Credit Cards : Boon or Bane for Consumers?

There are different types of features in credit cards available to the customers. Some of the credit cards suit the customer’s financial situation better than others. The hard part is finding the feature that suits a customer and won’t be a burden for him in the future. Some of the features found in the credit cards are Business, Balance Transfer, Cashback, Frequent Flyer, Gold & Platinum, Low Annual Fee, Low Interest, No Annual Fee, Purchases, Rewards, and Student.
Customers who are using credit cards should make sure that they follow the guidelines provided by the banks properly. Some of the things that the customers should make sure while using the credit card balance transfer feature are mentioned here. We should make our payments on time because if we skip or miss the due date we have to pay very heavy fines or high interests. These kinds of accounts will give an introductory low or no rate period which is usually three, six, nine or twelve months. To make better use of these kinds of accounts we have to make sure when the introductory rate ends and should try to pay off majority of our debts during this period. Never use these credit cards for cash advances. These credit cards are really very helpful to pay off large amounts of accumulated debt. These cards are not good for withdrawing cash or making purchases because they always attract a higher rate of interest and it may increase our debts. So always pay attention to what the banks are advertising and do some research online to know more details about the offers. If we use the credit card balance transfers feature properly, it is the best way to reduce our debts.
Now about the No Annual Fee feature, usually there are two types of No Annual Fee credit card, one is the cards that have no annual fees till the expiry date and the second one is the card that offer the first year free as part of an introductory offer. Sometimes we need to pay membership fee for these types of cards because that card may have some add-on privileges. So it is really important to read the documents before applying so that we don’t run into any unexpected problems in the future. Usually the No Annual Fee cards are very basic cards that are not suitable for cash advances, balance transfers, and usually don’t have a rewards programme. They have higher interest rates and are therefore is more suitable for people who pay off their balance each month within the interest free days. If the customers are able to do this, they can avoid paying the credit card companies any fees or interest charges.
Next is the Low Interest, the banks charge a very low interest rates from the customers but there will be some limit on the amount of money they can spend or use for paying debts and so on. These low interest cards will not be having any interesting value added features.
Next one is the Rewards, for the customers that use their credit cards often get some value added feature free of cost like discount while booking train or flight tickets, lower interest rate or lower interest period and so on.

The Silent Consumer

The silent consumer is an irony but nonetheless very much true. This is advocated by the fact that the consumers are silent. Practically, something that is impossible has found its way into the lives of the people. The rates of daily groceries and basic amenities have doubled up in the past 4-5 years. Is this not a cause for concern? The rates of inflation are going up and not one of the fancy ‘Netas’ seems to be putting in any effort towards sorting this mess.This is a country, where in the past the average consumer would have hit the streets in order to protest the rising prices. There have been a number of successful movements in the past which helped fight the price rises and these movements were not choreographed by some political party or a religious group but by the people who consume these goods. The customers of the various products were the people who fought against and spearheaded these movements against price hikes and galloping inflation rates.In the country’s history there was one instance in which a one paisa hike in tram fares was protested by the people. That was an age when there were more farmer strikes and lesser farmer suicides, and better consumer protection. The difference in these facts is evident. The consumers have gone silent. Too chicken hearted to fight for their rights, and this attitude is in no way helpful.The middle class who used to lead these protests now does not care much about spending time and energy into orchestrating strikes and movements; rather they have found another means of taking care of the so called price hikes. The usage of credit cards has gone up considerably; there is only one answer to this. The consumers are resorting to purchasing with credit cards. There is no dearth of money as the credit cards are being used to take care of the situation “for the moment”.Drivers, small time truck owners are the most affected due to the hike in fuel prices. A number of people in the lower strata are bearing the brunt of the rising prices. The so called political leaders seem to be scheming to look for the perfect time to raise the prices so that by providing some kind of reassurance to the people they can gain political mileage. The consumers do not stand a chance in this situation. Fighting with silence is not fighting but asad reminder that the people cannot stand up for their own consumer rights.. The usage of credit cards will eventually catch up with the people and will end up strangling them harder than ever as the interest rates will rise too.Houses, school education, LPG, rice and pulses are among the other commodities whose prices have gone up. The average school fees has also doubled in the past five years. With the salaries of the people remaining standard and the rising prices, there is only one thing left to do before the consumers are fully pushed over the edge, and that is to fight back.

