Planning to borrow home loan? Pay attention to your CIBIL Score.

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

Ok, you have identified the residential property you wish to buy. Now comes the financing part of it. A residential property may cost you 50 Lacs or more. You may have arranged for the down payment cost of approximately 10 Lacs and are now looking to borrow the home loan for remainder of the property cost.

Borrowing home loan means you will be paying EMIs for several years. Therefore, one must be responsible and confident to service the debt over a period of time. Before sanctioning such a huge amount to an individual borrower, the banks carry out comprehensive due diligence that includes checking your credit history, bank statements, income statements, job or business continuity.

CIBIL score is one such parameter that banks and financial institutions look into before sanctioning loan. What is CIBIL score? Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited (CIBIL) is India’s first Credit Information Company (CIC) founded in August 2000. CIBIL collects and maintains records of an individual’s payments pertaining to loans and credit cards. These records are submitted to CIBIL by member banks and credit institutions, on a monthly basis. This information is then used to create Credit Information Reports (CIR) and credit scores which are provided to credit institutions in order to help evaluate and approve loan applications. (Definition Source: Wikipedia)

One can check the CIBIL score here

How can you maintain good CIBIL score?

Well, in order to maintain good CIBIL score, you must pay attention to the following factors:

• Repayment:

First thing first, what is your repayment track record? In other words, are you paying your installments on previous loans or credit cards regularly within the stipulated timeline? If yes, then your CIBIL score is going to be good. Your ability to repay previous debt has 35% weight-age in calculation of the CIBIL Score. Therefore, make sure that you stick to due dates of servicing your EMIs.

• Credit Utilization:

Credit utilization is the ratio of the

Balance amount that you owe to your lenders / Total of your credit card limits

Therefore, if your balance amount that you owe to lenders is high then it signals riskiness. The increase in balance amount indicates increase in repayment burden and may negatively impact your CIBIL score. Credit utilization has 30% weight-age in calculation your CIBIL score. Therefore to score high CIBIL score, keep your outstanding balance to banks and financial institutions as low as possible.

• History of Debt servicing capacity:

Are you paying EMIs and credit installments successfully for several years? If yes, then this will have a positive impact on your CIBIL scores. Banks and financial institutions prefer applicants who have taken loans earlier and have serviced the debt regularly. It sends the signal that the individual has a long history of securing debt and has been responsible in his/her repayments. This has a weight-age of 15% in calculation of CIBIL score.

• New Credit

If you have applied for too many loans or credit cards in recent times, then it has a negative impact on your CIBIL score. Banks and financial institutions will see this increased activity of loan applications as risky because your debt burden has increased and it may affect your repayment capacity. Therefore, be prudent with your loan applications. Unless, your income has increased substantially, do not apply for too many loans or credit cards at the same time or within a short interval of time. In other words, space out your loan applications prudently. This has a weight-age of 10% in calculation of CIBIL score.

• Credit mix

Many a times, we have noticed that people have a great propensity to apply for unsecured loans. As the name suggests, unsecured loans are not secured by any mortgage or guarantee. If you have mostly availed unsecured loans (such as personal loans) or credit cards, then it will bring down your CIBIL score. Always have a mix of both secured loans and unsecured loans. Secured loans are car loan, home loan, etc. This has a weight-age of 10% in calculation of CIBIL score.

Now that, you have a thorough understanding of CIBIL scores and its impact on your loan availing ability, we hope that you will be disciplined in your finances.

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Home Loan Prepayment: The Whys and Hows

A few years ago, Misha took a large home loan, at a monthly EMI of almost Rs.37,000 and interest rate of 11.75%. She still has to pay close to Rs.26 lakhs of the principal amount with just a little over 10 years remaining. She is looking for options that can help her diminish the loan burden. As home loans are some of the biggest debts we take on during our financial lives, repaying them often becomes a substantial burden on middle-income earners with a fixed salary. However, there are four ways in which you can reduce your home-loan debt—or at least minimize its effects:

1. Transfer your home-loan to a low interest provider: If Misha transfers her home loan to a lender who levies 10.5% interest instead of 11.75%, her loan tenure comes down drastically. If she maintains the same monthly EMI, the reduced interest brings the tenure down to 113 months from 124. The longer you spend repaying your loan, the more interest you have to pay—therefore, Misha will save approx. Rs.4 lakhs in interest.

