Budget 2020 gave a choice to the taxpayers and a reason to rejoice to the tax accountants. As a taxpayer, you have the following two options. Take tax deductions and continue with the old tax regime Opt for the new tax regime and don’t take tax deductions As a taxpayer, this choice seems relatively simple.… Continue Reading
The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, presented the Union Budget 2020 in the parliament yesterday. In this post, let’s look at the highlights of the Budget proposal. We will look at the proposals from personal taxation perspective only. #1 Restructuring of Income Tax Slabs, Lowering of Personal Tax Rates and a Choice There is a major… Continue Reading
Should you stay on rent or buy a house on loan? Many of us think of house rent as a waste of money. A common refrain is, “You are already paying so much rent. Why not adding some money and pay the EMI? After a few years, you will also own this house.” In my… Continue Reading
I came across an interesting case in a business daily a few weeks back. A consumer forum bench directed ICICI Bank to pay Rs 55,000 to a borrower. Here is how this happened. The borrower signed up for a home loan of Rs 30 lacs for 10 years from ICICI Bank in 2006. The loan… Continue Reading
All the banks linked the new retail floating rate loans to an external benchmark from October 1, 2019. In my opinion, that makes the comparison between various home loan products easier. Most of the banks have chosen Repo rate for the external benchmark for home loans. Earlier, benchmark MCLR (Marginal cost of funds-based lending rate)… Continue Reading
SBI had introduced home loans linked to RBI Repo rates as the benchmark in July 2019. This was before the RBI mandated all fresh floating rate loans to retail borrowers from October 1, 2019 to be linked to an external benchmark. SBI had used Repo rate linked lending rate (RLLR) as the benchmark. RLLR was… Continue Reading
The Reserve Bank of India has cut Repo rate by 110 basis points since the beginning of the year (2019). However, the banks have reduced their weighted average lending rates by 29 bps. If you have a floating rate home loan, then this news is not very comforting. This is a very common grievance for… Continue Reading
For most young professionals, buying a house tops the list of priorities. Even those who do not believe real estate makes for a good investment, do not have second thoughts about purchasing a house to stay in. Not only does it give you the comfort of living in own house, it also provides financial security… Continue Reading
In December 2018, RBI had proposed that all fresh floating rate loans from April 1, 2019 must be linked to an external benchmark. The implementation has since been deferred. It is now up to the banks to come up with products linked to an external benchmark. Citibank had launched a home loan product in the… Continue Reading
You have applied for a home loan but you are worried that you may not get the requisite amount. In an earlier post, I had discussed aspects that the banks consider while calculating your loan eligibility. In this post, let’s use the findings of the aforesaid post and see how you can increase your loan… Continue Reading