CIBIL REPORTS

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2019-05-20T04:48:00.000-07:00

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Check your CIBIL Score

2019-04-06T06:15:00.002-07:00

Banks check your CIBIL Score before approving your loan.*

CIBIL Score

Unlimited access to your CIBIL Score,Score History & Score Analysis.

Credit Report

Unlimited access to your CIBIL Report & Credit Summary.

Loan Offers

Customized loan offers tailored to your needs.

Credit Disputes

File disputes on incorrect data online quickly and easily.

Apply for Company Credit Report from TransUnion CIBIL Limited (Formerly: Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited). (CIBIL)

2016-11-02T12:31:00.001-07:00

A CIBIL Company Credit Report is a record of your company's credit history.
This report is created from data submitted to CIBIL by lending institutions across India.

It is important to understand while the Company Credit Report is not a credit rating it is heavily
relied on by loan providers to evaluate and approve loan applications.
The past borrowing behavior of a company is a strong indication of its future behavior.

Company Credit Report plays a critical role in the loan approval process.
This report is used by the lender to make informed lending decisions - quickly and objectively.
You can also use the Company Credit Report to negotiate better credit terms while doing
business by providing this report potential business partners as confirmation of your
company's financial strength.

HOW TO GET YOUR COMPANY CREDIT REPORT (CCR)?

Complete Form Below
Payment - 3000/-Via Credit Card / Debit Card / Cash Card / Net Banking
Registration IDYou will be mailed a unique CIBIL Registration ID & Transaction ID on your email id upon successful completion of your payment transaction.
UploadPost payment, upload your KYC documents
DeliveredCCR delivered

Loan Evaluation Process

2015-12-20T09:07:00.002-08:00

Taking a loan can be a complicated process for most people. The illustration below indicates what to expect at every step during the loan evaluation process. It helps understand how the credit decisioning works in banks and the steps they take before deciding to accept or reject a loan/ credit card.

https://www.cibil.com/loan-approval-process

750 IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED A GOOD SCORE
79% of the loans or credit card disbursed are to individuals with a CIBIL TransUnion Score greater than 750.

WHAT DO THE BANKS BROADLY CHECK FOR?

Suit filed or written off cases reported in the Credit Information Report [CIR]. This is indicated in the 'Account Status' section of your CIR
Payment history trend - if there has been any default or amount overdue. This is indicated in the 'Days Past Due' [DPD] field of your CIR
Company profile where you work - the banks generally have an approved list to whom they extend loan / credit card.
EMI to Income ratio : if your current total EMI exceeds your monthly salary by more than 50% then chances of getting loan are reduced. Let's take the help of an example to understand this further.

DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY

Case 1 *

Income : 50,000
Total EMI's being paid : 10,000
EMI to Income Ration : 20% [10,000 / 50,000]
Rule of thumb EMI to Income Ratio: 50% [lenders assume you will need half salary for living expenses].
Total Borrowing Capacity : 50% *
50,000 = 25,000
Total Incremental EMI that individual can afford :
25,000 - 10,000 = 15,000
Basis this EMI, total additional loan that may be sactioned at an interest rate of 10% over 20 years = 15,00,000

LOAN APPLICATION IS LIKELY TO GET APPROVED

Case 2 *

Income : 1,00,000
Total EMI's being paid : 50,000
EMI to Income Ration : 50% [50,000 / 1,00,000]
Rule of thumb EMI to Income Ratio: 50%
Total Borrowing Capacity : 50% *
1,00,000 = 50,000
Total Incremental EMI that individual can afford :
50,000 - 50,000 = 0
Basis this EMI, total additional loan that may be sactioned at an interest rate of 10% over 20 years = 0

LOAN APPLICATION IS LIKELY TO GET REJECTED

What is CIBIL Xpress Acquire?

2015-12-20T09:02:00.001-08:00

Xpress Acquire is an online platform that enables you to choose from multiple offers across products and from across participating lenders all in a single view. What is unique about the CIBIL Xpress Acquire is that the offers are customized basis your CIBIL TransUnion Score, income and other parameters. These offers are best fit as per your eligibility from across the participating lenders.

Visit Xpress Acquire now

Apply for Company Credit Report from Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd. (CIBIL)

2015-12-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

A CIBIL Company Credit Report is a record of your company's credit history. This report is created from data submitted to CIBIL by lending institutions across India.

It is important to understand while the Company Credit Report is not a credit rating it is heavily relied on by loan providers to evaluate and approve loan applications. The past borrowing behaviour of a company is a strong indication of its future behaviour.

Company Credit Report plays a critical role in the loan approval process. This report is used by the lender to make informed lending decisions - quickly and objectively. You can also use the Company Credit Report to negotiate better credit terms while doing business by providing this report potential business partners as confirmation of your company's financial strength.

https://www.cibil.com/online/Company-credit-report.do

How to get a Land Loan for purchasing a Plot?