2. Increase your EMI and reduce the tenure: This can be availed only if your financial situation changes substantially. For example, you had been saving for your child’s education, but she has already left for college. Or your salary has been hiked by 30% or more. Suppose Misha pays Rs.42,000 a month instead of Rs.36,407 a month— her interest tenure comes down to 96 months from 124, as a result of which she pays Rs.476000 less in interest.

3. Make prepayments: Prepayments are payments made towards your loans in large chunks, and at irregular intervals. Here are the basic ways in which they differ from EMI payments:

• EMIs are compulsory and regular. You pay them every months, and you pay a fixed amount. While this amount can be changed, there is not much flexibility. Prepayment, on the other hand, depends entirely on the loan taker
• Prepayments are much larger than EMIs, for example the average home loan EMI can be anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000, while prepayments are numbered in lakhs.
• The most crucial difference between EMI and prepayment is that a large portion of your EMI goes towards payment of interest, at least towards the beginning of the loan tenure. Prepayments, however, go directly towards your principal, thereby bringing down not only the loan tenure, but also the outstanding loan amount.

If Misha makes prepayment of Rs.2 lakhs for 5 years, alongside her regular EMI of Rs.36,407, her total interest will drop by a staggering Rs.8.5 lakhs and her loan tenure will be almost halved— from 124 months to 73 months. Obviously, out of the three options for reducing the home-loan burden, making prepayments is the most profitable one. But while going down the prepayment route, there are a few things you must note:

1. You will have to pay interest when you are making a prepayment, i.e. the day you make the payment, your principal will decrease and from that point on you will be paying interest on the reduced principal. But suppose you make a prepayment on the 10 of the month— the interest on the original amount for those 10 days will have to be paid as well.
2. Some loan providers insist on validating your proof of income before accepting prepayment, as these are usually big ticket payments. Therefore it is advisable you carry bank statements for the account from which you are making the payment, dating back to at least three months.
3. The longer you take to repay a loan, the more your loan provider will earn. Therefore, accepting prepayment is often not in the best interest of the bank, so there might be measures like prepayment charges and limitations in payment mode. There may be a specific period after loan disbursement during which prepayment is not permitted. Also, the borrower may have to be present personally to make prepayment. Acquaint yourself with these rules and regulations before you take the leap.
4. Once your principal loan amount decreases, your CIBIL score (which reflects your credit worthiness) will improve. Follow up on your credit score within a few months of making the prepayment, to ensure that the reduction in outstanding balance is reflected.
5. Make sure to preserve the acknowledgement of payment. This document contains important details such as outstanding principal, home loan tenure, and change in EMI (if any).

The catch is, prepayment is possible only in case of a sudden financial windfall, such as yearly bonus or inheritance or gift. Then you would have the dilemma of whether to invest it and increase savings, or whether to prepay your loan and reduce your debt. Our advice is, if the rate of interest from investment is less that the interest you pay on your loan, it is better to make a prepayment. For example, investing in a provident fund would fetch Misha interest at 8.8 currently, while her loan interest rate is 11.75. Therefore, making a prepayment makes better financial sense.



This is a guest post by Team Paisabazaar

What are the various kinds of documents that are required to avail home loan in India? What are the documents a salaried class, self employed, businessman needs to present for home loan in India?

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

As per the recent report by National Housing Bank titled “Report on trend and progress of housing in India 2012”, the following observations were made.

The urban population of India has been growing at a rapid pace. As per the Census 2011, 31.16 per cent of the total population is in the urban areas. The shortage of housing units for the urban areas for 2012 is estimated at 18.78 million units.

