The major goal of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), our nation’s central bank, was to oversee and direct the nation’s financial system when it was first founded. In addition to helping to regulate the banking sector as a whole, it is also referred to as the banker’s bank.
Similarly, RBI serves as a central authority that shapes all policies especially when it concerns funding. When making a loan of any kind—a home loan, an individual loan, a gold loan, a loan against property, a business loan, etc.—every lender—be it an institution of banking, an NBFC, or a conventional real estate financing company—is expected to adhere to the RBI’s standards. For information on the guidelines that the RBI has imposed for house loans, see the article.
Home Loan RBI Guidelines 2023-2024
1. Charges for Prepayment
The maximum amount and term for a home loan are both Rs. 1 crore, with certain loans being even higher. By making partial or full payments on your mortgage loan before the term is over, you can save money.
- If you receive additional funds for any reason—business success, a rise in salary, etc.—you can accomplish this.
- In order to assist borrowers of house loans who payback their loans, the RBI has abolished prepayment penalties in cases of fluctuating interest rates and maintained the penalty at 3% in cases of stable interest rates.
- An earlier prepayment penalty of as much as 5 percent of the loan balance was demanded by the banks.
2. Balance Transfer – Schemes
RBI has waived the foreclosure fees as a way of encouraging house loan debtors to refinance their mortgage. Now it’s simple for homeowners to switch their present mortgage to a different bank in order to get lower rates of interest.
- The borrower will not be responsible for the foreclosure fees when he forecloses on his mortgage with the existing bank. Let’s discuss the considerations we should make in 2023 when seeking a house loan now that we are aware of the RBI’s most recent recommendations.
3. Repo Rate (RR)
The residential loans interest rate increased by twenty-five basis points on February 8th, 2023, when the Reserve Bank India (RBI) raised the rate on repo loans to 6.5 percent. The monthly EMI payments for borrowers would increase immediately as a result of this increase in the interest rates. For both new and current home loan customers, interest rates will rise.
- The RBI has given banks and non-banking financial entities full rein to hike the interest rates on their home loans, explaining why this is true.
- The repo rate was left constant by the RBI for the tenth time in a row last year. The rate will remain at 4% and the reverse repo rate will remain at 3.35 percent after the six-member monetary policy committee, led by the governor, made the decision.
- The interest rate on a mortgage is directly impacted by the repo rate.
4. Loan-To-Value (LTV) Ratio
Before extending a mortgage, banks weigh the significant risk of LTV. Regardless of whether the mortgage is for less than INR 30 lakhs, the RBI has taken action by raising the amount borrowed to Value Ratio to ninety percent. It is simple for consumers to buy a property using home loans because the LTV for mortgages beyond the amount of 75 lakhs is fixed at 75%.
- Even RBI has stated that the costs relating to documentation, stamp duty, and registration will not be taken into thought in determining Loan-to-value.
- As a result, the mortgage borrower is no longer required to make the initial 10% payment. Banks are free to include registration, stamp tax, and other document fees to compute the percentage of LTV if the cost of the home does not exceed Rs. 10 lakhs.
Important Considerations for Housing Loan Applications in India
- Before granting you a home loan, one of the most important things that banks take into account is your credit score. Therefore, a credit report score of 750 or more is recommended for everyone who intends to put in an application for a mortgage loan that requires an affordable interest rate with suitable terms and scenarios.
- Furthermore, that it’s simple to keep up a decent card score; all you need to do is make timely payments on a credit card and loan EMIs.
- You must choose the loan’s duration before applying for it if you intend to take out a home loan. Your tenure affects the EMIs for your home loan. Banks frequently choose applicants with shorter tenures, which is advantageous for the applicant since he must pay EMIs for a shorter length of time.
- However, you might choose that if you feel comfortable making EMI payments for a longer period of time. Using a calculator available online for home loan EMIs, you may assess your capacity for repayment and select the amount of time properly.
(Note: We thank all the mentioned sources for valuable research materials. It is our sincere wish that you find value in this article. These articles are intended solely for informational purposes; if further clarification is required, please consult appropriate professionals. Nothing on this site is for sale or promotion.)