2015-07-15T04:33:00.001-07:00

Sukanya Kumar - RetailLending.com

The best investment on earth is earth."
- Louis Glickman.

“The land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for, because it's the only thing that lasts".....Gerald O'Hara, Gone With The Wind.

"Our land is more valuable than your money. It will last forever. It will not even perish by the flames of fire. As long as the sun shines and the waters flow, this land will be here to give life to men and animals."
- Chief of the Blackfeet.

Buy Land. They are not making it anymore.".......Mark Twain.

We have not inherited the land from our ancestors, we have borrowed it from our children.".....Old American proverb

"It's tangible, it's solid, it's beautiful. It's artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate."
- Donald Trump

Everyone always write about ready or under-construction home purchase and one of the most important purchase rurally as well as in urban India is purchase of a plot of land is generally not talked about.

PSU and private lenders do substantial volume of loans for funding land; wherein most MNC lenders do not indulge. Though the personal credit documents for applying for a land loan is same as any other home loan, there are major number of differences which one needs to be aware of before applying. Here are the differentiators:

1. Type of land to be funded:

Land parcel only with residential or commercial conversion can be funded. Agricultural land in green or orange belt can not be commercially funded by regular lenders.

2. Type of Plot:

The plot of land can be an independent one or in a gated community. Lenders prefer plot in gated community as it will be more secure from encroachment and will also have basic required development work done like electrical cables laid, roads developed, proper earmarking and numbering of individual plots, sewerage and water pipes laid underground, proper filling and leveling of land.

2. Geographic limitation:

Lenders are specific about the actual location of the land. From the risk-perspective for the collection team, it is important since there is hardly any land available in the middle of any city and most of the lending in this category are on outskirts.

3. LTV

A very important note in this is the lower loan to value ratio(LTV) for funding on land purchase. For an independent land it is a max of 70% of the agreement value and can be maxed at 75% for the ones in gated community where the lender approved the land developer as well as the entire property.

4. Tenure

Loan tenure is mostly restricted to 15/20 years in land purchase loans. Some lenders who have more branch network and can absorb more of land loan product give flexibility till 20 years too, with some deviation, based on the profile of the borrower.

5. Rate of interest:

Rates are same as in home loans during some scheme floated by the lenders for specific period of time, but may be a tad higher otherwise.

6. Construction timeline:

Be sure that the loan you are opting for is a pure plot loan & not linked with a 'condition' that you need to start construction within agreed timeline. Unless you have plans to construct a house on it soon, and if you opt of a composite loan which means loan for land as well as construction, the lender might choose to increase your rate of interest in the event of not starting the construction.

7. Investment or self-use:

Lenders might want to know your purpose of purchase during the credit appraisal and discussion. If the property is for investment, they might want to know your plans for sell-off to understand your seriousness on this investment.

8. Lenders' view on Risk aspects:

Land loan is construed as a riskier investment. Not only it has the risk of encroachment, it can have more chances of litigation and at the end of day, a piece of land is not the priority investment for the borrower if he is not planning a construction and if the value of the land does not increase as expected by the owner, it might even default of the EMI payment and never mind losing it too! This has happened historically and many lenders have burnt their fingers and had to write off the portfolio. Many lenders have stopped lending on lands.

9. Bright side:

However, some experienced lenders have shown us the bright side of lending against a land too. Yes, that means you can mortgage your land and get funded for usage of the money elsewhere. LAP(loan against property) for land is a fairly new concept with mere one or two lenders only and with very low LTV of 40%, but at least the silver-line shines.

Hope the above points help you invest in the most sought-after investment in the world.

"Real Estate can not be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full, and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world."
----Franklin D. Roosevelt

5 Reasons Why your Loan Rate is not Reducing

2015-07-07T02:08:00.002-07:00

Sukanya Kumar - RetailLending.com

After recent drop in the repo rate by the central bank, several banks have reduced their base rate, such as- Kotak Mahindra, ICICI, Axis and Citibank. However, sometimes you feel that your loan rate isn't reducing when the lenders seem to be reducing rates for all others. You wonder- 'Why?' The truth is, you will never know for sure. But I am listing down the possibilities here for you through some case studies, which might help you identify with yours.

1. It is a fixed rate you have opted for:

Shyam Bihari was in a hurry to pay the builder immediately after the purchase. There was an urgency from the sales executives of both lender and builder. In a way it was good as his loan got done smoothly. Shyam was always busy with office work- late hours, weekend conferences, tours etc. These had taken away most of his time and he was under stress. He had no time to read the loan application form and sanction letter from the lender and even the sale agreement of his flat and lastly the loan document that he signed. As a result, the application got logged, sanctioned & disbursed under 'fixed' scheme, which he was completely unaware of. When he realised that his loan rate isn't going down at all, he enquired and discovered it !

