Transferring thy home loan

A 'home' is most definitely, where your heart is! So, began the search, about a year ago, and yes, it was found. As is the case with the most sellers, this deal too had to be closed ASAP. So, being salaried that I am, I did not have the liberty of choosing the nationalized bank to borrow the loan from(read 'SBI').  So, it had to be a private firm (read 'HDFC'). The reason was obvious - unpredictable loan processing time v/s 15-20 days processing time.

So, loan was sanctioned @10.75% floating, EMI started and 8 months passed! Then came the usual culprits - new HDFC loans offered @ 10.5%, but my Rate of Interest was still the same. Ofcourse, I learned that the spread had to be bought to lower my interest rate, and it would come at a price (20,000 Rs). And hence my intelligence told me, that instead of buying the spread, it was time to move to my preferred nationalized banker (SBI), offering new borrowers @ 10.15% Rate of Interest. I was proud to make an intelligent decision back then.. but was it? Lets find out..

Lawyer, Property Inspection Charges: Rs. 4000/- approximately.
Processing Fees: Rs. 1000/- only (for loan transfer cases)

Was very happy, until now, but following are to be noted, in terms of SBI:

1. Equity Mortgage Agreement with SBI (Cost: 8300/- for me. Might vary).

          This is kind of an agreement with SBI on stamp paper (worth Rs. 8300/- for me), which states that your property will be mortgaged with the SBI, until you pay the entire loan amount back. 
          The thing to note, however, is that  other banks (eg: HDFC) does not have this procedure in place. When checked with HDFC, they say that the clause of mortgage is already present in the loan arrangement letter, and does not require any stamp paper agreement. If the borrower fails to pay, they, by default have the legal rights to take on the said property.


 2. Property Insurance Mandatory with SBI (One time cost of Rs. 21, 900/- for me. Might vary).
 
     Definitely, Property and Self Insurance is always recommended for one. However, just for all to know the difference: 

• In case of HDFC, Self and Property insurance is completely optional (though recommended). 

• In case of SBI, Self Insurance is optional. However, Property Insurance is mandatory.SBI needs to have any existing property insurance (which could be transferred), OR a term-insurance which is already in place. Failing which, the loan will not be granted. If you don't have one, you have to buy a very general pack (one time payment of Rs. 21,900/-).  

 3. Planning on the loan disbursement date
        Disclaimer: Ok, this is very chindi (on saving just a very few extra bucks).

• Even though not much control you could have on the nationalized bank on what approximate date, would the loan amount be disbursed, planning always helps. In my case: 
• My HDFC EMI payback is on 10th of every month (for previous month) i.e. On 10-Feb, I would pay my EMI for the full month of January. 
• Had my date of loan disbursement from SBI, been on say 3-Feb, on which I go to HDFC and pay back my full amount, I will end up paying: 
• Jan's EMI (eg: 36,000)
• Simple interest on the 2 days of February (i.e. from 1st - 2nd Feb, since I am making full loan pre-payment on 3rd). (Comes out to say Rs. 2400/- only).
• Now, since very wisely, I had selected 3rd of every month as payback cycle for SBI, next EMI due would only be on 3rd of March. 
• So, in effect I am EMI free in Feb month (except only for Rs. 2400/- bucks in my case). 
• However, the money that I saved (Rs. 36000 - Rs. 2400) for Feb, I will make a principal pre-payment to SBI in the month of April, which will bring down my loan amount (Why April? Simply from tax planning perspective).

4. Adhoc delays and very bad services

• Yes, it is very true. SBI employees are atleast 300 years old. You will have to visit the branch more than expected, and come back empty-handed, dissatisfied. 
• With HDFC loan processing, I had to take around two half-days off at work (i.e. one day). With SBI, I alteast took 5 full days off work (and people said that I was lucky).
• The SBI will call you and simply send you back, because they just can't handle things OR not in a mood to work today.
• The original property docs handling is also very lousy! Believe me, I could even snuck off  my original property documents, and they wouldn't have a clue! (They asked me to put everything in one folder, staple some, make entries in their registers which they should've, and hardly checked any kind of authenticity). 
•  You will have to visit the home branch twice a year to get that Income Tax certificate (One time to give the request, Second time to collect the paper, third/fourth time if the papers are not ready). No, they do not have this online. 

Everything said and done, still there are some good points, which makes all the trouble worth: 

• Lower rate of interest! Yay! 
• More prinicpal payment per month in your EMI (as against many other bankers).
• With SBI, you can use an overdraft account. This means that, you can make a pre-payment of say just Rs. 5000/- at end of the month. The EMIs will be adjusted accordingly. With HDFC, I had to make any prepayment more than my EMI (i.e. min more than Rs.  36,000/-). You can also take off the amount of Rs. 5000/- back and EMIs would be adjust accordinlgy. Helpful, in kind of emergency situations.

