Home Loan: Interest Rates
Interest rates differ across various lenders. You will find most of the lender offering you either fixed rate or floating rate home loans.
- Fixed rate home loans with a reset clause - These fixed rates are fixed for certain number of years. After that the rates are revised.
- Fixed rate home loans without reset clause - The interest rates in these home loans are fixed for the entire tenure of loan.
- Floating rate home loans - Floating rate home loans may change at any given point. In case, the rates revise, the borrower of the loan has an option to either increase/decrease the EMI or to increase/decrease the loan.
Guide to Home Loan Interest Rates
Between them there are many kinds of Home Loan rates.
Fixed Home Loan rates : In true Fixed Rate Home Loans the rates remain fixed throughout the tenure of the loan no matter what. These kind of rates are very expensive (13.50%+ for a 20 year home loan in November 2010) and are offered by a limited number of lenders in the market.
Resettable Fixed Rates : Most of the so called Fixed Rates available in the market are of this variety. Here the interest rate is fixed for a period of 2-5 years and is then reset for a further period of 2-5 years and so on. These rates are more reasonable than the true fixed rates dealt with above. You just need to be clear about the nature of fixed rate contract you are getting into.
Floating Home Loan rates (also called variable rate loans or adjustable rate loans)
For Banks : The effective rate is linked to the Bank's Base Rate. The base rate would have to be declared by the banks at least once every quarter. It is open to each bank to decide its own methodology for fixing the base rate but it is not allowed to change the methodology after selecting one methodlogy. The banks will have to document how it has arrived at the base rate and follow the same system consistently. The calculation of the base rate will be open to the RBI for review (which should at least ensure that a set system is actually followed while calculating the Base Rate). This is of course a much better stipulation than the earlier system of BPLR, where no such system was required to be documented by the bank and there was no question of any calculation that could be reviewed by RBI.
So even though composition of the base rate from the customer's perspective might continue to remain opaque still it is a better situation than the erstwhile BPLR since the regulator will ensure calculation of Base rate is done in a consistent and fair manner.
RBI has banned lending below Base rates except limited categories of loans such as employee loans, loan against its own fixed deposits, Differential Interest rate loans to SC/ST, etc..
The advantage therefore from the consumer's perspective is that when markets rate soften, obviously new borrowers will not borrow at the same rate as earlier. So if the base rate is fixed at 8%, and bank lends to corporates at Base Rate (8%) and possibly even to existing home loans seekers at Base Rates (8%). When interest rates in the market soften, the banks will be forced to reduce their Base rates as now new customers will not borrow at 8% and banks cannot lend below that rate without reducing their Base Rates. Thus banks will be forced to lower its base rate in response to market forces.
Any reduction in base rates, will automatically apply to the old customer as well as new customers without any discrimination.
For HFCs :
The Base Rate Guidelines are for banks, but unless the regulator for the housing finance companies, National Housing Bank comes up with similar guidelines, ironically two of the market leaders, HDFC and LICHF and many others will not be covered by the new regime. Their customer may still be governed under old non transparent regime.
Benefits of Applying Online
When Banks Compete, you win.
Apply for a Home Loan at ApnaPaisa and we will match your requirements with the best offers from our network of over 400 service providers. We will get a maximum of five providers to compete for your business. WHEN BANKS COMPETE YOU WIN. You can then decide which home loan is best for you based on:
- Lowest Interest Rate
- Lowest EMI
- No Pre-payment charges
- Lowest Processing Fees
- Maximum Eligible Loan Amount
- Mandatory Documents Required
- Lowest Processing Fees
Or any other factor that is important to you.
Negotiating Tips
1) If you have a good credit record and your income is sufficient to justify the loan you can negotiate on interest rates. You can also try and get Processing fees or legal or valuation fees reduced or completely waived.
2) If you go for a floating rate loan then pre-payment charges are not payable.
3) When interest rates are high and are expected to go down you should go in for a floating rate loan as it makes no sense to lock into high fixed rates or the so called Dual rate loans where rates remain fixed for a couple of years before shifting to regular floating rate loans. Please review this decision at least once every 6 months
4) Take term insurance and critical illness and accidental disability policy for the full loan amount to make sure you or your loved ones don't have to worry about loan repayment should you die or are disabled due to a critical illness or accident. You cannot be forced to buy this policy from the insurance company chosen by the lender - you should choose your own insurer.
Home Loan Interest Rates
Interest rate on home loan is something that one has to pay in lieu of the loan provided by the bank/financial institution. Home loan Interest rate is very important element when it comes to choosing a home loan for a customer & it also helps the customer on taking right decision or on pinning down that through which bank or financial institution he or she can go for. Depending on this interest rate, the loan amount and the tenure of the loan, your EMI is calculated which is how you repay your loan to the bank. In case the interest rate is higher, the EMI would be higher and in case the interest rate is lower, the EMI would be lower. Thus y choosing a bank with a lower interest rate, you can certainly increase your monthly savings. But please keep in mind that interest rate is not the only criteria to choose a loan. There are various other parameters as well. The EMI is calculated on a monthly reducing balance method.
Your home loan eligibility or how much loan you are eligible for is also calculated on the basis of the interest rates. In case you opt for a bank with a lower interest rate, then your eligibility will be higher compared to a bank that is offering a higher interest rate.
Types of Home Loan Interest Rate:-
1) Fixed Interest Rate : A rate which is set In-advance or which is predetermined for entire term of Home Loan.
Let's take an Example :
Mr. X has a taken home loan from ABC Bank of Rs. 25 lakhs for 20ys. at an interest rate of 11.50% pa.
Then his EMI will be Rs. 26661 which he needs to pay for entire term of loan that is 20 years
Please note that most of the fixed home loan interest rates products available in the market are not fully fixed. Most of them come with a reset clause of 3 to 5 years. This means that the interest rates can be reset after a period of every 3 to 5 years (as mentioned in the loan document).
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2) Floating Interest Rate : A rate which is linked to a benchmark rate or the base rate of the bank or the financial institution. The floating home loan interest rate will change as and when the bank will change its benchmark rate or the base rate.
Let's take an Example :
Mr. Y takes a floating rate home loan from ABC Bank of Rs. 25 lakhs for 20yrs.
For the initial year the interest rate may be around 9.5% that may change to 10% for the first 4 months of the 2nd year and after that it may change to again. It is not that the rates are always increasing, there are many times, when the clients benefit when the interest rates go down. When the interest rates changes, the customer is given an option to either increase or decrease the tenure or the EMI. In case, the customer chooses to change the EMI, he will spend more when the interest rate increase and will save more when the interest rate decreases.
So, here we saw the simple understanding of what is Fixed Rate & Floating/Variable home loan interest rate. Generally, the interest rates for floating rates for home loans are cheaper than interest rate for fixed rates for home loan.