2. There are issues in your repayment:

Sumati Narayan bought a small two-storied house jointly with her brother ten years ago in Mysore. Two years ago her brother moved out to stay with his immediate family and since then stopped contributing to the bank's EMI. When the loan was done, her income was more than her brother's and she became the first applicant and the monthly EMI was going from her account. She never apprehended this situation and now started defaulting due to lack of funds. No wonder she isn't getting the benefit of rate reduction. She can't even check with the lender given the current situation.

3. Yours is a difficult loan and not easy to switch. Your lender did a lot of structuring while extending the credit to you, hence the margin they kept is high:

Nick(Nikhil) Barucha is an architect who is passionate only about his work. He never bothered much about his bills, payment receipts, tax return filing. One day he had to buy a home for his aged parents in hometown and all lenders declined even looking at his application! Through a banker friend of his, he managed to get a home loan, but with high fees and high rate of interest with lock-in conditions. No way his rate is going to go down!

4. The lender hasn't reduced their base rate(Banks)/prime lending rate(NBFC):

All lenders keep their borrowers attached to a base rate or prime lending rate with a margin. Dilip Banerjee had no clue about what was it all about. He always thought, that is the petrol price is going down and inflation is reducing then why will my loan rate not go down? Understanding the logic for rate reduction was important, which no one at the inception did explain to him. Banerjee's first home loan remained at the same rate from 2013 to 2015, though he borrowed from the lender every one said is the 'best'! Other lenders reduced base rate and his friends' rates went down though.

5. You have asked for a reduction mid-term when it wasn't scheduled. So, during the scheduled cut, yours may have not been done.

Rajit Neogi felt hostile when his colleague borrowed at a 50 bps lower than him from the same bank. He immediately called the bank demanding the same reduced rate. His reason was justified-"How can the same bank offer lower rate to my friend, keeping me at a higher one?" The bank kept the matter unresolved for some time and then upon being threatened by Neogi that he will switch to another lender, took a fee of 25,000/- plus taxes and reduced his rate too. But what is this now! There is a rate cut when everyone's rate went down and his remained the same! He frantically called the call center, but did not receive any proper justification for that & trying to find out time to visit their branch to seek one.

Now...... my dear readers, it may not be so that all lenders will act as above. Some of them may not even practice any of the methods. However, point #4 is true for all lenders. Please use your discretion before you judge your lender. They are here to do business of lending and earn interest. But from the borrower standpoint, there will always have to be a clarification if the rates are not being reduced.

If you do not receive that support from your lender, do not wait and switch your loan to another who cares for your business. But of course, after giving a chance to your lender to justify.

Happy Borrowing!

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How to Maximise Returns on your U/const. Property Investment

2015-07-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

Sukanya Kumar - RetailLending.com

With 6 or 7 digit monthly pay-package and loads of perks which generate an envious amount of surplus cash, one has to be inclined towards investing in property market in India today. Every weekend, big flashy full-page advertisements by the developers in the property section of the newspaper attracts the eyes of the family too. Friends call on weekends for a group-visit with family to check out the ones with attractive schemes and if the sales guy at the builder's office is good at his presentation & persuasive enough, you land up buying a property!

Now, you always want the best. Hence, the want of a higher floor, garden-view, an extra bedroom, a patio, planter-box on the deck, big club-house in the complex..... a little better than what you bought earlier and way better than what your colleague just boasted about buying last week, is what you book. Isn't it?

Most probably, you try to explain to yourself after buying it, as to what was the purpose of making that high value purchase. Hence you now start thinking rationally.'My office is far away from this newly acquired home, my child is already settled in the school & wife has her friend's circle. Hence, this new buy wasn't definitely for self-use.' What else, now you have the ANSWER. 'This buy was for an investment.'

Easy answer to suit yourself, isn't it?

Now, let me ask you a few basic questions.

Q1: What other investments do you have & what is an average return you are getting from them?

Q2: Why did you buy an under-construction apartment which will take three years to be ready to occupy for an 'investment'?

Q3: Why did you buy a 4 crore worth home when at the moment you have only about a crore to invest?

I possibly know your answers too:

A1: "I generally invest in Mutual funds through SIP-s, bonds & FD-s. I'm a medium risk-taking personality and if my investments give me an average return of 14-15%, I am happy."

A2: "I just liked their concept. My friend bought it too & I think the builder is good."

A3: "Why not? I can always take a Housing finance. Any bank will give me a loan!"

