4 Things That will help you Pay your Home Loan even During Financial Crisis

What happens if a borrower is unable to pay his/her home loan EMI? This is a question that arises in the mind of every home loan seeker, but they’re too afraid to know the answer. Getting a home loan is a big step in everyone’s life. But what if, due an unforeseeable circumstance you find yourself in the middle of a financial crisis and are unable to pay your home loan EMIs? Will you immediately be termed as a loan defaulter? The answer is no. The process of becoming a defaulter is a long one. If a borrower is unable to pay his or her home loan instalment once, due to an unforeseeable expense or a financial emergency, the bank will not immediately term him or her as a defaulter. If you miss one EMI the most a bank can do is send you a reminder mail regarding the same. The bank may also call the borrower to ask about when the payment will be made.

The trouble begins if a Home Loan borrower fails to pay his EMI three months in a row. The bank will send him/her, a number of reminder mails and finally a legal notice. This is when the borrower is termed as a loan defaulter. The term can severely affect one’s CIBIL score, making it difficult for them to borrow in the future. If the borrower fails to respond to all of these notices and calls and still fails to clear his/her dues, the bank will send an officer to their residence to affix a notice on their door or even print a notice in the newspaper. In three months after this, the bank will declare the property as a non-performing asset. In two months after that, the bank will take possession of the property and if the borrower fails to clear his dues in six months the bank will auction it off.

No one wants to be in this situation, but the future is a tricky thing and the only thing you can do to arm yourself for whatever it throws at you is to be prepared. Here’s how you should handle your Home Loan EMIs while going through a financial crisis.

1.  Get in touch with bank and inform them about your problems, they may be able to give you some leeway or at least wave off the late charges on your EMI.

2.   Re-negotiate your loan by increasing the tenure, so you can pay smaller EMIs.

3.  Get home loan insurance in advance, so you don’t need to worry about your loan repayment.  

4.  Spend wisely, keep track of all your expenses, avoid unnecessary expenses and save up to pay your EMIs.

Why you Should Explore the Home Loan Top-Up Option

Buying a home and taking a home loan is not just a onetime expense. A home needs a lot of care and work. When you purchase a home, you also need to purchase with it all that goes into that space, from electronics to furniture, to lights and fixtures and even the tiles and flooring. These are not small expenses and a lot of times your housing loan alone is not sufficient to fulfil them. Even if you can afford all these things the first time, they can be a recurring expense. A home needs repair and renovations as regular intervals for it to remain nice and sturdy. And these expenses are not small either.

A top-up home loan is an exclusive option given to home loan customers that gives them the option of borrowing an amount additional to their existing loan. This money can be used for home improvement, repairs or any other thing you many need it for.

Here’s what you need to know about a home loan top-up.

1.  Eligibility: Top-up loans can be availed only by someone who has an existing housing loan. There are other preconditions too that you need to fulfil before you become eligible for such a loan. Here are some of the criteria that are taken into consideration.

·         

•    Minimum period: You need to have started repayment of your housing loan and paid interest for a certain period before you are eligible for your home loan. This period may differ from bank to bank.

·         

•     LTV limit: Loan-to-value (LTV) is the amount you’re allowed to borrow on your existing housing loan. The LTV ratio is fixed at 80-85% of the present value of your property. 

·        

•        Tenure: The tenure of top-up loan runs concurrently with that of your home loan. So if you have 10 years remaining for your home loan repayment, your top-up loan tenure cannot exceed the remaining term. 

1.  Benefits: The first and foremost benefit of a top-up loan is that you don’t need to manage multiple loans when you get a top-up. The top-up amount is simply added to your existing loan amount and the Top-Up Loan Interest Rates are also paid through a single EMI. There are no restrictions on the usage of this amount. You can use it for whatever you want. Be it renovation work, a new car or for your business or even healthcare.

2.  Best to opt for top-up loan: If upon buying a new home you require more money to purchase additional parking space, do get some renovation work done or to by something for your new home you can opt for a top-up home loan. If after a few years of paying interest on you Housing Loan you have a big expense coming that is related to your business or family, you can opt for a top-up home loan, instead of going for a personal loan.