India's sensex up 14%: highest in 17 years

The BSE Sensex climbed for third week, after ruling party won general election. Sensex soared 14 percent, which is the best weekly record since March 1992.

At the start of the week, when the market was suddenly climbed more than 17 percent, few experts believe that the market is overbought, but the scenario was different. The BSE index has gone up for eleven weeks in a row, and has climbed 73 percent from the low market of 2009 March.

India's second- largest bank, ICICI Bank Ltd and India's biggest producer, Tata Steel Ltd, gone high more than 20 percent. Mitsubishi Corp. Japanese trading house, climbed 3.7 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index jumped to 99.35 (2.1 percent up). Asian markets have brought in order 41 percent since it dropped very low in March.

"Markets are euphoric,” said Rahul Chadha, the Hong Kong- based head of Indian equities at Mirae Asset Global Investment, with $46 billion in global equities."

"Valuations have become high, but people are buying because they may be left out otherwise," D.D. Sharma, vice president at Anand Rathi Securities, said.


It's a freedom for Asian shares after a drop on Wall Street on fears the US, could lose AAA rating. European shares are up now after more than 2 percent fall in last session.

Credit Card Rights- Card holders must be aware of.

We hear about credit card billing problems of others or we our self might have faced such problem, where either there are some extra charges included by credit card company or charged for something we have not purchased. This is a usual problem we hear about from someone or other. Do we know what our credit card rights are? May be very few of us know what the rights are. It's very important to know your credit card right to avoid such billing problems.

Check your credit card right here:

When you make a payment, the credit card company must credit your account within 24 hours. If it doesn't happen, then credit card issuer cannot charge your account with additional finance charges. Many credit card companies were caught for violating this rule and charging extra from their customer. Make sure to get familiar with the payment procedures.

If you make overpayment for your credit card bill, you've a right to get the credit on your account. The over paid amount will get added to your credit limit. You may also ask for refund by a written request. The refund must be issued with in seven days by Credit Card Company.

If you lost your card or it's stolen, you must report it immediately. Card holder is not liable for any charges after the lost or stolen has been reported. And if there are any fraudulent charges in your bill, you only have to $50. That is the most you have to pay in such case. So the best way to avoid this is to report a lost of card or stolen of card as soon as you discover it missing.

If you find any error in billing statement, you can file a written complain within 60 days. An investigation must be done within two billing cycle and not more than 90 days of receiving the complain.

Whenever a credit card company makes any changes in the term agreement, they must inform you this through a written notice. And if you are not comfortable with the changes, you may reject the offer by following the instructions provided with the notice.

Being a consumer you have both obligations and rights while dealing with credit card companies, as it's controlled by both state and federal law.

Toyota cuts dividend for first time in last 14 years

The world's biggest automaker, Toyota Motors Corp, announced a loss of $8.6 billion as a result of low sales. TM files a loss of $6.9 billion for Jan-Mar fourth quarter and cuts it's annual dividend. It's the first time that Toyota cuts annual dividend since at least 1994.

The economic market downturn lowers the demand of cars, which pushed Chrysler, an U.S rival to file bankruptcy and hit Toyota badly. It's first-ever operating loss filed by this Japanese giant after a record profit the year before.

Toyota expected its sales to fall around 14% to ¥6.5 billion globally in 2009/10. For capital spending ¥830 billion is reported, which ¥1.3 trillion a year was before. Whereas, Honda Motors Co. (HMC), a domestic rival announced profit with small margin. This is because of their healthy business for motorcycle.

But many other are in the same situation as Toyota is in. General Motors Corp. reported a loss of $6 billion for the first-quarter.

Toyota said that for this financial year, it wants to cut 10% of the fixed cost or approx $5 billion. This will be done by salary cut, work-sharing and other measure. It also plans to cut down the capital spending.

It cuts its annual dividend from ¥140 to ¥100.

Basics of Student Loan

Student loan can be obtained from two sources - The federal government and private lenders. To get federal student loans, you are required to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). There are three main categories of federal loans.

1. Student loan (Federal Stafford loan)
2. Parents loan (Federal PLUS Loan)
3. Federal Graduate PLUS Loan
4. Consolidation loan (Federal Consolidation Loan)

Federal Student loan is made in the name of the student and doesn't require a credit check. The repayment options are very flexible. Need to repay after the student graduates or leave schools or stop attending. Stafford loans are also directly offered by some schools. These are known as Direct Stafford loan.

Plus loan is made in the name of parent, where credit check of parent is required. However, the credit criteria for plus loan is different as compared to other loans. It's based on federal requirements. Here the repayment option is different than Student loan. In plus loan repayment starts after full the loan amount is fully disbursed. Some school offer parent loan through federal government and some through banks and private lenders.

Federal graduate plus loan is quite similar to plus loan. The only difference is that it's made in the name of a graduate student or a professional student. Here the repayment period is sort. You need to repay within 60 days after the loan mount is fully disbursed.

Consolidation loan is for the students who are still repaying their student loan or for parent who want to extend the repayment period of the Plus loan. You can consolidate all your student loans with Federal Consolidation loan. In consolidation your interest rate is fixed and can also lower you payment by extending repayment period.