 Of course, I am no finance genius, but the above points will definitely help the other lay-man just like me, before he wishes to transfer his loan from one bank to another!

The question is Why

This is an attempt on my varying thoughts inside my head.

A few  years ago, a boy had a vision, a plan, a few idols, a few ambitions. Was self-motivated. Always working for taking his 'next' step. He also seemed to be happy. But, seems now, there was a problem - he dared to dream of only *little*...

Today, the boy achieved his few goals. And also seems to be happy. But he has no *dreams*...
He does not read much. Has no materialistic plans ahead for the future. Has no ambitions. Is not motivated. Doesn't know what should be 'his' next step... Life is sailing by! He Thinks Why... !!!

He likes his older self better, who was inquisitive; who possessed so little but what an idol he was. Now, he tries a lot to emulate his older self, to behave like him, to think like him, to act like him, but he is not coming back.  The question, he asks is Why?

May be, because he is surrounded by responsibilities that bar him from thinking 'big'? May be, because he wishes to live as life comes by? May be, because he's given up on the environment in which he lives? No one knows Why.

He stands in the front of a mirror to find out, if he still looks the same. He finds the calmer, smarter, sincere, curious, ambitious fellow on the other side.  And he again asks himself, the same question - Why?

What would he do now, What should he do now? Is there a way out, Is there a way out - this is what ruins his head. But -

He is still hopeful, He is still peaceful....

He seems, he will figure it out...
And I will help him one more time...
As it will bring back me from myself... !

Ebay learning it the hard way

Ebay, to increase its sales, came up with a very innovative idea.
There were thousands of ebay registered users, and >90% of them never bought a single item from ebay! This was a disaster. For this, the ebay team came up with promotional offers, where in it would lure this population (who never bought a single item on ebay yet) to buy an item (only 1 in quantity) at a very low price (No shipping charges as well)

For those who are unaware, you could have got Close-up toothpaste (MRP: 67) or Haldiram bhujia (MRP: 60) or Dettol handwash (MRP: 70) at 19Rs each. Yes.

This created an uproar - it did NOT get most of the existing ebay population to buy an item each; rather it got a very small population who bought 1 item each (i.e. bought one Close up at Rs. 19), and then they progressed to create 100 user accounts on ebay, and ordered the same item (i.e. bought 100 Close up paste now at Rs. 190) . Oh.. Did I mention, that some of these users were shop keepers? Now, you do the math.. :)

After learning it the hard way, ebay finally modified this a bit, and it now sends such promotional deals to the said population over emails only, after some network on age is spent i.e If you registered today, after say 2 months of time, you'll get this link to the promotional offer, and you'll be able to buy one quantity of this item. I appreciate the thought put in, even though aware of the fact that it still is not foolproof :)


Everything said and done, we are in a state of revolution in India - it is luring a layman to use his credit card online for just 19 rupees. However, you know what - these users will be back again and again, looking for attractive deals, and end up spending 20 rupees now, and they'll be badly hooked!

Believe me, its addictive! The world of deals had got me, for quite a while!

Superstitious Software Professionals

A recent comment on facebook got me a few likes. It was about the website of Indian Railways:

1. Always respect IRCTC (Never try to switch to any other site while booking tickets - pay complete attention to it). Ritual*
2. Never use ICICI Payment Gateway (Use HDFC preferably) - its frequently goes down.
3. Never login using the same user in two browsers - it does not help.
4. Pray

And you might think that's humorous, wouldn't you ?
No, its not for plain humor!
Its a fact for some of us.
You can call us Superstitious Software Professionals.

Didn't the software working perfectly just the previous day, show some abnormalities today? And isn't there 0.1% chance that it might just work again tomorrow, even though we did not fix it at all?

Doesn't your personal computer have its own set of preferences for some softwares; like my laptop has some attitude problems when working with IE or WORD.

If you do share the same feelings, share a few superstitious examples with me. Its fun to share :)

Feddie or Rafa ?

Clash of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at today’s Australian Open, is giving me goose bumps!

These great legends have their own set of fan following. Its not that the fans dislike or disrespect the other person, but it’s just there.Why these two groups exist? Well, deep down, we all know…

Nadal, on one hand, is composed, aggressive, deterministic and has sheer passion to play to win. Federer, on the other hand, is cool, calm, serene, and is pure class! I assume that It is these characteristics that people get influenced from, see in them, that inspires them.. motivates them!

