You purchase your favourite gadget/furniture. At the sales counter, you notice an offer of taking a loan for the purchase amount at 4%. You get excited. After all, you get a higher rate of interest in a fixed deposit. It makes for a nice arbitrage opportunity. Let’s understand such offers with the help of an example. You… Continue Reading
Recently, State Bank of India cut its MCLR (Marginal Cost of Funds based lending rate) by 0.9% p.a. from 8.9% p.a. to 8.0% p.a. This is bonanza for those who are planning to take a home loan this new year. Many other banks have followed suit and cut the MCLR rates sharply. However, this rate cut… Continue Reading
Should I switch my home loan from base rate to MCLR? Many readers of EMICalculator have have asked me this question by e-mail or in a comment on the website. A typical query goes like this: I have an outstanding loan of, say, 20 lacs at, say, 9.8% per annum. It is a base rate linked loan. My… Continue Reading
You have finalised your dream house to purchase. You have also finalised the bank to take home loan from. You have a long relationship with the bank. You have been informally told that you will get the loan easily given your high repayment ability. You are planning to visit the bank branch tomorrow. The spirits… Continue Reading
I got an e-mail from one of the regular readers at EMICalculator.net. He brought to my notice an aspect I had failed to cover in my earlier post on Home Loan Protection Plans (HLPPs). Case Summary His father had taken a loan of Rs 8.95 lacs for a tenor of 17 years from a leading… Continue Reading
Credit cards are easily available these days. The banks keep chasing customers with attractive offers (or so they say) on their credit cards. Personally, I am not against credit cards. If you use your credit cards judiciously, you can save a lot of money. You get an interest free credit period of up to 52… Continue Reading
You have excess cash in hand from the last bonus you received and the fixed deposit that just matured. You have been thinking about how to use the funds. Your financial advisors that include your friends, doctor, lawyer and grocer have suggested that you take exposure to equity mutual funds. Your parents have advised you… Continue Reading
In one of the earlier posts on Retirement Planning, I had discussed the importance of starting early, portfolio diversification and a few psychological investments to get you on right financial track. By starting early, you get the power of compounding behind you and your small (involuntary) contributions can result in a significant corpus by the… Continue Reading
Home loans form the biggest pie of loan portfolio for the most of us. Therefore, higher interest rate on a home loan can translate into a greater EMI outgo. If there is a way by which your EMI burden can be reduced, you can ease pressure on your monthly cash flows. EMI depends on both… Continue Reading
You were shopping for the latest sofa designs on a leading furniture website. When you moved to payment page after finalizing the product, you saw 0% EMI option on the payment page. On selecting the option, you saw names of a few finance companies with the offer details. You noticed none of the offers was… Continue Reading