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There are many ways to get a VISA Credit / Debit / Prepaid card and most of them will cost you money in terms of registration fees, yearly / monthly fees, per-transaction fees etc. However, there are a few FREE options available as well! In this article, we will focus on Debit / Prepaid Cards and to be more specific, the most attractive offering of the Visa Debit Cards that are available for free. It is not going to cost you any registration fees or yearly or monthly fees. It doesn’t even have any kind of per-transaction fees. There’s more, you also get a free zero-balance bank account along with this and it comes from one of the most trusted banks in India.
A Virtual Debit Card is a debit / prepaid card that you can use for making any online purchase or payment or transaction. The amount of transaction is debited directly from the savings account to which the virtual card is linked. Some virtual cards are valid for a limited time like the physical debit cards and some other kinds of virtual cards can be used for a single transaction only. You can top up your virtual debit card with a certain amount by loading that amount to your savings account to which that card is connected. Basically, if your savings account has balance of amount N, your virtual card will also have the same N amount of balance. Any cashback for the card is automatically credited back to the debited savings account. These cards are called “Virtual” as all the card details (Card Number, PIN, CVV, Expiry Date) are provided to the user but no physical card is issued.At present, Axis Bank is offering ASAP savings account which comes with a Free Virtual Debit Card. This is a zero-balance account and doesn’t have any Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC) and there are no yearly or per-transaction charges for the card too! However, there are a few limits. For example, maximum transaction limit for a day, which can also be found in case of the other usual bank accounts and debit cards. So, nothing unusual here. For basic usages for an average user, who does not go over the limit, there are almost no charges or fees. There is a very nominal charge for SMS alerts, just Rs. 5 (0.7$) per month and it can be opted out if you are not willing to receive SMS alerts. You will also get all the common banking features that you might expect from any basic savings account.
There are numerous savings account schemes available from multiple banks and most of them offer at least one zero-balance savings account scheme. Some of these offerings are actually zero-maintenance savings account where you do not need to pay any kind of annual or quarterly or monthly maintenance charges. Some of these have paid SMS alerts, paid chequebook and some other paid features which are optional in most cases. So, a few of the zero-balance savings account schemes available are literally free-to-use. Axis ASAP is a free-to-use savings bank account and it ensures that your basic banking necessities are well met and you do not have to pay charges for all the little things if you do not ‘heavily’ depend on cash transactions and ATMs. Even if you use ATMs on a regular basis, a paid physical Debit cum ATM option is there. A zero-balance savings account saves the hassle of maintaining the monthly/quarterly average balance so that you can stay tension-free.
Axis bank is among the top three private-sector banks and among the top five banks overall in India. It is considered to be a very reliable bank by the masses. Axis bank has it’s good will when it comes to customer service. It has it’s own flaws like every other banks but with more than 3300 branches all over India, Axis bank has reached almost every corner of the country.
The ASAP account has some of the most attractive features. If you have an ASAP account, you can enjoy full fledged internet banking like you do with any premium savings account. It includes most of the features of the internet banking facility including fund transfer, fixed deposit management, downloading account statements and even features related to bill payments, insurance payments and tax payments. You will also enjoy an attractive 7.1% interest rate which is one of the highest interest rates for savings accounts in India.
The ease of opening a bank account is a very important factor. To open an ASAP account, you just need two documents – AADHAAR and PAN. That’s it! You don’t even need to visit any branch; you can just visit the Axis ASAP website and finish the process in just 5 minutes. Axis bank has tied up with several merchants or third parties to offer attractive discounts and cashbacks which makes the ASAP account and it’s free virtual debit card even more desirable. Amazingly, the virtual debit card is an international debit card. So, you will be able to shop online from international eCommerce stores as well.