This got me thinking, on the lines of these charactersitics… Who am I? Is it Fedex or Rafa? Or Rather, what charactersitics would I like to imbibe? I would say – a little bit of both! I would like to be cool and calm, but aggressive sometimes; discover some passion, and behave as a pure class! I would not only like to play my part effortlessly, but also play some part which defies the logic! That’s been Federed v/s Nadal for me since ages!

When I see such exhibits of inspiration, it motivates me and for a while, it feels that I’ve got it all figured out. But then, again I lose some focus, and await another exhibit of the same kind, and I start all over again! This has been on going with me for quite a while now, but it seems alright for now, and I’ll keep looking! Such doses are necessary I guess, to move ahead!

So, yeah, I've it all figured out ;). I would've looked out for me if I were you.. :)

After a long pause...

Whoaaaa! My hands are trembling, while attempting this piece of writing!

Its been long. One year ago, was my last post! Not that I was away from writing; however, did take up a different kind of writing for a while! It was nice, and fruitful. So, don't feel the disconnect!
And yes, getting married can keep the blogging away!

So, milte hai break ke baad.... is affirmative! Its cool to be back!

Cricket World Cup, as I saw it!

02-April-2011, just before the 2pm match, I put my Facebook post (Yes, Facebook had taken over the normal blogging then, if you are reading this blog after several years!):

Just Imagine... You play, and make your nation proud; some say you are the greatest batsman in the world; a very few like you, as the rest worship you - they call you the GOD of cricket. But you think there is yet, one unaccomplished goal - to bring THE CUP home ! No matter what the result, With all due respect, hats-off to you, Sachin! (The entire nation bows!)

Really, it was a moment when Sachin was called THE greatest batsman Cricket would have ever seen, who had already scored 99 centuries then, was in top form, scoring maximum runs already in the World Cup 2011 tournament! Needless to say, people did have expectations from GOD, expectations that 1983 would again return after 28 odd years, as GOD was playing our side, may be for the last time for the World Cup!

I was just wondering the whole day, what would be going on in Sachin's mind. Fragment of my imagination:

As a lad, I wanted to play good Cricket, and of course WIN the CUP for my NATION! Now that I am a good sportsman who has done pretty well, people have dearest of expectations from me; some even go on the verge of referring me as GOD of CRICKET. But am I , really the GOD? If I fail today, I would be referred to as GOD, who could not WIN his dream, could not win the WORLD CUP!

However, after the spectacular clash between the Indians and Lankans, WE DID IT! We were the CHAMPIONS! The CUP was OURS!

What I would like to cherish is not the game itself, but the sentiments that followed.

Yes. The feeling was indescribableJ. I pinched myself as I doubted myself:

“Is this really happening? Did I just watch each and every ball of the match where my India took the WORLD CUP? WE ARE the WOLD CHAMPIONS? The Master got what he once wanted? ” Pinch! Pinch! “Did I just view HISTORY being created in front of my eyes?”

What better way for Sachin to play great batsman’s innings through life, and what better way for the entire team to payback the gratitude, by winning him the world cup!

What followed immediately, was a scream; a scream so loud out of my window expressing the mixed feelings of love, anger, desperation, happiness, pride, and contentedness. Something made us all back home, feel fuller and good for being a part of the nation; your own nation!

The very next thing I recollect is putting several Facebook wall posts, ALL IN CAPS! Seems to be funny now, but would like to cherish those posts, those words which flew seamlessly, boundlessly:

DONE DONE DONE!

I LOST MY VOICE SCREAMING!!!

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT SINCE 1983!

I AM PROUD TO BE VIEWING EACH AND EVERY BALL OF THE WORLD CUP, WHICH WE WON SINCE I WAS BORN!!!! SOMETHING FOR SURE, TO TELL TO THE GENERATION TO COME!!!

BRAVO!! BRAVO!!! BRAVO!!!

THIS PHASE OF MY LIFE IS CALLED - EVEN SEEING THE GOD PLAY, CRY AND WIN!!!! NOW, HE CAN ACCEPT WHAT PEOPLE CALL HIM - GOD !!!

Just watched GOD shake hands even with the security person on the field! That's how down to earth you should be! That's why he is GOD!

HE HAS CARRIED THE BURDEN FOR THE NATION FOR 21 YEARS. IT IS NOW TIME TO CARRY IT ON OUR SHOULDERS. - VIRAT KOHLI!!

IT IS THE PROUDEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE. ---SACHIN!!!

What followed were celebrations on the roads accompanied by several hundred cries, bikes, cars, loud music of dhol, jam packed traffic and what nots – everything NOT UNDER CONTROL!

When I look back now, I still get the Goosebumps. But what I cannot make up my mind still is: Was I happy because India won the world cup? Or was I happy because India won the world cup with Sachin on the squad!