Pillar 3
Debt and Credit
Debt and credit are two of the most misunderstood areas of personal finance. This section explains how credit scores are calculated, how credit card interest actually compounds, how debt payoff methods work, and what happens when debt goes unpaid. Understanding how these systems work is the first step to navigating them.
19 articles
How debt and credit work in India and the US, in one guide: CIBIL and FICO, EMIs and revolving cards, and the RBI and Fed rules current as of July 2026.
15 min read
What a payday loan is, how it works, and what it really costs: the 391% APR, the rollover debt cycle, payday vs personal loans, and how India's instant-loan-app reality compares.
14 min read
A debit card spends your money, a credit card borrows. How that changes fraud liability under RBI and US law, credit building, disputes, and merchant holds.
18 min read
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) splits a purchase into a few interest-free installments. How the 'pay in 4' model works, what it really costs, and how it compares to a credit card.
9 min read
Check your CIBIL score free in India: the two kinds of free, the RBI one-report-a-year rule, whether PAN works without OTP, and if self-checks hurt your score.
14 min read
RBI barred pre-payment charges on loans sanctioned from 1 January 2026, but only on floating-rate loans. Most personal loans are fixed, so check which you hold.
14 min read
What is income-driven repayment, a clear breakdown of SAVE, PAYE, IBR, and ICR, the discretionary income formula, the 20- or 25-year forgiveness clock, and what India offers instead.
9 min read
What is a debt consolidation loan, the three main forms it takes in India and the US, and the conditions under which it actually saves money instead of just rearranging it.
9 min read
TransUnion CIBIL calls 30% a healthy ratio but sets no official cut-off, and FICO publishes none either. What the data shows, and why top scores sit under 10%.
13 min read
A good credit score is 670+ on FICO (max 850) and 750+ on CIBIL (max 900). See every band, what each one unlocks, and what a good score really saves you.
12 min read
The timeline from missed payment to lawsuit: RBI's three-day buffer, the 90-day NPA rule that turns on your minimum due, and US charge-off at 180 days.
16 min read
The student loan grace period explained, six months on US federal loans, course duration plus 6-12 months in India, with the interest accrual rules that decide what you actually owe.
8 min read
How student loan interest works in plain English, daily simple interest accrual, capitalisation rules, and the actual rates on US federal loans and Indian education loans for 2024-25.
9 min read
How long to pay off a credit card? A payoff table by payment level, the minimum-payment trap, the best time to pay, and worked examples in rupees and dollars.
15 min read
How the debt snowball method works, step by step: pay the smallest balance first, roll each payment forward, and stay motivated. Worked payoff examples in ₹ and $.
13 min read
The five steps and their real timings, what consolidating actually does to a credit score and when, and why the US balance-transfer playbook fails in India.
17 min read
The debt avalanche saves the most interest, except when it barely does. Two worked examples with real month-by-month math, for India and the US.
13 min read
How credit scores are calculated: FICO's five published weights, why CIBIL publishes none, what both models ignore entirely, and what changed in 2026.
15 min read
Credit card interest is charged daily on your average daily balance once you carry a balance. The real math, grace periods, and the minimum trap, in ₹ and $.
13 min read