Rate % = R
Tenure in Years = T
Tenure in month = n = T*12
Loan Amount = P
ROI per month = r = R/12/100
EMI = E = ( P*r*(1+r)n )/((1+r)n - 1)
Total Paid to Bank in Year = A = E*12
Balance at the beginning of every month = BP
Interest paid in a month= I = r*BP
Principle Paid in a month = PR = E - I
Pre-Payments if any in a particular month = PP
Balance principal at the end of the month = BE = BP + I - E - PP
I even have an excel calculator that would calculate all this for you. Let me know if you need it.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Tips to avoid unnecessary payments.
A few tips from my personal experiences :
1) Negotiate if you are supposed to pay a fine: Most of the times, fine charged on you will be removed if you negotiate...
Ex:I had withdrawn excess money from ATM than I have in my account. Ofcourse, I was not aware that I do not have enough money and even banks did not alert me, but instead they fined me with some 20-30 bucks for it. If you happen to see such a transaction, then just talk to the banker and he would remove that if he thinks that you have a good relationship with the bank.
2) Agents are smart. be careful :
I pay car insurance for every 6 months. First time I paid around 350$. But next time, my premium came up to 450$. I did not have any bad driver experience though.
Instead of paying them, I mailed to the insurance saying asking them why I have to pay $100 more than the previous premium.The agent then corrected it and said that I can pay just $350 instead of $450.
I would have ended up paying $100 more if I would not have talked to the agent.
3) Track your payments : I had lunch at a restaurant and had no intention of giving a tip because its a buffet. I used my CC to make the payment and when I signed on the bill, I did not enter anything on the "Tips" field nor on the "total" field. I was under the impression that no tip will be charged. But I was wrong. I later checked my transactions and found that 15% tip is added to this. Now, I cannot go and even ask the hotel management too. Who knows, they could even enter the tip themselves on the receipt.
So, be careful the next time. When you are do not have an intention of giving the tip, make sure that you enter zero there.
4) Paying for cheques : I requested for cheques in a bank in which I had an account. But, I was asked to pay $20 for this. When I asked the banker if there is anyway that I could avoid this, this is what he said.
"Convert your account to prima acount. By prima, it means you need to maintain $10000 cas by the end of next 3 months. Doing this, you can get cheques for free. Apart from this, there are other services available for free to customers. But after a month or so if you feel that you cannot maintain that much amount, then you can always convert prima account to a normal account for free of charge"
I am surprised when the banker himself said about this loop hole..But still, good deal isn't it?
5) Shopping during weekdays : I observed that most of the vegetables rates are higher during weekends. You could buy these during weekends and save a few bucks.
Also gas rates are a high during weekends and even more during long weekends. if you are filling your gas once in a week, then go for it on Wednesdays (which is a mid week).
6) Buying online? : Don't blindly believe even big giants when you buy online. Unlike other countries, tax calculation is a bit more complicated in US. Lots of price calculations happens behind the scenes. Though, e-commerce sites would always make sure that everything is calculated properly, there could always be some software bugs. As a result of which your CC might be charged a dollar or more than what you see on the site. So every-time make sure that you save the confirmation emails and if possible take screen-shots of the "Payment confirmation" pages on the site. Later if you find any discrepancy in the amount charged, then report it immediately.
7)Check about hidden costs : Especially if you are looking for an apartment. Few apartments have sewage and water charges included in the monthly rent. But few do not have it and you have to pay it from your pocket. So find out about such things when you rent a house.
8) Car repairs : If you are doing a car repair, then you might want to get it repaired in a AAA approved mechanical shop. They give a guarantee on their repairs for 12 months or 12000 miles, which ever is the earliest.
9) SMOG tests : Few smog test centers offer you a free test if the test fails for the first time. You might want to go for that. But make sure that there are no additional "clauses" for it.
10) Coupons : Check for coupons before you purchase anything. I was lucky to get them for few of these
i) for smog test
ii) for parties in restaurants.
iii) for car wash
etc etc etc...
11) Craigs list and rent.com : You can find good deals for rented house in craigs list.
Also if you are moving into a new apt, just see if this apt is listed in rent.com. If so, you can let the apt owner know that you came to know about the apt from rent.com and the claim $100 from rent.com.
11) Referrers : See if there are any referrer gifts before you make a purchase or register online/offline. If you find it, then you can ask your friend to refer you so that both of you can get benefits.
For ex: (1) bank of america gives 35$ for the person who opened the account and 25$ for the referrer.