With time, there has been expansion and improvement in the housing finance market by way of various financial reforms; however the housing loans as a percentage of GDP have remained at around 7 percent, significantly lower than the levels achieved in most of the developed countries.

During the financial year 2011-12, housing loan which is disbursed to individuals across India stands at Rs. 68221.12 Crore. Out of which about 71.34% was used by individuals for acquisition/construction of new houses, about 2.63% for repair of existing houses, and about 26.03% was used for purchase of old/existing houses (resale properties). The housing loan availed by individuals across India continue to increase year on year by an average of about 20%. All these numbers suggest that home loan is a key factor when an individual goes out to buy home.

However, before one approaches the bank or housing finance companies for housing loan, he/she needs to have the papers in order. Papers about income proof, bank statements, PAN Card, etc. What are the documents that are required to avail home loan? This is a question many of you are confronted with. And therefore, we have put together a comprehensive list of documents that are required for home loan. Find it below:

List of documents that are required to avail home loans in india from Green Realtech Projects Pvt. Ltd

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As a prospective borrower, what are the terms you should be generally aware about in the housing finance field in India?

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

Continuing in our series of home finance, in previous article, we noticed the shortage of housing in India and the role that Home finance companies can play to plug this housing shortage gap. In this article, we will explore the various terminologies used in home finance such as types of home loans, pre-payment charges, processing fee, secured/unsecured loan, rate of interest, insurance, pre-approved loans, etc. The idea is to equip you with basic yet important terms used in home loan process. Therefore, whenever, you decide to go for the home loan to purchase property, it is advisable to quickly go through the following document.

Not only will this hold you in good position to bargain for lower interest rates with the bank but it will also help you to understand various charges that are incurred while procuring home loans. Home loans as described in the document below can be availed for purposes such as buying a property, construction, land purchase, etc. Irrespective of the type of home loan one is going for, it make sense to compare the various loan options from different banks.

Understanding home loans and their terminologies in india from Green Realtech Projects Pvt. Ltd

Having understood the various terminologies used in the home loan process, we hope that you will make an informed decision.

Thanks

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Repo rate and its impact on bank's lending rates to home loan customers for buying property in India

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

To control inflationary pressures, RBI increases repo rate. And it is quite evident from the short term and long term graphs; whenever repo rate is increased, it impacts growth of the industry. And in recent times, one can correlate the slowdown in real estate transactions with increase in repo rate.

Latest short term repo rate changes by Reserve Bank of India

History of repo rate changes by Reserve Bank of India

Whenever, repo rate is lowered it encourages individuals and companies to invest because of lower cost of borrowing.

For example, the debt on balance sheet of 11 real estate listed firms on BSE stands at Rupees 42000 Crores. Even a drop in repo rate by 1% reduces the debt servicing by Rupees 420 crores per year. That’s massive for real estate developers given that other input costs are rising.

Similarly, for a home loan seeker who has taken 50 Lacs rupees of home loan, drop in repo rate results in substantial savings on EMIs.

Loan amount – 50 lacs
Bank interest rate – 11%
Tenure – 20 years
EMI – 51609

Loan amount – 50 lacs
Bank interest rate – 10%
Tenure – 20 years
EMI – 48251

Which means, monthly savings of rupees 3358.

Therefore, just like any industry, real estate sector including the developers and customers are keeping an eye on RBI’s monetary policy and are batting for lowering of interest rates.

Repo rate and its impact on banks lending rates to home loan customers from Green Realtech Projects Pvt. Ltd

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Why Home Loan Interest Is Too High for Indian Buyers?

A recent survey carried out by the Indian Mortgage Guarantee Corporation IMGC-Kantar IMRB showed that high housing loan interests and lack of savings are factors that discourage Indians to own a house. According to the survey, borrowing money is another constraint for people that prevents them from investing in a new property. The survey also revealed that the younger generation (25-44 years) is keen on buying affordable houses in smaller towns than metropolitan or mini-metros.