My dear 'investor', none of your answers justify your buying that property. But now that you have bought it already, I will try to see that you make some profit out of it. I am listing down some DO-s & DON'T-s hereunder:

DO #1. Negotiate a deal with the builder on the floor-rise and premium facing rates. Though these are some of the USP-s the builder has, it really doesn't cost him anything. If you try, you may strike a bargain there. If it doesn't work, try to come 4/5 floors lower to save a few lacs. Trust me, it will matter when you sell/rent out. Nobody will pay you that much extra to be on the 15th floor. The 10th floor guy will sell/rent at the same price you will.

DO #2. Restructure your payment schedule instead of agreeing to the standard one. While booking the builder is interested in the sale & if you are not asking for something which they really can not accommodate, they will. Remember, the later and the smaller amount you pay at the beginning your cost of fund will be lower & you can defer interest-bearing borrowings like loan from banks, relatives, parents etc.

DO #3. Check if CC(Commencement Certificate) has already been received on the particular phase, tower & floor. No bank will give you loan without CC in place but you are liable to pay the builder as per agreed schedule of payment.

DO #4. Check which lenders have already approved the property(your specific block, floor etc.). Double check with your Mortgage Adviser/banker directly. Sometimes, the builder wouldn't know the exact status so well. And without this, your payment plan could really get stuck.

DON'T

DON'T #1. Borrow immediately unless you are opting for an overdraft kind of loan which enables you pay nil interest too.

DON'T #2. Opt for a Pre-EMI(interest payment only) option as the project may get delayed and your cost of acquisition will keep jumping leaps & bounds every month towards the possession. Let me explain how. Say, you have taken a sanction of 2 crores and drawing down a 15 lac tranche' from the bank in March. If you opt for Pre-EMI, then your simple interest will be levied on 15 Lacs till you draw down next. When you draw again in say, May, of 15 Lacs more, your interest payment will now be on 15+15=30 lacs. This means you have drawn (30/200)*100=15% of your loan amount. Like this, once the project is about to be ready and you have already drawn down 95% of the loan, i.e., 1.90 crores and your simple interest(Pre-EMI) is around 1.90 Lacs a month, this isn't going towards principal repayment at all. So, for every month's delay in the project, your acquisition goes up by 2 lacs. If the project gets delayed by 6 months, you shell out 12 Lacs extra!! Imagine, where will your profit come from!

DON'T #3. Delay your payments unnecessarily to the builder. The penal charges once accrued, will make your wallet lighter when you take the possession. No amount of being surprised or defiance will help. Please understand that the sole reason the builder sells it to you at a cheaper price during inception is to get the money from you quickly to avoid external borrowing. So, he will be just, if asking for delay penalty.

DON'T #4. Panic if the prices have really not appreciated as much you expected. If the property price appreciates by 60% in 4 years, i.e., 15% p.a. you should exit. This has actually given you the same return on your MF/Bonds etc. So, this wasn't really a greater investment, but you saved yourself. If it is lesser than that, then you may have to keep biting it for longer & hold on for a couple of more years. In the scenario when the same project is having further phases & new towers still upcoming, you can look at it in two ways-(A) Bad way--'How will I sell when my builder still has so much of stock left?' & (B) Good way--'Since the builder has already pegged his price and that is considered the 'market rate', I can safely sell at a 100-200/- per Sq. ft. cheaper and exit. I don't have to justify the cost.'

So, final formula is simple. If : Y1 or Y2 > X, then your investment was just.

Legends:

Acquisition Cost(X)=Cost of the apartment+Bank interest & processing cost+Time cost(as against the other investments)+Your worry-time

Benefit(Y1)=Tax benefit+Future security+Rental income

Benefit(Y2)=ROI(Return on Investment) via Sale proceed

At the end, my view is, do not make a property purchase decision in a haste. There are multiple concerns to be addressed before you want it to be called an 'Investment'. May be, in my next article I will write about it too.

Till then, happy investing !

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How to get a Loan for Shop/Commercial Space

2015-07-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

Sukanya Kumar RetailLending.com

"Can I get a loan if I buy an office space?" heard this many times from borrowers who had taken not less than three home loans, but calls me to enquire on this. Getting a loan against residential property is a piece of cake these days, but raising funds for purchasing a commercial space isn't so. Most importantly, the public know-how on this matter is really poor.

Hearing this basic question several times, I understood that it is time for me to write about it. Hope it helps.

Commercial purchase can be broad-based into two types- (A) An office space & (B) Retail outlet. And again these two can have subsections like (i) Ready to occupy & (ii) Under-construction.

Lenders are more skeptical on funding in commercial property, and moreso for under-construction ones. Most commercial property purchasers are 'investors' and that may be the reason. Though a few buy for running their own business and if that's the case, a lender feels more comfortable too. A lot of top lenders do not fund commercial properties and a few of those who do, funds only the ready ones and avoid under-construction types. So, before locking yourself on any project, please check with your loan adviser to weigh the funding option.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FUNDING A RESIDENTIAL and COMMERCIAL PROPERTY:

Though the financial documents required by the lender to ascertain the loan eligibility of the borrower is same, following are the differentiators-

1. Lesser Loan to Value(LTV) ratio- For residential funding, it ranges between 75-90%, however, the funding percentage is restricted to 55% for commercial purchases. This means more self-contribution by the borrowers.

