February 05, 2010

Take UID, get bank account

A bank account free with unique identification number - is how the government plans to sell its plan for creating a database of all residents. To ensure that every Indian has a unique identification number (UID) within five years of the rollout - launch is expected in December - the government will open a savings account in a nationalised bank with a deposit of Rs 100.

The Unique Identification Authority of India has sought Rs 25,000 crore for the incentive. An announcement is likely in the Budget to be presented on February 26. "I cannot confirm or deny the proposal," director general of the authority R.S. Sharma told HT. "It is being felt that half of Indian population will not opt for the UID, if there is no financial incentive," said a senior government official, who didn't wish to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

A UID is not mandatory. "Through UID we aim to bring all residents into formal banking network. It'll eventually help in tracking black money in a better way," the official said. According to government estimates half of the country's population is unbanked.

There could be some grant for the incentive in the Budget, a Plan panel official said on condition of anonymity. "The finance ministry has to take the final call."

January 17, 2010

Stop Using Internet Explorer.

Internet users have been warned off Internet Explorer by the German government to protect security.

The BBC reports the warning from Germany's Federal Office for Information Security, or BSI, comes after Microsoft admitted IE was the weak link in attacks on Google's systems.

Germans have been told to stop using all versions of IE.

Thomas Baumgaertner, a spokesman for Microsoft in Germany, told the BBC the attacks on Google were by "highly motivated people with a very specific agenda".

"These were not attacks against general users or consumers," Mr Baumgaertner said.

"There is no threat to the general user, consequently we do not support this warning."

Microsoft says the security hole can be shut by setting the browser's security zone to "high", although this limits functionality and blocks various websites.

German authorities say that even with this modification, IE would not be fully safe.

A spokesman for anti-virus firm Sophos told the BBC the warning released by BSI applies to versions 6, 7 and 8 of IE and that instructions on how to exploit the browser's weakness had been posted on the internet.

"This is a vulnerability that was announced in the last couple of days. Microsoft have no patch yet and the implication is that this is the same one that exploited on the attacks on Google earlier this week," he was quoted as saying.

"The way to exploit this flaw has now appeared on the internet, so it is quite possible that everyone is now going to have a go."

January 10, 2010

Hidden charges on credit card bills!

WHEN dealing with money transactions, a sudden change can catch you unaware. Take for instance your credit card. You may suddenly find that the due date on your credit card has changed without any intimation and you are late in making your payment. Take the following case.

Rita's credit card statement is generated on the 15th of every month and the payment has to be made by the 6th of the next month. She made the payment in the same cycle but was shocked to find that in the next statement she was charged Rs 350 as late payment fee plus Rs 450 as interest. So, she called up the bank for clarification and reversal of charges.

What exactly happened with Rita?
To avoid late payment charges, you have to make the credit card payment on the date specified on the credit card statement. The time between the statement generated till the payment date is the time that is credit free. This means you can make purchases on your credit care without bearing any charges. Generally, the credit free days range between 15 or 20 days.

However, the bank holds the right to change the cycle of the payment anytime. That's exactly what happened with Rita. Her bank changed the repayment time for the credit card by seven days. This means that the 21-day period came down to 14 days, reducing the time available for making the payment.

Why the sudden change?
This usually happens when a bank wants to decrease or increase the credit period. In most cases, it is usually the former as the funds of the bank are utilised by its customers for less time period.

Should a bank intimate about the change?
A bank has to inform the credit card holder about any change in the payment date and billing cycle. The exact manner of the intimation will be specified in the code of conduct of the bank and every credit card holder has to check for the details. In some cases, even though there might not be a clear mention about the reduction in the time period, the change in the due date is intimated in some way or the other. In many cases, the bank changes the payment date after changing the conditions related to the credit card and you many not even know the connection between the two.

Rita's last card statement had the details about the conditions of the card where the change was made, i.e., her 21-day interest-free grace period was reduced to 14 days. But she ignored it and did not even look at the latest statement for the exact payment date.

Can the charges be avoided?
The bank's argument would be that the change in the date was informed through the changed conditions and again through the credit card statement. But if Rita wants, she can still complain to the bank and ask them for reversal of charges.

Depending on Rita's relationship with the bank, the charges could be rolled back. But if the bank insists that adequate procedure was followed to intimate the customer then the charges will have to be paid.