other people who already have house loan and ask about their experience. Find out if the bank has dropped the interest rate for their existing customers when the rate of interest falls in the particular bank. If the bank is customer oriented then they will extend the service to their existing customers else it means they are money oriented. The banks authorities should be very responsible and mention all the details about the loan before asking you to sign any documents. If they do not do any such thing and pressurize you to sign the document then it is best to avoid such banks.
Prepayment penalty should be feasible in the bank because when you get a lump sum in the near future, then paying off some amount of money for the loan will reduce the monthly payment you make to the bank. There are many customer reviews online where consumers have written about their problems with the bank. Their experience will give you an idea and you can approach the bank which suits your needs.

Mobile Developments

The Department of Telecom is finally gearing up for the auction of 3G spectrum all set to start on the 9th of April 9, 2010 (finally). The department has also ramped up its IT network to ensure that the bidding proceeds smoothly at least this time. There has been a lot of discussion about the 3G spectrum and the auction of its license in the recent past and more often than not, it seemed a distant dream for a large majority of the Indian mobile users to avail this facility. The bidding is to be conducted online and the department of telecom has ensured that there would not be any reason for failure from its side. As a precaution it has set up servers in three cities in the country and an additional server to provide back up in the case of a security breach or a calamity. There are also soft copies being generated at regular intervals, hence in the case of any kind of a mishap the data can be loaded using the soft copies. The online auction would continue till 7.30 PM everyday and the various players are also moving their cards very carefully in order to strike a major deal. The various participating companies are also taking up positions across the country and bidding from three or four locations. They have also made preparations to simultaneously back up the data on their own servers as a precaution. Anyone will be able to view the proceedings of the auction by logging in to the DoT website; it will keep providing updated information about the auction and its proceedings all the time. The extra servers are supposed to take care of the load that it might experience and to take a part of the burden to ensure that the server does not crash due to the heavy traffic.In other developments, the 2G licenses which seemed to have a number of irregularities are to be looked into by the department. It is reported that there has been a loss of around Rs. 26,685 crore to the exchequer. The irregularities were observed when the licenses were issued in 2008. Vodafone has also introduced a new browser for its 2G users. The new opera mini is all set to be launched in India with its mobile handsets for 2G enabled mobiles. The advantage of this new browser is that it is aimed at the low cost mobile which would see a substantial growth in the number of subscribers.TRAI is to seek clarification on the delay of introducing Mobile Number Portability in the country. This service was scheduled to have been introduced in January but has been postponed as many of the telecom operators are yet to upgrade their networks. This service essentially provides a consumer the ability to switch from one network to another without changing the phone number. The TRAI chief is to write to the DoT soon seeking clarification on the subject. The discussion is also likely to involve key network operators.

Banking and Consumers

The evolution of technology in the banking sector is growing fast. In less than ten years, we had the ATM then internet banking and now we have mobile banking. It is really useful for many consumers as they can make all their payments at the comfort of their homes. No need to stand in huge queues and wasting their precious times.
The Reserve Bank of India has increased the limit of mobile banking from 15,000 Rs to a whooping amount of 50,000 Rs which enables consumers to access their debit/credit cards through the fund transfer instruction sent by their mobile phones. Earlier, the daily limit of fund transfer was only 5000 Rs and for the purchase of goods and services, it was 10,000 Rs for all consumers. A lot of consumers had problems with the limit as they were not able to book their flight tickets or make any other expensive transaction through their mobile phones. So, the Reserve Bank of India decided to raise the limit to 50,000 Rs.
This increase was made provided assured security services were given to the transaction made by the consumers through their mobile phones. Two way encryptions of the transaction must be made feasible when money is transferred using mobile banking. But, this would definitely work out expensive and consumers will be given an atrocious amount of service charges for this. So, the Reserve Bank of India decided that the transaction of 1000 Rs of below does not any two way encryption.
If cash is delivered to the recipient then the limit is 5000 Rs per transaction and only 25,000 Rs can be transacted per month. Earlier, the Reserve Bank of India had left that particular decision to the Banks organization. For cash delivery, each bank had set their own limit for consumers who prefer to use mobile banking for their transaction.
It is a great option for consumers to rely on mobile banking and internet banking. They should remember the consequences where, there are millions of hackers waiting to get their hands on any information possible to steal the hard earned money of the consumers. Resort to mobile and internet banking only after you make sure that appropriate safety measures are enforced in that particular banks. Recently, ICICI banks was hacked and a lot of sensitive information about the consumers where leaked to the hackers. It is a really spooky factor to even ponder about. A lot of people have gone bankrupt because, all the money in their account was transferred to an unknown account. If the issue was noticed earlier, then the money can be retrieved easily but if no one notices it then the money is gone forever. Consumers should be very sensible when they use such banking option. Never give any chance for the hackers to get hold of your details.

Nationalized bank fined for losing crucial documents

People take loans for buying houses, cars etc, and the bank claims the ownership of the property till the amount is paid. What happens if the bank loses crucial documents that was submitted at the time of the procurement of the loan? Recently such an incident happened where a nationalized bank lost the sale deed of the apartment of Janardhan B Kotian. Kotian got justice in NCDRC, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, when the state consumer commission refused to hear him out.
Kotian wanted to get a loan for a apartment and he applied in the Bank of Baroda. Since he was an employee there, the bank agreed to give him a housing loan of amount two lakhs and twenty five thousand rupees. In addition to that, he got a loan amount of rupees eighty five thousand in HDFC bank. He had to give the sale deed of the apartment and the original possession letter for him to get the loan; the same policy is applied in other banks too. The Bank of Baroda has given him the receipt for the two vital documents.
In November 2000, Kotian wanted to sell his apartment, he pre-closed his loan by paying the entire loan amount to the bank. When Kotian asked for his document, the bank was unable to trace them. The bank had asked his to go ahead with the sales and no problem would come forth but the potential buyer was not interested in a place with no documents. To pay the advance back to the potential buyer, Kotian had to borrow money from a financier with 2% interest.
Kotian filed a criminal complaint against the bank official claiming physical and mental harassment. He also took the matter to the consumer commission where he was shot down and the bank asked to procure a duplicate copy of the agreement. Kotian took the issue to the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) where they were in favor of Kotian. The commission after hearing the case said that the state commission had interpreted the issue in the wrong way.
Kotian had proof that the bank had lost the crucial documents. He had all the necessary documents against the bank. The bank was under a legal obligation to safeguard the documents and by failing to do so, it has to pay compensation. The commission ordered the Bank to pay a sum of 25,000 rupees and the commission also directed the bank to take responsibility for its mistake by issuing a certificate to Kotian. The certificate should state that the documents were misplaced by the bank and the bank will be solely responsible if any artificial documents come up in the future.
These kinds of incidents happen everywhere, banks and other powerful organization use their power to cheat consumers. So take issues in your hand and fight for your justice. It will definitely be worth it.