The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increased the repo rate by 25 basis points on 6 June 2018. Even before the RBI announced the rate hike, some banks like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank Ltd. and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. increased their marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by upto 10 bps. As a result, the EMI is expected to go up soon. Are you anxious about its impact on your outstanding debt? Here is a guide to help you deal with the pressure of home loan rate hike.

Increase EMI & retain tenure

Most lenders generally extend the repayment tenure of the loan when lending rate goes up. Even if you don’t feel the impact of interest immediately, the fact is that your interest load will mount with the passage of time. The borrower should consider increasing his/her EMI amount over increasing the tenure of the loan. By increasing EMI, the borrowers can control the interest outgo and save a lot of money.

For example–

Home loan                                       Rs. 60 lacs

Rate of interest                               8.5%

Original tenure                               20 years

EMI                                                   Rs. 52,069

Total interest payable                   Rs. 64,96,655

If the home loan rate is increased

New rate of interest         8.75%

New tenure                        21 years

Interest payable               Rs. 71,29,376

Additional interest          Rs.6,32,721

To deal with this, increase the EMI

Original EMI                        Rs. 52,069

New EMI                             Rs. 53,023

Interest payable               Rs. 67,25,434

Extra payment p.m.        Rs. 954

Saving in interest             Rs. 403942

 Switch your lender

It is always good practice to shop around for the best deal. Compare the rate of interest that you are paying with what other lenders are offering. If others are offering a lower interest rate, then you can explore transferring the loan to other banks. If the difference is not significant, do not transfer the loan as you could get into unnecessary trouble. Ideally, the difference should be at least half the percentage.

Go for prepayment

There is no denying the fact that customers can save a lot of money on interest by repaying their home loan before the tenure.

For example, if you have taken a home loan of Rs. 30 lakhs at an interest rate of 11%, your monthly EMI would be Rs. 30, 966. By the end of the 20 years, you would be required to pay Rs.74,31,756 out of which Rs. 44,31,756 would be just the interest rate, while the interest rate paid would be Rs. 19,59,000 out of Rs. 49,59,000 in case of a 10-year tenure. So, there is a staggering difference of Rs. 24,72,756.

Moreover, if the borrower has excess of cash, it is always good practice to prepay the loan.

Avoid the potential pitfalls

Finally, don’t let the increase in rate hold you back from taking a fresh home loan or opting for balance transfer. Also, be aware of the mistakes that most borrowers tend to make i.e. they sign up for a fixed-rate loan in the backdrop of the current rate hike. This kind of hasty decisions may prove a serious problem in long term.  Borrowers with fixed interest rates will not be able to move to floating rates and refinancing will not be a great option later as fixed rates will attract foreclosure charges, making it a more difficult proposition.