2. Higher fee- Processing fee for residential purchases are standard fixed fee of 10,000/-. During some schemes, even lesser fee as low as 'Nil' are offered to borrowers. However, for commercial purchase, it is standard 1% of the loan amount and with certain lenders, if they like the profile of the borrower as well as the property, they reduce it to a minimum of 0.5%.

3. Higher ROI- Rate of interest(ROI) is a pivotal factor while borrowing and in commercial type, it is at least 1-2% higher than the residential ones and it can go to even 4-5% if the financial documents have lesser strength and some surrogate product is offered. 'Surrogate' could be like, some other loan track or healthy bank balance etc.

4. Builder category- Lenders are very specific about the builder's profile if the property is under-construction. Whether the commercial property will be ready on time is of utmost importance. Generally a commercial property will take much lesser time to be constructed and the number of occupants in one building will be lesser than that of a residential. For example, there could be one buyer for one complete floor plate, or, say, the number of toilets to be constructed in a commercial setup is much lesser with no bath-area etc, which makes the construction easy and lesser time-consuming. Lenders will look at the previous delivery-schedule maintained by the builder to decide whether to lend in this builder's property or not.

5. Technical evaluation- The building needs to have all proper technical specifications complied with. Be it shafts, lifts, escalators, fire-extinguishing arrangements, emergency exit, double staircase etc. The authorised technical evaluation team of the lender will verify every detail. It isn't so that residential property is not verified well, but commercial properties do have more aspects to inspect.

6. Obtaining all statutory approvals- The builder will have to have all clearances such has approved plans, clearance from different departments like fire, forest etc. to be in place. There should be no demolition risk on the property due to any pending approval. It is the same in case of residential property too, but as mentioned in the previous point, it is stricter and more in numbers in commercial buildings.

7. Loan Tenure- Loan tenure offered in residential property could be as high as 30 years, but in commercial purchase it is mostly restricted to 10 years. This means higher EMI outflow for the borrower again.

8. Capping Exposure- If someone is buying a commercial property worth 10 crores, the lender may decide not to lend more than 3 crores on the transaction, even if he is eligible income-wise and there are no issues on the property front either. This comes from the fear of the loan going bad and the hit the lender will have to take in case of any eventuality like building demolition(fire, earthquake etc.) or demise of the borrower. Since insurance is a matter of solicitation and the borrower in India may choose not to opt for it, the risk remains.

9. Valuation- Purchase cost if inflated by the builder/seller to enable the borrower to take more funding from the lender, it is shot down by the expert evaluation team outsourced by the lender. Almost all of them have multiple experienced valuation-agents who submit report independently and the lender considers lower or the lowest of all, to hedge risk.

10. Residual age of the property- Very old properties do not get funded not only due to the risk related to the age of the building, but also due to not having proper sanction plan or fire-exits or many other things which have been made mandatory in new policy of the lender. So, have a quick check with your adviser. Even if it is a famous commercial building which houses large corporates, it may not get funded by some/all lenders. On another hand, retail spaces are more expensive in terms of rate per square foot than office spaces in same commercial building. Lenders do recognise that fact. So, the same building a office space may be valued at 20,000/- per sft., but retail at 30,000/-. One shouldn't assume that since retail is 30, then so will be the office.

11. Minimum area- Lender will want to fund a minimum area square foot. In retail outlets, there are small spaces called 'vanilla' where generally bank ATM-s etc. are made. These can be even smaller than 100 sq. ft. The lender may refuse to fund any space if it is lesser than 250 sq. ft. or so. Different lenders will have different policies on this matter, so better to check with your loan adviser again.

At the end of it, though acquiring a commercial property works out to be more expensive for you in terms of monthly outflow, since the tenure is less and rate of interest is higher along with more self-contribution to be paid; nonetheless, the 'return' on the investment in commercial property has always been on the higher side. So, if your property is 'eligible' for a funding, then why not?

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10 Secrets on How to get a Perfect Home Loan

2015-07-01T22:48:00.003-07:00

Sukanya Kumar - RetailLending.com

There are as many as 50+ lenders in India who will be willing to give you a Home Loan. But whom should you choose? Pretty easy, if you follow the simple path & do not get distracted by what your colleagues say or go by your friends' experiences. Also remember that a credit card service with the same lender could be way different than their mortgage. So, do not tread the easy way of taking it from whosoever arrives first.

Here are the 5 most important things you should ask to know whether it is your match:

1. Do not chase the cheapest rate of interest. Find out a competitive rate and focus on the other aspects of the loan. Cheapest is not the best deal. I keep repeating it in my various comments. Look beyond it.

