Q My son is a salaried employee, with a monthly salary of `60,000. He wants to take a Rs 15-lakh car loan from me. Kindly advise if it is a better option than taking a bank loan from the perspective of both myself and my son.

Your son will not be eligible for a deduction for the interest payable on the car loan. If he pays interest to you, such interest income would be taxable in your hands. A much better idea for you is to gift such money to your son and he can gift the money back to you later as per your arrangement with each other. In such a case it will not have any tax implications for either of you.

Q About three months back, I had taken a personal loan of Rs 10 lakh with a 48-month repayment period. Now I also need an education loan of Rs 20 lakh. Can you please tell me if any bank will provide me an education loan? I am working with an investment bank and my income is Rs 60,000 a month.

Education loan of more than Rs 4 lakh will require collateral security — such as a house — of at least reasonable value as compared to the loan or a guarantor with sufficient income to justify the loan. The lender will also need to be convinced about the impact of the course on your earnings, which should be enough to justify the loan repayment.
The lender will also look at your capacity to pay personal loan instalment and the interest on the education loan as well as maintaining your living expenses during the course period.
Even PSU banks, which are the major players in the education loan market, can fund only a few courses and would insist the borrower to fund a percentage of the course expenses.
Moreover, PSU banks are unlikely to lend Rs 20 loan for domestic courses.
In short, the chances of getting a Rs 20-lakh loan are bleak, unless the course is well recognised and you or your parents have the income and ability to offer collateral security. Apart from the PSU banks, you should also talk to Credila, which is a specialist education loan provider.

Q I have bought a unit-linked insurance product (Ulip) from a private insurance company, with a monthly premium contribution of `5,000. Now I don’t want to continue my policy and asked the insurance company to return my money. However, the insurance firm claims that it can return only 40 per cent of the invested amount. Please tell me if I can get at least 90 per cent of the money paid by me.

You have not provided details of the Ulip policy that you have taken. You need to check if the surrender value of your Ulip plan is as per the term and conditions of the policy.
If you have paid a minimum number of premiums, then the surrender value would be the fund value less the surrender charges. Typically if you have paid premiums for at least five years, you should get back your full fund value. But it could be either more or less than the premium that you paid.

Q I am enthusiastic about mountaineering and trekking. Is there any special policy which can cover me if any mishap occurs during mountaineering or trekking?

A few of the mediclaim policies (and even accident insurance policies) don’t cover the insured, if the accident occurs due to mountaineering. So be careful while choosing a health insurance plan and read the policy wording before buying it.
Also, while filling up the form, please mention your hobby upfront to avoid any dispute in claims at a later date. Trekking is not a hazardous hobby, but probably mountaineering can be classified as such. Please make sure that all your insurance policies (life, personal accident and mediclaim) cover your activities and that you disclose all relevant facts when you first take the policy.

Harsh Roongta is the CEO of Apnapaisa.com. You can send in your queries to movingmoney@deccanmail.com