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.

Fight for what is Yours!

Who are you? Have you ever been asked this question? At least by yourself in the mirror? All of us know who we are, friend to someone, child to someone, parent to someone and so on. Let us look at a slightly bigger picture, the society or neighborhood. Who are we then? An important person, or a well known person, or the next door guy who greets people with a smile. Everyone is someone, and in the biggest picture, everyone is a consumer. How is that?

Do you consume? Anything? Any product? Then you are a consumer. You are a consumer to the economy, to the government, to the billion valued multinationals and to the low income earning vegetable vendor. So as consumers, what is our primary duty? To consume, of course… and what is our secondary duty? It is upholding the consumer rights. Now this is something not many are aware of, or I should say, are ignorant of.

The Indian attitude towards consumer issues is simple; it can be defined in one word. “Adjusting”. You don’t get the paper on time, you adjust, you do not get your milk packet on time, you wait for it. This is advisable if the case is of one day, but is that so? People adjust themselves to adjusting to things, and people include you, me and everyone else. The adjusting doesn’t stop with the milk and newspaper, it can very well go on throughout the day and into the night. The local watchman who goes around collecting money for staying up all night buys a nice stock of liquor for himself and passes out. We are his consumers, and yet we adjust. What are we going to get by adjusting? The answer is NOTHING. Nothing of value can be obtained, rather the things we procure by adjusting lose their value when you pay something more than your money for it.

Why should we argue with the shopkeeper? Why should we argue with the mail man? Neighbors look at you in a weird manner if you stand up for your right, and to avoid standing out in the crowd we ignore the issues for which we should have given importance and nipped in the bud. This simple thing of ignoring to avoid confrontation has snowballed into the lazy consumer attitude today. A shop nearby sells goods at exorbitant rates and another shop a bit far away sells it at the right prices. But the shop nearby gets maximum sales because people tend to ignore questioning the shopkeeper for selling at higher rates.

When the people affected the most (i.e.: consumers) themselves aren’t too bothered about standing up for their rights why should the government bother? The government gets its share from sources that keep it oiled and greased and silent. Then why would it care if you get what you want or not?

When the government and the people both prefer being silent then why should the vendors and manufacturers bother about us? The attitude they have is quality or not, these people will buy. Right from the days of British Colonialism this has been the attitude.” My product did not get sold anywhere in the world, I am going to India”, and we happily take all the crap that is thrown at us and keep mum. Nobody is going to bother about us. It is we who are getting robbed and plundered, it is we who have to stand up against it and fight for what is ours.

An Additional Consumer Panel Bench for Tamil Nadu

The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) has decided to have a circuit bench in Madurai and an additional bench in Chennai. This is done to dispose the cases within 90 days as given in the Consumer Protection Act (1987). This is really good for the people of Tamil Nadu. The government is taking consumer issues seriously and is expanding the bench so as to solve the cases quickly.

According to the sources, the state government has issued an order to approve the appointing of two judicial members to the SCRDC. The process of appointment has commenced already. The additional bench in Chennai and the circuit bench in Madurai will be up and running in a month’s time. The sources said that the government is yet to approve appropriate infrastructure for the circuit bench that is being constructed in Madurai. They are yet to decide whether they want to use one or two floors for the hearings.

The circuit bench in Madurai is a permanent feature but the manner of its functionality is yet to be decided. They are deciding on whether they should make it a branch of SCDRC and receive application for day-to-day hearings or have scheduled sittings. The two new judicial members can be in charge of the additional bench in Chennai and also the circuit bench in Madurai. More than 2800 cases are pending and nearly 1200 are from the southern districts.
Consumers are eager for the additional benches as it will lead to speedy disposal of cases and the consumers can save a lot of time and money. There is a common thinking among the consumers that getting justice from consumer court is a long and a tough process. They feel that they will spend a lot of money and energy for no reason. No justice can ever be gained by this. But the steps taken by the state government will be widely appreciated. Consumers know that they are not neglected by the government anymore.

