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| Counselling Sessions Back With a Bang After 2 Years; Thank You For Your Generous Support! |
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| Dear Moneylifers, |
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| After two long years our weekly counselling sessions are back and members have been taking full benefit of the time generously devoted by our voluntary experts. Property and cooperative housing society issues remain a bugbear as is clear from the stream of people seeking help from Adv Shirish Shanbhag. Right to Information, Consumer Issues etc are also back, so if you have not checked our free helplines and mailers recently, I would urge you to get our free subscription right away! |
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| If you have a specific concern or issue related to right to information, co-operative housing societies, insurance, mediclaim or consumer related complaints, do call our office - (022) 2444 1058 or (022) 2444 1059 for an appointment if you are in Mumbai. Otherwise use our Free Helplines for guidance. More about these sessions below. |
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| Donation Match Campaign Ends |
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 Our anonymous benefactor had once again helped our fund-raising effort that allows us to take up your causes without a cost. All of us at Moneylife Foundation are most touched at how readily our members have supported us with generous donations, especially during the fund-matching campaigns! Thank you so much helping us remain independent and unafraid of taking up issues. |
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| If you have benefited through our work, please do encourage your friends, family and colleagues to also discover our helplines and guidance initiatives - https://www.mlfoundation.in/register.html |
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| Counselling & Daily Clinics |
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 We now have retired Central Information Commissioner, Mr Shailesh Gandhi available on a few Wednesdays each month, to provide guidance and advice on right to information (RTI) applications and appeals. If you are having trouble filing an RTI application or appeal, or need to understand an information officer's response, do take an appointment to consult Mr Gandhi! |
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 Retired banker and consumer activist, Mr Abhay Datar, is available on Fridays between 4-6pm. Mr Datar provides guidance on a variety of issues including insurance, mediclaim, consumer and banking related complaints, and much more. |
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 Some of our regular members would know that we had started our one-to-one counselling sessions a few months ago with Advocate Shirish Shanbhag, who guides on issues of co-operative housing societies and other property related matters. Over the years, Adv Shanbhag has continued to provide out-of-the-box solutions to issues of deemed conveyance, redevelopment, maintenance, parking etc. and is an expert in handling such matters. The demand for these sessions has continued to grow, with appointments being booked weeks in advance. He's now available every Thursday, between 3-6pm at our office in Mumbai. |
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| Guidance provided in all of these sessions is on a one-to-one basis, and is on the basis of prior appointment. If you or any of your friends or colleagues would like to seek advice from any of our counsellors, please do call our landline no. (022) 24441058 or 24441059, during business hours. |
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| Consumer Awareness & Financial Literacy |
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 With the year end festivities just around the corner, consumers need to be all the more wary when shopping or transacting online. Deals that seem too good to be true, are most likely scams designed to lure unsuspecting consumers. Thousands of people become victims of holiday scams every year. Scammers can rob you of hard-earned money, personal information, and at the very least, a festive mood. |
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| It is important you remain vigilant and aware in an increasingly online world that becomes unsafe for consumers in new ways everyday. Moneylife Foundation has actively made efforts on several fronts in this regard. |
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| We continue to educate our members on the latest frauds, scams and attractive yet fraudulent schemes through series of articles on Moneylife. Our Youtube Channel has a vast repository of videos from past seminars and workshops, as well as short videos on topics of financial literacy which are a great resource to those willing to spend some time learning. Our online helplines are always open for counselling from a panel of experts on issues on banking, insurance, housing and property related matters, consumer and other issues. |
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| Do take the time to read our articles, watch the videos and also share them with others, so that many more can take advantage of the knowledge and remain safe. Please also do encourage your friends, family members and colleagues to become members of Moneylife Foundation. |
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| Take extra precaution when using banking apps, websites or e-commerce sites while shopping, as they have been instances of fake apps and fraudulent websites masquerading as authorised ones. Read this article to know what you should do when you are cheated while shopping online and follow this how-to guide when you want to file a consumer complaint. |
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| Recently we have made efforts to present our financial literacy videos in languages other than Hindi and English. You can now learn to use credit cards safely, stay away from online frauds, learn about the fallacy of gold loans and more in Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi and Tamil, all on our YouTube channel. |
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| Do subscribe to our YouTube Channel for regular updates and notifications when a new video is released, and also encourage your friends and family to do so as well. After all, the more number of people that watch and learn from these short videos, the more financially literate we can all be. |
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| We are also happy to send them to you in the language of your choice on WhatsApp and Telegram if you share your numbers at Moneylife Foundation's WhatsApp number (+91 7045156415). This is also a good opportunity for you to join our WhatsApp broadcast list as well as our telegram channel. Join to stay in the loop about Moneylife Foundation's activities. |
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| Do send us your feedback on these and if you have benefitted from our work, please do not forget to pass it forward by introducing our videos, free helplines and membership benefit to others. Do register for a free membership and also encourage your friends and family to join as well. |
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| File your RTI Applications with Expert Guidance |
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| RTI Advice App पर विस्तृत गाइड से विशिष्ट उपयोग के मामलों के लिए आरटीआई आवेदन दाखिल करने का तरीका जानें। हिंदी और मराठी भाषाओं में उपलब्ध। |
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| Many of you are already aware of our 'RTI Advice' app, which was launched for both android and iOS devices a year ago. The app helps you get expert advice on your RTI queries in any language or format (text, audio or video) and access to over 900 queries that are already asked and answered by our 14 highly regarded RTI experts. |
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| Don't worry about how to navigate the app—we now have user guides for you in English, Hindi and Marathi! Download the app or access the guides from our website here. |
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| Moneylife TV & Helplines |
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| Catch up with our financial literacy work through Moneylife TV and Moneylife News Bites. |
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| Get guidance and counselling through our Legal Helpline or Credit Helpline. |
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| Also, Moneylife Foundation is now on Telegram and Instagram, so do follow us on these channels to stay updated on our activities and events. |
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| Sucheta Dalal |
| Founder-Trustee, Moneylife Foundation |
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| Trustees: TS Krishnamurthy, Walter Vieira, Sucheta Dalal, Debashis Basu. | | | | Moneylife Foundation is registered with the Charity Commissioner of Mumbai, is an Affiliate member of OECD's International Network on Financial Education, is a Supporter Member of Consumers International, Development Partner of Advocates for International Development (A4ID), and is a winner of the 10th MR Pai Memorial Award. | | |  | | | | Donations are eligible for tax benefits under Sec 80G of the Income Tax 1961 (50% tax exemption) and MLF is registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. 80(G) Reg No: DIT(E)/MC/80G/685/2010-11 dated 7.2.11 effective 8.+9.2010 | FCRA Registration No: 08378138  | | | |