|| Link to Axis ASAP Website (click here)
Portronics Sound Drum is a 10 watt Bluetooth Speaker that looks good and sounds good. First of all, this speaker has 4 modes- Bluetooth mode, FM Radio Mode, Aux Mode and USB mode. The Bluetooth version is 4.2. To turn on the speaker, just press the top circular button for 3 seconds and it will turn on. By default, it should enter Bluetooth mode and the blue light will start blinking, which indicates that it is waiting for a Bluetooth device to be paired. You can simply pair your phone or another Bluetooth audio source with it and start playing audio. Just open Bluetooth settings in your phone and “Sound Drum” will be listed. If you don’t see it in the list, just refresh and it should be there. After pairing, the blue light will be constant. To increase the volume of your phone or any other audio device that is connected, press and hold the plus button, and the minus button to decrease the volume. To change the mode to FM Radio mode, simply press the same circular button once. The volume level of the phone sometimes goes down to 0% when the device gets paired with the phone. Then after a few seconds, it automatically goes back to the normal volume level and then works just fine. However, it may be an issue with my phone or Bluetooth version incompatibility. So, not exactly sure about that and surely it is not a deal breaker. When you turn on the device, it will resume the same mode which was activated when it was turned on the last time. So, if it was in FM Radio mode before turning off, it will start with FM Radio mode when you turn it on again.
Below this rubber flap, there is a LED light at the top which is also visible when the flap is closed. Then there is a full sized USB port and that means you can use a pen drive or even a card reader to play music. Below that, there is an auxiliary port or Aux port and in Aux mode, you need to plug-in an 3.5mm Aux cable from your audio source (laptop, smartphone etc.) to the speaker and it will automatically enter the Aux mode. In aux mode, it has independent volume control and it will not change the volume of the connected device directly.
The Portronics Sound Drum has dual 5 watt speakers. The sound output was good and the loudness of the sound is really surprisingly high for it’s size. It is really loud and while editing it’s unboxing / review video for YouTube, I had to get the volumes down in a few places in this video where this speaker was playing music. It has a dedicated bass radiator too and again it sounds surprisingly good for the price. The bass radiator is upwards firing. The sound is like 360 degree sound though it is not confirmed but it seems that way. It has an inbuilt microphone. That means, you can use it to take calls with it’s really loud speakers.
It looks good with it’s textured body, it is kind of braided and made with special synthetic fibers which also makes it water resistant! No specific water resistance rating was provided in the specifications mentioned in the Portronics website but it is mentioned there that this device is protected against water splashing and light rain. The rubber flap protects the ports from liquid spilling. I was really amazed to witness it’s water resistance capabilities. I am really impressed!
It has a 1800mAh battery inbuilt. Portronics claims that it has a playback time of 6 hours. As per my testing, if you use it with 50% to 60% volume most of the time, you will get close to 6 hours of playback time. You can charge it with a regular smartphone charger or power bank or even from the USB port of your laptop or desktop with any Micro-USB cable or the supplied one. The led will be red while charging and when the charging is complete, the led will turn off automatically.
A few things that I don’t like about this product is that the button clicks feel a little cheap. You have to apply some pressure to click the buttons and the clicky sounds are towards the cheaper side. So, the buttons could have been smoother. There is no native SD / MicroSD card support. Again, you can use a card reader for the same (it has a full sized USB port) but a dedicated card slot would have been even better.
This Bluetooth Speaker comes with a really attractive price. The price usually varies from 1800 Rs. to 2300 Rs. in different online stores and you should check where it is available for the lowest price. Check out the following links from where you can buy the Portronics Sound Drum :
Flipkart (India) – https://goo.gl/62KnsM
Amazon (India) – https://goo.gl/K1GvXy
Similar Bluetooth Speaker @ Amazon (US) – https://goo.gl/PSDBdX
There are a lots of payment network companies like VISA, MasterCard, Maestro, American Express, RuPay etc. that work with Credit and Debit cards but not with ATM cards because ATM cards are not used to pay online or offline merchants or sellers. The banks work in collaboration with the payment network companies to make the whole payment system going.
Last but not the least, a credit check is required to get a Credit card. The bank will check your credit history and maybe current financial status. It is done from their end to make sure that you are well able to pay the money back after spending it with the Credit card. But a Debit card or ATM card does not require such credit check because it is prepaid.
In the largest ever ecommerce deal in India and the biggest ever funding round in India’s startup ecosystem, Flipkart raised a total of $1.4 billion from Microsoft, Tencent, eBay. After the deal, eBay India will become a part of the Flipkart group. With this fresh fund, Flipkart’s current valuation is now over $11.6 billion. Microsoft, Tencent and eBay now join Naspers Group, Tiger Global Management, DST Global and Accel Partners as investors in Flipkart.