2. Choose a floating rate of interest over Fixed, even if fixed has an attractive rate offer. There will be twists in fixed products. Many of you miss to note that there's a foreclosure penalty applicable within the fixed term. And moreover the margin changes after the fixed period is over, if the offer rate was for teaser period.

3. Make sure you opt for a lender who offers daily reducing balance and not monthly. It will not make any difference unless you plan a partial repayment. In a monthly reducing balance plan, even if you partially close an amount in between two EMI dates, they consider the repayment only from the next EMI date, thus making you pay interest even on the repaid sum for those days! You will not know, but it will cost you heavy.

4. Do not get biased by your previous experience with another product, or what your friends & colleagues preach, or your relatives feel for. This is finance, a pure mathematical product. No emotions attached. Do your maths & decide. You experience with the lender's credit card or your colleague's irritation with a lender or your uncle's comfort with certain type of lending institutes mean nothing to you. It's your loan.

5. Read all online remarks, which you will anyways do. But 99% of them are otherwise motivated. You will find that those who are badmouthing a lender probably uses dummy ID-s like kingpin, lisahayden, bigboy, greatguns etc. funny ones. You can take their comments as seriously as their identity suggests.

6. Your wealth manager, bank relationship manager, chartered accountant, tax-planner and your finance controller or CFO in office are great. Take their help to get guided to the right mortgage broker. Since you trust them, their reference will matter. But, don't let anyone else handle the transaction, negotiation with lenders etc. unless you find the right mortgage adviser. Mortgage is a specialised product. Ever heard a heart surgeon treating patients for skin rashes? Similarly, a mortgage broker selling mutual fund and insurance will be as good as a real estate broker selling tour-tickets and running an STD shop with photocopy machine! Chose the best in industry.

7. Try opting for a new-age product which saves you money. Standard vanilla home loan are cliche' and won't work for most of my clients who has surplus funds and taking the loan for tax-savings or waiting another property to be sold and pay off the loan. These days, borrowers have various requirement rather than just borrowing for the need of money. Borrowers may not identify it, but a mortgage adviser must & counsel accordingly.

8. Look at the service perspective carefully; you are getting into a long-term relationship. Don't jump on the first lender approaching you or the lowest rate of interest or may be, what your friend's father suggests. You will need a lot of services like- tax certificates, provisional amortisation, list of documents, part closure services, reduction in the tenure/EMI upon partial repayment. There will definitely be requirement of change of address if you are gong to continue the loan for long term. You might shift city or even country. Do not compromise on the aspect of post-sales service.

9. Always ask for a comparison between at least 6 major lenders from your mortgage adviser. And, again..... do not decide on basis of the lowest rate. Look at the base rate, the margin offered, whether any other product is being pushed, how many times the lender has reduced rate in past two years, what is the maximum tenure offered, and how is the eligibility calculated and most importantly whether your property or similar has been funded by this lender earlier.

10. Time taken for processing the loan. This may sound unimportant, but my noting it last, doesn't indicate that at all. When the builder start sending you delay-penalty notices or the seller withdraws from the deal or increases the sale value, trust me, this becomes the top priority on the chart. What will be the point of checking out so many lenders and settle for the one who can only offer, but can not execute?

If you can look beyond cheap interest-rate, you will see an ocean of options. There is a difference between 'price' and 'value'. Identify the need first.

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5 Risks if you are paying Pre-EMI on your Home Loan

2015-06-26T19:46:00.004-07:00

RetailLending.com Sukanya Kumar

When you borrow to purchase an under-construction property, you probably do not notice whether your repayment mode is a pre-EMI or EMI. All you know is you have to pay an 'x' amount every month. Some of you feel joy when your lender offers you the 'facility' of starting the EMI only after possession. You consider this as a opportunity to save money and consider this as a 'flexibility' offered by your lender which allows you to start the repayment only after you enter your new home.

But, before you accept that offer, understand the matter first. Here are some frequently asked questions and answers which may help you get the clarity-

FAQ-s:

What is EMI?

Equated Monthly Installment(EMI) is a repayment option where you pay both interest and principal to the lender via a monthly fixed payment. The interest payable throughout the loan tenure gets computed over a chart called amortisation schedulewhich portions the interest and principal in a descending and ascending order respectively.

What is Pre-EMI?

Pre-EMI is the only simple interest payable on the principal drawn for the number of day's os usage, payable to the lender on a specific day of every month. Upon drawing down further amount, it keeps increasing since the interest payable on the principal drawn increases accordingly. This mode of payment is possible only in case of under-construction purchases where the loan disbursement happens in tranches.

How does one benefit from opting for either?