Conducted in two phases, this survey had a sample size of about 4,100 respondents from towns, mini metros, and metros. These respondents were people who had opted for a home loan. The age group was segregated into 25-34, 35-44, and 45-55.

At the launch of the report the MD & CEO of National Housing Bank, Sriram Kalyanraman said, "Housing sector is poised for higher growth, especially in affordable housing segment by the Housing-for-all by 2022 Mission and infrastructure status accorded by government, apart from various other measures,"

As high as 38% participants of the survey had the same opinion that the home loan interests are too high. An equal number of people gave the reason that their savings aren't enough to meet the expenses of buying a new home. Other factors listed in the report were higher property rates and insufficient loan availability.

The report also pointed out that home ownership delays are being caused due to high dependence on personal savings to pay for down payment.

When questioned about the progress on Housing-for-all, Mr. Sriram Kalyanraman addressed by saying that apart from the government lending and loan subsidies, many other private developers launched projects under affordable housing. He added, "The full data has to come from private sector. Once we take it, I think we will surely be in line with Housing-for-all by 2022." Furthermore, he shared that presently small-sized houses of about 500 square feet are in great demand.

It is also believed that demonetization has led to a fall in the property prices. This fall is indicative that it is the right time to invest in properties in various cities. Buying apartments in Bannerghatta Roads, Bangalore, or residential properties in OMR, Chennai, or apartments in Hyderabad will become easier for the public.

Mr. Sriram Kalyanraman also believes that prices are sure to come down and demonetization has helped a lot of clients. In addition, there is far more transparency in the buying and selling of houses in the INR 15-20 lakh segment.

The report also stated that many Indians still live with their parents, than in a rented place or self-owned house, which shows their financial dependence. Amitava Mehra, the CEO of IMGC said, "There is a gap in the market. These can be managed to a large extent by mortgage guarantee backed loans. With availability of higher loan to value (LTV), Indian home buyers can achieve their home buying dream by not relying solely on personal savings."

This is a guest post by Dinesh Dawde.

Looking to buy that elusive dream home for your family? What are the home loan rates in India?

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

Looking to buy that elusive dream home for your family? Even after identifying the location and builder, the next big question is home financing. Which bank to approach and what are the current home loan rates that are offered by these banks? These are some of the questions that need clarification. At the same time, one might begin to wonder what, if any, are the basic differences between various home loan products offered by banks.

Here we help you in clarifying those questions:

Types of mortgage loan:

• Fixed Rate Mortgages - Constant Payment Mortgage Loan (CPM):

In this type of loan, the interest rate remains fixed during the tenure of loan. Rate of interest is normally higher in these types of Loans.

• Fixed Rate Mortgages – Graduated Payment Mortgages (GPM)

Some individuals have less income in starting years of their careers; those individuals are not considered for loan. To overcome this effect, lenders have designed a mortgage loan that retains a fixed rate of interest but includes a series of stepped up payments that are lower in earlier years, thereby better matching borrower’s incomes, and then rising over time.

• Adjustable (Floating) Rate Mortgages (ARM) also known as Floating Interest Rates:

These mortgages provide an alternative method of financing through which lenders and borrowers share the risk of interest rate changes. In this type of loan, since interest rates are adjustable, they are indexed to say wholesale price index (WPI) or other market interest rates.

• Hybrid Adjustable Rate Mortgages

This is the most common type of mortgage loan used these days. Hybrid ARMs combines elements of fixed rate mortgages for periods of 3, 5, or 7 years, after which interest rates are reset and the loan becomes an ARM.

Read here for more on Home Loan interest rates and the process of securing home loan in India.

Interest Rates in India – Dated November 28th 2014.

