Carnival of Indian Personal Finance Blogs #2

This is the second edition of the carnival of Indian Personal Finance Blogs. The first edition- though a humble effort, got a great response and the entire effort is moving towards the desired direction. Let us continue the journey.

With the launching of CIBIL in India, lenders will now have better idea about the credit worthiness of the borrowers. Prince John at Making Money Spending Money, tells us about the new credit score and credit rating system in India jointly launched by CIBIL and TransUnion. Discussing various parameters, which these agencies will use to arrive on a credit score, he tells us about a similar credit rating system, which exists in the US.

The Post Office Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) was loosing its popularity after the removal of 10% bonus on maturity clause. On 8 Dec, 2007 Government restored the maturity bonus though at a lower rate of 5% and has made 5-year Post Office Term Deposits and Senior Citizen Savings Scheme eligible for 1-lac deduction benefit under Section 80C. But the bigger issue before the investors is whether to invest in Post Office MIS or in fixed deposit, PPF and other small saving schemes offered by the banks – Anurag tells us some facts to consider before taking a decision.

Something needs to be done to avoid the worsening of PSU bank's problems. While improvement may be hard to make, but at least lets not make things worse. Ajay Shah says that privatization of PSU banks may not be possible because majority of MP’s won’t support the requisite amendment of the Bank Nationalization Act.

Chawanni raises the issue of the safety of our deposits in Citibank. Would you like to keep your life time savings or precious items in a bank that cannot take care of its own assets? Citibank has been in financial crisis from time to time and now Citibank is in big trouble with sub-prime bubble bursting. Who will rescue Citibank this time?

Jithu from The Finance Blog is talking about 500% increase in complaints against banks according to Reserve Bank of India in 12 months between July 2006 and June 2007. Leading the pack are SBI, ICICI bank and Citibank. Jithu is hoping that, "This would make the banks think a bit more about serving their customers in a customer-friendly manner."

Edward Hugh from India Economy Watch presents the risk element involved in banking sector, political and at economic stage in India.

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