The most remarkable part of this deal is that eBay India will now operate under Flipkart! eBay is making a cash investment and selling its eBay India business to Flipkart in exchange for an equity stake in Flipkart. However, eBay.in will continue to operate as an independent entity as a part of Flipkart.
eBay and Flipkart have also signed a cross-border trade agreement. As a result, customers of Flipkart will be able to access the global inventory of eBay and eBay’s customers will have access to the Indian inventory handled by Flipkart. Flipkart’s selleres will now have the opportunity to expand their sales globally on eBay.
Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, Founders of Flipkart said – “We are delighted that Tencent, eBay and Microsoft — all innovation powerhouses — have chosen to partner with us on their India journey. We have chosen these partners based on their long histories of pioneering industries, and the unique expertise and insights each of them bring to Flipkart. This deal reaffirms our resolve to hasten the transformation of commerce in India through technology.”
Martin Lau, Tencent President said – “This strategic partnership enables Tencent to participate in the exciting opportunities in e-commerce and payments in India. We look forward to helping Flipkart to deliver compelling experiences to users throughout India, and to contribute to the development of the internet ecosystem there”.
Devin Wenig, President and CEO of eBay Inc said – “The combination of eBay’s position as a leading global e-commerce company and Flipkart’s market stature will allow us to accelerate and maximize the opportunity for both companies in India”.
LINK TO BUY (FROM FLIPKART) :
Svype Tempered Glass for Xiaomi Redmi 3S – https://goo.gl/NnxinZ
The SoundMagic ES11S Wired Headset (with mic) is a great value-for-money accessory for your phone or music player. It is designed to work with any phone, smartphone, tablet, music player, computer or laptop with a 3.5mm port. The build quality is standard. This is an in-ear headphone and the eartips are soft and comfortable. Total length of this headset is around 4 feet. A mic is present and it works with calling and voice recording and a button is there too that can control calling and music playback. The earphones produce good low-end (bass) and moderate high-end sounds. The loudness is also very good. The 3.5mm jack is angled and gold plated. The price is around 300 Rs. / 4.6$. Something must be said here that the price fluctuates sometimes and it may go up to 450 Rs / 6.88$. Overall, even the price is at it’s highest, this is great deal and a great value for money.
LINK TO BUY (FROM FLIPKART) :
SoundMagic ES11S (Red) – https://goo.gl/LCILmt
SoundMagic ES11S (Black) – https://goo.gl/qPuFLV
SoundMagic ES11S (Blue) – https://goo.gl/CTJG05
SoundMagic ES11S (Green) – https://goo.gl/YCEMMX
Best Budget EARPHONES For Your Phone | In Ear , Wired Headphone with Mic – SoundMagic ES11S – This video explains all the details about the earphone with a nice and quick review.
JIO PRIME Membership Explained in HINDI + ENGLISH – This video explains the new plan from Reliance Jio with a highlight of Mukesh Ambani’s Speech
Best value for your money! It’s really awesome. Here’s a video –
The Redmi 3S has a good quality metal body. It houses a powerful Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 430 (64-bit, octa-core) processor, massive 4100mAh battery, 16gb internal storage, 2gb RAM, 13MP Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) camera and 12.6cm (5) HD display. Despite these upgrades, the weight is just 144g and it is surprisingly 0.9mm thinner than it’s predecessor Redmi 2 and sits comfortably in your hand. It supports up to 128GB microSD storage with it’s hybrid dual SIM slot. At the software department, it runs on MIUI 7.5 (MIUI 8 update available) based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. It offers a great value for money at just 6999 Rupees / 100 Dollars.
Buy Redmi 3S @ 6999₹ / 100$ :
Redmi 3S (Gold) – https://goo.gl/0sz9dJ
Redmi 3S (Dark Grey) – https://goo.gl/j91KeT
Redmi 3S (Silver) – https://goo.gl/cC1FDG
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Buy Redmi 3S Prime (3 GB RAM, 32 GB ROM, Fingerprint Scanner) @ 8999₹ / 130$ :
Redmi 3S Prime (Gold) – https://goo.gl/LuyxOx
[ USA / International – https://goo.gl/8v5HrH ]
Redmi 3S Prime (Dark Grey) – https://goo.gl/7KxvYW
Redmi 3S Prime (Silver) – https://goo.gl/3K0O6b
