Credit Counselling

An enquiry you didn't authorise is one of the earliest, clearest warning signs of identity theft. The dispute process under the CIC Act, 2005 is free and well-defined- if you act in the first 30 days. The playbook.

Closed, Settled, Written-off - three words that sound similar to a borrower and are three completely different verdicts to a future lender. How each one reads, why the same loan can end up under different labels, and how to upgrade.

Section 80C, 24(b), 80EE, 80EEA - what survives under the new regime, what doesn't, and the annual February exercise that captures the deductions the system was designed to provide.

Pre-EMI looks gentler on cash flow. It is also materially more expensive in total interest, and the tax benefit it defers often arrives in a year where the Section 24(b) cap is already full. The honest framework, with four numbers most relationship managers don't walk through.

A '12% flat' loan costs roughly double a '12% reducing balance' loan. The RBI's Key Facts Statement from April 2024 is the single best tool to compare offers like-for-like. The three checks every borrower should run before signing.

The RBI said in 2013 that 'zero per cent interest is non-existent' — and explained exactly how the interest gets camouflaged. A plain-English read on the four costs hidden in no-cost EMI, and the sixty-second checkout habit that captures most of what's recoverable.

Three documents at the bank counter, three completely different legal positions, three different consequences for your credit report and your future borrowing. A plain-English walk through the distinction every Indian who has ever signed on someone else's loan should understand.

'Save for what?' isn't laziness - it's a coherent response to housing inflation, job insecurity, and the comparison economy. Survey data, an academic frame, and the four small habits that build the financial flexibility this cohort is actually asking for.

In India, debt does not pass automatically from parent to child. The estate carries the obligation; the family's pre-existing finances stay outside. A plain-English walk through the three exceptions, the 30-day playbook, and the protections most families don't realise they have.

A predictable annual cash flow, reduced reinvestment risk, real liquidity without penalty, and full use of available tax exemption. The ten-minute Sunday-afternoon exercise that re-organises a family's FDs into a ladder and quietly does more than most people expect.