Loan upto Rs 75 Lakh (Floating Interest Rates)
Bank	Amount	Tenure (Years)	Interest Rate (%)
HDFC Ltd	Up to Rupees 75 Lakh	Up to 20 years	10.15
ICICI Ltd		Up to 10 years	10.15
State Bank of India (SBI)	Up to Rupees 75 Lakh	Up to 20 years	10.15
Punjab National Bank (PNB)	Up to Rupees 75 Lakh	Up to 20 years	10.25
Punjab National Bank (PNB)	Above Rupees 75 Lakh	Up to 20 years	10.5
Axis Bank	Up to Rupees 75 Lakh	10 Years	10.15
Bank of India	Up to Rupees 75 Lakh	Up to 20 years	10.2
Canara Bank	Up to Rupees 75 Lakh	Up to 20 years	10.2
Union Bank	Up to Rupees 75 Lakh	Up to 30 years	10.25
Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL)	Rs 30 Lakh - 75 Lakh	Up to 20 years	11

Loan Above Rupees 75 Lakh (Floating Interest Rates)
Bank	Amount	Tenure (Years)	Interest Rate (%)
HDFC Ltd	Up to Rupees 75 Lakh	10	10.15
ICICI Bank	Rs 75 Lakh - 5 Crore	20	10.5
State Bank of India (SBI)	Up to Rupees 75 Lakh	Up to 20 years	10.15
Canara Bank	Above Rupees 75 Lakh	Up to 20 years	10.45
Union Bank	Up to Rupees 75 Lakh	Up to 30 years	10.25

Note: Floating Rates changes as and when bank changes their base rates. There are also other kinds of interest rates that bank offer such as 2 year fixed interest rates or 3 year fixed interest rates as described above. Contact your bank for those kind of home loan interest rates.

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Why National Housing Bank’s move to allow lenders (banks and housing finance companies) to give 90% of property value as home loan can actually be detrimental?

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

Recently, country’s National Housing Bank floated a proposal that seeks to allow banks to lend 90% of property value to home buyers. According to the proposal, people seeking home loan above Rupees 20 Lacs can avail 90% of property value as home loan from banks and housing finance companies. However, these loans need to carry mortgage guarantee cover from companies registered with RBI. Lending institutions (Housing Finance Companies) need to enter into a contract with mortgage guarantee companies when the loan application is originated.

With mortgage guarantee companies coming into the picture, there is widespread belief that it will help in reducing the default risk. And at the same time, it can help in securitization of home loan portfolios. Now, isn't this what is practiced in USA? Where, one can avail 100% of property value as home loan and that loan is guaranteed by Federal Reserve supported fannie mae and freddie mac. When a loan is guaranteed by State’s agencies, investment bankers jump in and create a portfolio of home loans and securitize it and sell it to investors. These investors get returns on installments generated from home loan buyers.

The only difference it seems in Indian context is that 90% of property value is given as loan as against 100% of property value in USA. The other difference is that in US, person availing the loan is not personally liable to pay in case of a default, but in India, person will be liable to pay the amount in case default happens.

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What happened in USA?

We all know what happened in sub-prime crisis in USA in 2008. When property prices began to fall people simply walked away by putting the house key on the bank’s table and that triggered a financial crisis. Read more about the US sub-prime crisis here. We in India do not want to repeat that mistake. What can happen? Let us think, you buy a property worth Rupees 1 crore and avail 90 Lacs in Home loan with about 90K installment every month for 20 years. Now, due to slowing down of economy as is the case today, you are not able to pay those EMIs. What will bank do? Take possession of your house and sell it to claim their investment in that house. We all know, Banks will be left with no choice but to sell the house in distress in tough economy thereby making a loss. However, banks have already sold this portfolio to investors and the home portfolio is already guaranteed by mortgage Guarantee Company, who is registered with RBI. So, who bears the brunt of slowing economy, yes, mortgage Guarantee Company, just like fannie mae and freddie mac did in USA. So, ultimately, the system will be saved with tax payer’s money.

One can argue that we are stretching the matter too far, yes, we are stretching the argument, but there is ever so slight possibility of such a scenario happening in near future. Hope, policy makers will consider that scenario before bringing in this new policy. As we see today, real estate sector is in doldrums and property prices in India have in fact fallen or remained stagnant. Will people who have bought the property stay invested when returns from property investment are actually less than what they will be paying to the banks against home loan? If the returns from property investment stay low for several years, then we might see the US sub-prime situation repeating in India with the implementation of new policy.

