Best Credit Cards for You!

The banking regulator of the country, RBI is aiming at steps to improve the condition of customer service provided in banks. A committee has been set by the apex bank in order to look into the interest rates and fees and charges set by banks on customers.

The committee would be headed by ormer Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman Meleveetil Damodaran. It would be looking into the issue of services being provided by banks to retail and small customers which includes pensioners too and thereby suggest an appropriate grievance redressal mechanism.

The monetary policy announcement of RBI for the FY10-11 clearly stated the issue of giving equal treatment to customers.

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Tags: Banks

College students – and recent graduates – are relying more on credit cards to pay for some of their expenses, which may make it difficult for them to get out of debt.

For example, a recent survey from Sallie Mae noted that the average amount of credit card debt for graduating seniors in 2008 was $4,100. That’s up from the $2,900 average seen in 2004, which was the last time the firm took its survey.

As debt increases, young people may find it more difficult to secure loans or an apartment, as lenders and landlords may check a person’s credit report.

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Tags: Debt

The Fed recently launched a new site that provides consumers with online access to credit card agreements from hundreds of major credit issuers. When I first heard about it, I thought this could turn out to be a pretty useful tool.

Credit card agreements are notoriously hard to find when you have a good reason to read one, and most consumers frankly fail to ever make the effort. But if they could all be found in one online repository, it would makes things much easier for everyone, right?

Well, now that I’ve had a chance to check out the new Consumer’s Guide to Credit Card Agreements, I doubt I’ll be making any more visits. It’s a shame, because it seems like so much more could have been done to make this a better tool for consumers.

The first thing I realized is that you can’t actually view agreements for specific credit cards.

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Tags: New Site, Site

The people who advertise credit cards are smart people – and by that, I mean they are very good at using flowery language to disguise some of the hidden fees and penalties that can arise from using their cards. As a responsible credit card user, you have to be able to decode that language so you don’t end up paying excess fees. Here is a look at some of the more common tricks.

You may exceed your card limit - Your credit card will have a limit, but it’s not exactly written in stone. This can be beneficial in an emergency, but many companies want you to go over your limit regardless. The reason? The more you spend on the card,the more you owe, and if you go over your limit, you can now be charged fees and face interest rate hikes. Fun!

Transfer a balance- Not only will you pay a much higher interest rate on balance transfers after the promotional period ends, you will likely be hit with an extra 3% fee for each balance you switch over.

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Tags: Card, Credit Card

Banks which are a part of the National Financial Switch (NFS) would now be paying a fee of 80 paise for every ATM transaction. NFS is the largest ATM network in the country.

Banks which are members of other networks in the country like MasterCard and Visa pay only 10-15 paise for each transaction.

The managing authority of NFS has been shifted from the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in January this year.

While IDRBT is a subsidiary of RBI, NPCI is owned by six commercial banks, including the largest lender of the country, State Bank of India.

“There is a wide disparity between what NFS charges and what other networks charge.

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Tags: Atm, Atm Transaction