If you can afford to start paying the EMI, that is, both principal and interest from the beginning, it helps you reduce the outstanding principal as well as the tenure from the very first month. If you are staying in a high-rental accomodation and do not have spare money to start the EMI right now, you may prefer to start paying the 'interest-only' on the partially disbursed amount which is Pre-EMI.

Who should opt for Pre-EMI?

As mentioned, if you are not comfortable starting to pay off the loan principal right now due to constraint in fund-flow, you could opt for Pre-EMI till you can start paying the EMI. This does not essentially mean that you will have to wait till possession. You can switch in-between too. Ask your mortgage adviser to structure that option for you.

Who should opt for EMI?

Similarly, if you have spare cash to start the monthly EMI right now, you can start repayment of the loan right away. This way your loan principal repayment starts and your unexpired tenure reduces too.

Can the repayment mode be switched from Pre-EMI to EMI in the midterm prior to possession?

Yes, there is. We generally advise our clients to not to wait till possession to start the EMI. In a situation where say, you have drawn down 95% of the loan and the final 5% is payable on possession, but the project is delayed by 6 months, which is a common phenomenon in India, you land up paying Pre-EMI(simple interest) on almost the complete loan amount for 6 months, which is actually close to the EMI amount itself. Your acquisition cost shoots up and no repayment of the principal or reduction in the tenure happens! So, switching to EMI mode after drawing down 70-75% is recommended. But not all lenders allow that. Are those who allow, won't initiate it for you. You will need your adviser to structure this for you.

What do you recommend? What is beneficial for the borrower?

Depends on the borrower's suitability. One must keep the following risks in mind if you opt for Pre-EMI:

(1) Few lenders do not allow you to part-preclose the loan under Pre-EMI stage. They will ask you to pay installments to the builder instead for a few tranches, but won't let you reduce the loan amount.

(2) Some lenders give you automatic Pre-EMI option without checkling with you. This is very risky. In the loan application, there is no provision to opt for it and generally during loan agreement signing either you forget to check or specify or the lender overlooks it in a hurry.

(3) You save no tax by paying interest-only to the lender and some don't even issue you the interest certificate. If you are paying the EMI from the beginning, you can claim all the interest paid during the under-construction stage in a spread of 5 years, after taking possession. You can not do so for payment of Pre-EMI.

(4) Upon getting the possession only your repayment starts. So, whatever sum you have paid so far neither reduced your principal, not tenure. If you had opted for a 20 year loan term 5 years ago and paid Pre-EMI for 5 years, then you pay 5+20 years. Some lenders consider this 5 year Pre-EMI term included in the 20 year and amortise your repayment in 15 years, making the EMI amount higher!

(5) Delay in possession bleeds you bad. For example, if the loan amount was 1 crore and 95% of that is drawn, you pay interest only on 95 Lacs for all the months of delay without a single rupee repayment, for which the EMI could be lesser than 1 Lac a month, wherein you pay 95,000/- of Pre-EMI unnecessarily.

How to Choose a Lender for your Home Loan

2015-06-10T01:28:00.000-07:00

RetailLending.com

There are multiple lenders in the market competing for your business. Private, MNC and PSU lenders have understood long ago that in retail banking, mortgage is the safest bet as exactly the name suggests- 'secured lending'. Funds are much more secure than other products they sell, e.g., credit cards, personal or vehicle loans etc. Though the margin is less, but the sheer volume makes it up for almost all of them. More and more players in this industry are entering and there's no reason to believe that the business doesn't earn for them, isn't it?

Your home is an immovable asset and your top priority is to save your shelter and thus not to bounce your cheque/ECS while repaying this particular loan, especially if it is self-occupied. Lenders identify this prioritisation and banks on it.

With improvement in salary structure for IT, FMCG and telecom companies in the last couple of decades, the salaried class, unlike earlier, have taken fancy in buying multiple properties across the country and the fact that lenders offer quite low rate of interest have enticed them to borrow while buying real estate.

Now, to answer 'How do I choose the best borrower?'

My first question to you will be, 'If there was only one who is the best, then will the others survive?' Obviously, the answer is 'no', so..... there is no formula to derive who is the best, but you can of course find out which lender suits you the best!

I am using 4 case studies here. Hope you find familiarity with one of them. If not, you can ask me here, specifying your case and I will answer.

Case study 1: Sachin Mhatre

Sachin has a stable job for the past 4 years in an administrative position in Pune. He draws a salary of 95,000/- per month and his number of dependents are nil as his wife Nilu is working too and earns about the same. They are buying an under-construction house which will be ready in next 12 months. The booking has to be done immediately and 80% of the payment is already due in next 30 days. They have no special requirement on the loan. They just need to be happy with the rate of interest offered and they are quite sure that they will not foreclose the loan partly or fully in next 5 years. They are planning to extend the family and Nilu may not continue with her job for some time now. Obviously they won't have excess funds in hand other than the matter that their rental outflow will stop and the EMI will start.