(2) Bank of India gives a 15$ free talk time to both the customer and referrer if you create a new account.
Note: All the above are my personal views. Will keep these updated whenever I experience more :)
Wise is a person who learns from others experience and wiser is a person who learns from his own experiences.
1) Negotiate if you are supposed to pay a fine: Most of the times, fine charged on you will be removed if you negotiate...
Ex:I had withdrawn excess money from ATM than I have in my account. Ofcourse, I was not aware that I do not have enough money and even banks did not alert me, but instead they fined me with some 20-30 bucks for it. If you happen to see such a transaction, then just talk to the banker and he would remove that if he thinks that you have a good relationship with the bank.
2) Agents are smart. be careful :
I pay car insurance for every 6 months. First time I paid around 350$. But next time, my premium came up to 450$. I did not have any bad driver experience though.
Instead of paying them, I mailed to the insurance saying asking them why I have to pay $100 more than the previous premium.The agent then corrected it and said that I can pay just $350 instead of $450.
I would have ended up paying $100 more if I would not have talked to the agent.
3) Track your payments : I had lunch at a restaurant and had no intention of giving a tip because its a buffet. I used my CC to make the payment and when I signed on the bill, I did not enter anything on the "Tips" field nor on the "total" field. I was under the impression that no tip will be charged. But I was wrong. I later checked my transactions and found that 15% tip is added to this. Now, I cannot go and even ask the hotel management too. Who knows, they could even enter the tip themselves on the receipt.
So, be careful the next time. When you are do not have an intention of giving the tip, make sure that you enter zero there.
4) Paying for cheques : I requested for cheques in a bank in which I had an account. But, I was asked to pay $20 for this. When I asked the banker if there is anyway that I could avoid this, this is what he said.
"Convert your account to prima acount. By prima, it means you need to maintain $10000 cas by the end of next 3 months. Doing this, you can get cheques for free. Apart from this, there are other services available for free to customers. But after a month or so if you feel that you cannot maintain that much amount, then you can always convert prima account to a normal account for free of charge"
I am surprised when the banker himself said about this loop hole..But still, good deal isn't it?
5) Shopping during weekdays : I observed that most of the vegetables rates are higher during weekends. You could buy these during weekends and save a few bucks.
Also gas rates are a high during weekends and even more during long weekends. if you are filling your gas once in a week, then go for it on Wednesdays (which is a mid week).
6) Buying online? : Don't blindly believe even big giants when you buy online. Unlike other countries, tax calculation is a bit more complicated in US. Lots of price calculations happens behind the scenes. Though, e-commerce sites would always make sure that everything is calculated properly, there could always be some software bugs. As a result of which your CC might be charged a dollar or more than what you see on the site. So every-time make sure that you save the confirmation emails and if possible take screen-shots of the "Payment confirmation" pages on the site. Later if you find any discrepancy in the amount charged, then report it immediately.
7)Check about hidden costs : Especially if you are looking for an apartment. Few apartments have sewage and water charges included in the monthly rent. But few do not have it and you have to pay it from your pocket. So find out about such things when you rent a house.
8) Car repairs : If you are doing a car repair, then you might want to get it repaired in a AAA approved mechanical shop. They give a guarantee on their repairs for 12 months or 12000 miles, which ever is the earliest.
9) SMOG tests : Few smog test centers offer you a free test if the test fails for the first time. You might want to go for that. But make sure that there are no additional "clauses" for it.
10) Coupons : Check for coupons before you purchase anything. I was lucky to get them for few of these
i) for smog test
ii) for parties in restaurants.
iii) for car wash
etc etc etc...
11) Craigs list and rent.com : You can find good deals for rented house in craigs list.
Also if you are moving into a new apt, just see if this apt is listed in rent.com. If so, you can let the apt owner know that you came to know about the apt from rent.com and the claim $100 from rent.com.
11) Referrers : See if there are any referrer gifts before you make a purchase or register online/offline. If you find it, then you can ask your friend to refer you so that both of you can get benefits.
For ex: (1) bank of america gives 35$ for the person who opened the account and 25$ for the referrer.
(2) Bank of India gives a 15$ free talk time to both the customer and referrer if you create a new account.
Note: All the above are my personal views. Will keep these updated whenever I experience more :)
Wise is a person who learns from others experience and wiser is a person who learns from his own experiences.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Parents or Relatives visiting US?
Required Docs at http://www.path2usa.com/immigration/visitorvisa/sponsor_documents.htm
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