I have an expense of ₹80,000 and I have a credit card that I can use to make the payment. The other option is to take a personal loan. Which is a better option—converting credit card payment into EMI or taking a personal loan? Please advise.
—Nitya Sharma
Firstly, you should avoid taking a credit card loan or a personal loan. It is good to manage within your means. However, if it is something which you cannot avoid in the current circumstances, then taking a personal loan is a better option.
The credit card repayment is an expensive way of borrowing as they charge a flat interest rate versus personal loans which charge on reducing balance rates. However, credit card is an instant approved loan, while personal loan approval may take time. Also, a personal loan can be taken for a longer duration versus credit card loans. So, you need to check your time period of repayment, how urgent it is for you to borrow and the borrowing rate. This can help you in deciding the better of the two.
My son (41-year-old Indian citizen) has been a member of the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) since January 2013 when he was posted to work in Bengaluru from the US. From June 2020, he will be posted to work in Singapore. Consequently, the contribution to EPF and EPS will cease. Please let me know whether the entire contributions (including employers) to EPF and EPS can be claimed.
—Vasanth
Your son has been employed in the Indian entity since January 2013 and will continue to be employed till June 2020, thereby completing continuous service of more than seven years in Indian employment. The current EPF rules define EPF contribution to be tax-free provided there is a contribution by the employee to the EPF account for a continuous period of five years. Hence, your son, post his employment tenure in India, can withdraw the complete corpus, including the employer’s contribution, and the same will be considered as tax-free.
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