I personally feel that it is good that the government is taking various steps. But appealing to the court alone does not guarantee any justice. People need to fight for it and they rarely win the cases because the company wins as they have the money power to hire good lawyers. The only way for the consumers to be protected is by being informed. Consumers should know where they will get a fair deal and where they will provide good quality products. Prevention is better than cure. So consumers should not be given an option to be cheated. So I request the consumers to be informed. There are a lot of consumer protection websites which provides online information about the various products that are available in the market.

Go see www.indianrail.gov.in…

Have you found the worst website ever? You don’t have to go all the way searching for it. It is just at your finger tips. Just type “www.indianrail.gov.in“.

Recently my friend asked me the train enquiry phone number. I asked him to dial 131. He said it is not working from his cell phone. I understood that there is some other option for this. I thought of taking their websites. I searched google and when I clicked on the first search itself, I got the great Indian Railway’s site. Indian Railway is declared as worlds largest and busiest networks in the world. Why they want a site like this?

More than fifteen minutes I was searching on the site for the contact number. I am not exaggerating; this is a true thing that I came across. As a consumer whom should I contact to get the numbers? Usually we spend very few minutes on sites to search something. If we don’t get it immediately we will leave that site. But here it was a challenge for me to get the number. I simply wasted my time on this useless site.

Do you know which company designed the website for Indian Railway? It is CRIS -Centre for Railways Information System, which is an organization under the Ministry of Railway. No wonder their website is just as bad as the Indian Railways. I don’t know why they want to keep the phone numbers so secretly. As a consumer don’t we have the right to get the number? Moreover it is difficult to find the address for lodging complaints or suggestions. I think consumer complaints have no values for them. Anyway I am thankful to the designers. I think Indian Railways is beyond complaints.

Once I tried for e-ticketing. After filling the details the gateway got hung and when I checked my account details, the amount was reduced. There were no tickets under the category booked tickets. On the attempt for cancellation of the ticket, I couldn’t get it done properly. When I tried on the numbers displayed for cancellation enquiry, no one picked up the phone.

I feel like the responsible ones are simply sitting and enjoying their time. No wonder most consumers are leaving India as soon as they become graduates. India keeps on developing during the past sixty years and when we are going to get a label as developed country?

Retail Outlets near Railway Station- Future Groups Plans

India’s Future Group, operator of the Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar outlets, is planning to expand over the next year by starting outlets near railway stations. I personally feel that, the plan of the Future Group to start outlets near railway stations should be warmly welcomed by consumers.

They are initially targeting busy railway stations as they can catch more consumers. Right now they run two Big Bazaar stores near the Delhi Metro station. They recently inaugurated one near Sealdah railway station, expecting to attract more than 80,000 consumers a week compared to an average of 50,000 consumers at other Big Bazaar outlets. There are more than ten lakh passengers moving through this railway station everyday. Moreover they are planning for community retailing, in which the stores would be customized to meet the specific needs of local community.

I travel by train to my working place. By the time I return from my office, I usually wastes half hour sitting at the railway station. Several times I wished of such an outlet as I had to spend some extra time for my daily purchase of grocery and other stationery items. For that too, I have to visit separate shops for getting each item. If consumers get all the things at a single point they will be really blessed.

I was recently travelling to my native place. I rushed all the way from home to railway station to catch the train. I did not even get enough time to do all my shopping and I had to purchase clothes for my family members. When I reached the railway station I was told that the train will be some forty five minutes late as it is not new a thing with Indian Railways. I thought of going for a shopping. But I was sure that I will definitely get lost in the traffic and I do not want to miss the train too. I couldn’t find a good shopping outlet nearby. I just wasted my time by simply watching the whole mass. I really thought if I could get a good shopping outlet there. As a consumer I definitely want to welcome their plan. I think they would have made the decision before.

A good percentage of people use railways for their transportation, even if the services are not up to the mark. The idea of starting retail outlets definitely helps the consumers to save their valuable time. There are very few shopping outlets nearby railway station, even if we find one; they will not meet our requirements. Intelligently Future Groups have targeted at the right point.