Home Loan Comparison
Compare Home Loans from all Top Banks
Introduction
Buying a property is one of the biggest purchases an individual makes in a lifetime both financially and emotionally. The process of shortlisting and finalising a property is long and tedious already, adding the complexity of choosing the right lender can make it even harder and more confusing. While most of us just go for big names like HDFC & SBI or fall for lower interest rate traps, with the developments in the Home Loan Industry, a lot has changed and there are multiple lenders that should be considered before making that jump. This home loan comparison by Credit Dharma, aims to bring more transparency to this process. While the comparison ahead will provide information at an overview level, we recommend that you speak to our Home Loan Experts to get more accurate and customised offers for your profile.
How to Compare Home Loans ?
We recommend comparing Home Loans on 2 Verticals. First, the transactional aspects like the Interest Rates, Processing Fees, LTV and type of Products. These are direct spends and choosing the right combination will help you save a lot of money. If your profile is good, you will be able to get a good deal on these aspects across most of the lenders. The type of products they offer however, like Savings OD Facility, TopUp Loans, Constructions Loans etc would be the decision making factor here.
Secondly, we recommend paying attention to the customer service aspects here as in today’s age, more than just money, time and convenience is an equally important factor. Home Loans are long tenure loans lasting between 15-30 years and you should ensure you’re not wasting a lot of these chasing your lender for any help or changes to your Home Loan. Factors like Online Processes, Branch Visits, Tax Certificate Collections, Ease of Prepayment etc can save you a lot of stress and time.
To Sum It Up you should compare Home Loans on these aspects :
Transaction Levers
These include your interest rates, LTV, Processing Fees, Other Charges, Offerings etc.
Customer Service
These include your after sales supports, ease of process, loan management, branch visits etc.
Now let’s look at these in more details.
Comparing Banks on their offerings - The Cost Part
Before we get into this, it is important to note that these aspects are subject to different states, property types, person’s profile and the relationship to the bank. Values mentioned in the comparison or any other websites are often negotiable if you go through the right partner like Credit Dharma or a Bank Manager based on your relationship.
Interest Rates
Home Loan Interest Rates offered by banks totally depend on your financial profile like your income, other obligations, credit scores etc and the legitimacy of the property you’re buying. If you tick all the boxes, as of 2024 you should be looking at interest rates between 8.4%-9.2%. Banks often expose better rates to their official partners like Credit Dharma who can help you get better deals.
LTV - Loan to Value
Very few banks fund 100% of the property value through Home Loans and most of them will expect you to make a 20-30% down payment. Loan to Value(LTV) refers to the amount of funding a bank can provide on the property value. For Example if a Bank says their max LTV is 80%, for a 1 crore property, they will only give a Home Loan for upto 80 Lakhs.
Fees & Other Charges
Banks charge a one time processing fee for your home loan that covers the application costs and other technical valuations the bank does on your profile. Banks often run discounts on these charges and this might be a good point to negotiate on. Official Partners like Credit Dharma can also help you get the best deals on these. Apart from these there are other charges like Notary, Franking and MOTD which vary from bank to bank and state to state. Make sure you get a clear picture of the charges from your bank before making a decision
Other Offerings
Some Banks offer a variety of addons to Home Loans like TopUp Loans, Construction Loans etc. One offering which stands out is Interest Saver Loans or Home Loan OD which can help you save a lot of money if you have some extra savings to park. Do reach out to us if you need more information on these.
The Experience and Customer Service Angle
Home Loans last for 20-30 years making customer service a very important factor while choosing the right bank. In that tenure you might have to make prepayments, negotiate on increased interest rates, collect tax certificates or simply understand your Home Loan Balance. The headache of unresponsive support agents, frequent branch visits, and physical form submissions can become a huge pain in the cycle of the loan. Here are few points to consider while comparing on customer service
Ease of Application
Dependency on Branch Visits
Online Loan Management Capabilities
Ease of Prepayment
Communication on Changes to the Loan like Increased Interest Rates etc
Conclusion
To Conclude, choosing the right lender when it comes to Home Loans is very important and make sure you consider all the factors before signing up for a bank. Banks often don’t disclose the whole story and based on your profile there might be better lenders you might be missing out on. While the comparison given here is to give you a brief overview of what to consider, we recommend that you speak to our Home Loan Experts to get customised offers and plans to make sure you get the best Home Loan.
Values mentioned in the comparison are subject to change and get better based on your profile.