If your education expenses are more than what you get in Federal student loan, you can go for private loans. Private loans are offer by banks and other lenders. Here you don't get the federal benefits.

Confused which bankruptcy to file? Check common types of bankruptcy

Chapter 7: It's also known as liquidation bankruptcy, which means your liquid assets are used to repay creditors. Liquid assets are those assets that can be converted into cash quickly, e.g. saving and checking accounts. Some of your liquid assets are distributed to the creditors by courts. Any remaining debt after distribution of liquid assets to your creditors is discharged. After this you are not liable to repay any debt and no creditors or third party collection agencies can claim any debt from you.

To qualify for chapter 7 bankruptcy, you need to show as per your family size your income is less than the median in your state.

Chapter 11: Also known as reorganization and commonly used by the owner of a business or corporation. In chapter 11 bankruptcy, you can continue your business and maintain ownership of all your assets and to pay off your creditors, work out a reorganization plan.

Chapter 12: Especially for family farmers and fishermen. In chapter 12 bankruptcy, debtors can control their assets by full ownership and work out a reorganization plan to pay off the creditors. It’s like chapter 13 bankruptcy but stretches over three year.

Chapter 13: Filing chapter 13 bankruptcy is adjusting your debt with regular income and reconstructing your repayment plan. You can repay some creditors in full with interest, others a part of your debt in a time period of three to five year with a repayment plan.

Move from NJ because of taxes? Were it that easy...

Next Wednesday, April 29, is Tax Freedom Day in New Jersey. That's the day state residents have earned enough money to pay their total tax bill for the year.

Forgive M and me if we don’t celebrate.

Several times in the past, we’ve discussed getting out of New Jersey because of the tax burden—the biggest in the country. According to the Tax Foundation, Garden State taxpayers give an estimated 11.8% of income, $6,610 per person, to state and local governments.

Stiff price for a back yard
For us, high taxes hit home—literally. We’ve been looking for a while to move up from our three-bedroom townhouse to a four-bedroom, single-family house (“with a back yard,” as my 4-year-old son likes to point out). Higher property taxes mean less house that we can comfortably afford.

Obviously, we’re not alone in our frustration. On Tax Day this year, pseudo-“Boston tea parties” were reportedly held in all 50 states, with participants criticizing the federal government’s proposed tax increases and rash of recent spending. Emotions ran high enough that, at some gatherings, the word “secession” was facetiously hinted at.

Our home, for better or worse
M and I would love to “secede” on a more personal level by moving to lower-tax neighbor Pennsylvania (where I commute to and from for two hours each day). But in reality, we’re not going anywhere soon. New Jersey, whether we like it or not, is home.

The first and foremost reason is that we’re surrounded by family. My stepdaughter’s father lives and works within an easy drive of our house. My parents are five minutes away, M’s father and stepmother perhaps 10 minutes. My brother moved in literally down the street, after spending several years in Boston. Life is (most days) better and easier with family close by.

Second, M worked as a teacher for more than a decade in the New Jersey public school system. In a few years, she’ll go back to work and eventually be eligible for a nice state pension (paid for by those state taxes, and as long as it still exists). Since our only other source of retirement security is a 401(k) plan—which has been slammed in the past several months like everyone else’s—that’s a big incentive to stay put.

Accept what you can't control
We’ve talked round and round about other options, such as moving to one of the Pennsylvania towns just across the Delaware River. In the end, though, we always come back to the same conclusion: The best option is where we are.

It’s easy to get worked up over things you can’t control, like high taxes or the direction of the stock market. But after weighing the pros and cons, both financial and non-financial, you may find you’ve already made the right decision. The next step is to accept it, and move on.

Relief for homeowners and mortgage borrowers

The Obama's new mortgage plan is in progress and hope to be in effect soon. Six participants have signed up for President Obama's loan modification plan, which includes 3 of the nation's largest banks, reported by The Treasury Department.

1. JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), which will get up to $3.6 billion
2. Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500), $2.9 billion
3. Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), $2 billion.
4. GMAC Mortgage, $633 million
5. Saxon Mortgage Services, $407 million
6. Select Portfolio Servicing, $376 million.

More loan servicers will join over time, said by a treasure spokesman.

The major loan servicers have already started modifying loans earlier this month under government initiative. This includes JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. And Citigroup will start soon.

Homeowners and borrowers were desperately waiting for the program to launch since it was announced in the month of February this year. Under this modification plan, the servicers will reduce interest rates in such a way that the monthly installment should not go beyond 38% of pre-tax income of a borrower. It can be reduced to 31% by government. Loan amount can also be reduced to affordability levels by servicers. Government will share in the cost that the servicers will reduce.

"We view this modification program as yet another incremental opportunity for thousands of homeowners to preserve and maintain the dream of homeownership," Wells Fargo said in a statement.

It's great news for mortgage borrowers. It will help up to 9 millions borrowers’ to stay in their homes and own it completely. I really appreciate the plan and step taken by President Obama to help homeowners. I'm waiting for this modification plan to start in full flow.