I hold credit cards issued by HSBC & Stan Chart. On both the cards, there were some online transactions done which were not authorised by me. For HSBC cards, I have already made the payment for the dues. However, for the Stan Chart I am yet to clear the dues. The matter is very serious and I have lodged a complaint at the local police station and also to the cyber crime cell. HSBC has already sent me a formal reply stating that the transactions took place, fulfilling all the security conditions for an online transaction. Stan Chart has not yet given me any reply so far. I am completely puzzled and need your advise as regards how to handle these situations.

It’s good that you have already taken steps to lodge a complaint with the bank, local police station and cyber crime cell. Along with that you also need to file a Card Holder’s Dispute Form with the respective card issuing banks giving the details of the disputed transaction. Once that is done, they will initiate an investigation into the disputed transaction and will intimate you their feedback within 90 days.
If you do not get any or unsatisfactory response, file an official complaint with the nodal officer of the bank, details of which are given on the respective bank’s website. If after 4 weeks of filing this complaint also the issue is not resolved, You can file your complaint with the banking ombudsman on the RBI website. The link for the same is www.bankingombudsman.rbi.org.in.

Meanwhile, it is always better to make sure that you continue making the payments under protest to avoid being reported in CIBIL as delayed / default payment.

I am a B.E. student and I want to take loan of Rs 3 lakh for education. How can I go about it?

A student can get an unsecured education loan up to Rs 4 lakh without any collateral as per the RBI instructions in force as of today. A number of banks (including PSU banks) have their application form online. You will have to submit your course details, proof of your confirmed admission to the engineering college along with photographs, ID proof, and past education records. The bank may require your parents to be co-borrowers for the loan.

Please note that as the loan is less than Rs 4 lakh, the bank need not take into account the income of parents while sanctioning the loan. Needless to add the course needs to be recognised by the relevant authorities.

Few days ago, I heard about an LIC endowment plan. The person was mentioning about pension, savings and some extra benefits. Is it true? What kind of benefit should I get? I am a private job holder and my net salary is Rs 20,000 per month.

We always recommend segregating your insurance and investments requirements. Firstly, you should take adequate life insurance for yourself and your family. Life insurance is needed only for people, who either have a loan or have dependents on his income. In case you have any of them, you should consider taking a term life insurance policy. You should consult an expert on how much life insurance you need. Ideally, you should have life insurance of at least 12 times of your annual income.

Once you have taken adequate insurance, you should invest the remaining amount in to various investment instruments depending up on the horizon of your investments. In case, you want to invest for a horizon of 10 years or more, you should consider taking higher exposure to equity mutual funds. You can also choose to invest in to debt instruments like PPF for more safety.

My company has provided me insurance. I underwent treatment for the removal of my tooth and replaced them with a ceramic tooth. Can I get reimbursement from the medical policy.

Normally dental treatment costs are covered under a mediclaim policy only if they are incurred due to an accident. Other than that almost every policy permanently excludes any cost related to dental treatment. In the normal course that is true of most group health insurance policies taken by employees as well.

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