As a matter of fact, Indians banks were praised in 2008 for being conservative. Looking around the globe, Chinese banks have a limit to what they’ll lend for housing. Currently, buyers need to put between 20% and 30% down on the value of a house before securing a loan. While in Singapore it is 80% for first home and 60% for second home. Why are Indian policy makers raising it to 90% when we do not have huge scale infrastructure plans? Isn't the whole move going to put pressure on existing cities, further increasing the property prices?



OK, let’s think of the consequences of this new move

Pros

• More people will be able to buy a house

Of course, the move is aimed at encouraging people who are sitting on the fence to buy the house. Till now, it took people some time to arrange for the 20% of the property value. But with this new move, all they need to do is arrange for Rupees 10 Lacs to buy a Rupees 1 Crore house.

• Revival of real estate sector demand

With increased sales velocity of homes, the demand for overall real estate sector can pick up. The industries such as cement, steel will also see revival in demand. Overall, the move can boost the economy.


Cons

• More speculators will come into the picture

With only 10% of property value to be paid by the investor, it will encourage property flippers to take advantage of the new policy. One would simply invest in an under construction project and exit as soon as the prices have risen substantially. Can government bring in measures wherein property speculation is controlled? Can government differentiate between first time home buyers and second time home buyers as is the case in Singapore? It seems unlikely. Who will suffer? The real property buyer will suffer due to higher property prices.

• Without new cities or infrastructure, it might increase the property prices further

Do we have plans in place for city infrastructure development? Or build new cities? Unless, those plans are in place, the new move will actually put pressure on the existing cities and property prices will further increase with the new move. Simple because, more people including the speculators will purchase a house in the existing cities.



What we instead need?

• Securitization

Surely, securitization is the need of the hour. But it can be brought in at existing 80% Loan to Property Value (LTV) ratio. More on, how securitization can help in housing finance in India?

• REITs

Real Estate Investment Trusts are important and we need them in India. REITs will encourage retail investors to participate in property markets who till now cannot afford to invest in real estate. REITs can provide the necessary financing for realty sector which it needs today. Find more about REITs in India here.

• Rent Laws

The government needs to reform the Rent act which is outdated. There are large numbers of people in India who own multiple properties and do not bring that stock into the market because of the fear of illegal possession of their properties by the tenants. Reforming the rent laws will revive the rental market and that will bring some sanity to the property prices.

• Policies to differentiate between first time home buyers and second time home buyers

Government is right in encouraging home ownership. But differentiate between first time buyers and speculators. It should be quite simple to track at registrar’s office and by making it obligatory for real estate developers to disclose the details of their buyers to a central authority. If the 90% Loan to Value (LTV) policy has to be brought in, it should be for first time home buyers and not for property speculators.

what do you think??

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Who are the private & public sector banks, and housing finance companies that offer home loans to customers in India?

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

As we highlighted in our previous post about home loan that housing finance disbursed to individuals has grown at a rate of 20% year on year. It presents an opportunity to existing banks, and housing finance companies to develop new products in order to satiate this massive demand for home loan across India. At the same time, the sheer market size of housing finance sector presents new entrants the big opportunity to innovate and target specific customer segments within the housing finance market.

As on today, the need of long term finance for housing in the country is catered to by the following types of institutions:

1. Financial Institutions
2. Scheduled Commercial Banks
3. Scheduled Cooperative Banks (Scheduled State Co-operative Banks, Scheduled District Co-op Banks and Urban Co-op Banks)
4. Regional Rural Banks,
5. Agriculture and Rural Development Banks
6. Housing Finance Companies
7. State Level Apex Co-operative Housing Finance Societies
8. NBFCs/MFIs/SHGs have also been lending for housing though in a small way.

Here is a comprehensive list of these public and private sector banks, housing finance companies:

List of home loan providers in india from Green Realtech Projects Pvt. Ltd

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