Suggestion: Go for a fixed term loan for 3-5 years post which it automatically gets into a floating rate. Preferably go for a private lender who will process your loan fast as your requirement of the funds is time-specific and may be with a delay penalty clause. Definitely choose a lender who has already approved this builder's property where other buyers have taken loan from.

Case study 2: Achintya Bandyopadhyay

He is buying an resale house in suburbs of Kolkata from a known person. The payment timeline is flexible as Achintya only needs a 20 Lac loan on the 50 Lac worth home. He has already paid the 30 lac sum to the seller and now wants to get a peaceful deal after scrutinising all aspects. He will retire in ten years and may have to take a loan for a tenure where his pension income can also be considered and given an extended tenure of 15 years. He prefers a lender having a branch near his home. His job allows him flexi-hours as he is the defacto branch head in absence of his boss who keeps traveling and he can visit the bank branch, if required, for the loan processing.

Suggestion: Achintya can visit the nearby branch of a PSU lender who will structure the loan repayment for him to suit his specific need of extension of tenure by including his pension income. Private and MNC banks may not be able to structure it for him so well. Since he has a co-operating seller and timeline is not an issue, he will be comfortable with a neighbouring branch and a known face a 'branch manager.' Sometimes, PSU banks offer better deals and nil fees too which can be an added bonanza for him.

Case study 3: Aryan Bansal

Aryan is high-flying jet-setter gentleman. His company keeps him on his toes all the time and he hardly has time to look at his own finances. He can not do away with his secretary who fulfills all his servicing requirement online for him. Starting from booking a movie ticket to getting his credit card statements online, Rishab(his secretary) does it all. Most of his pay package is unused at the end of the month and keeps getting accumulated in his savings account! The sum accrued till date will definitely put his wealth manager in shame as he made almost no investment in last couple of years as he could not find time to invest and his secretary definitely could not decide this one for him! He is buying a plush under-construction villa in Bangalore which he plans to make his retirement home. He wants to foreclose his loan in less than one year.

Suggestion: Best suited for an overdraft loan from an MNC bank, where idle money parked in the bank account gives him a virtual foreclosure effect. Whatever money he has in the bank account is considered a credit against the loan amount drawn and the interest is payable only on the differential amount. He may not even require to close the loan in a hurry as his money lying at his bank account to nullify his interest liability even without closure.

Case study 4: Adil K.

NRI based out of San Jose, USA buying a property in South Delhi. Ready property chosen by his in-laws, where son Irshad will stay with them. Adil has no plans to return to India in next few years as his career is really shaping up well there. Irshad's schooling is really important as he turns 15 this year and he isn't moving to US for the next 4 years for sure. Adil and his wife will have to bite that bullet till Irshad is ready for higher education abroad. Buying a property was easy, but getting a loan, especially finding out Power of Attorney in blood relative etc. who is of similar age, income etc. is a little uncomfortable for Adil. He can not approach anyone in India; some due to uneasiness of disclosing the sum he is spending to buy this house and some due to fear that there could be unwillingness from others to oblige him.

Suggestion: Opt for banks who do not seek Power of Attorney from NRI-s for doing their loans. There are a couple of MNC banks who have different policy than most others. Take help of an advisory firm here to be guided correctly for a smooth effortless transaction. Getting a loan is not so difficult for NRI borrowers as it is perceived. It is so only because of the lack of knowledge on how to proceed and the underlying discomfort of asking your relative to look after it.

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13 things you should avoid against 'cheap' home loan rate.

2015-06-02T11:42:00.001-07:00

RetailLending.com

Cheaper rate of interest in Home Loans has become such a craze that every person applying for a Home Loan keeps shopping for a 5 paisa negotiation. Dear Readers, do you know the difference it makes in your monthly payment for a 5 paisa difference in rate? Probably not, but it gives you the joy of winning if you can get a 9.95% rate instead of 10%. My dear friend, it is only Rs.3.20 per lac. So, even if yours is a 1 crore loan, it is 320/- per month you are struggling for! But are you losing something as against it while the bargain is on?

Somewhere in LinkedIn posts I have seen an interesting quote- "We offer 3 kinds of Services- Good, Cheap and Fast. But you can choose only Two. Good & Cheap won't be fast, Cheap & fast won't be good and Good & Fast won't be cheap."

It felt just right. Cheap rate can't be both good and fast. So, if your lender is cheap as well as known for speedy processing, the 'goodness' in the whole transaction could be doubtful.

Following could be the hidden agenda, if you are being offered the 'cheapest' deal. Weigh your options before you choose the 'cheapest'.

1. Mandatory Insurance- Though insuring yourself or your property is not a bad thing which can happen along with a Home Loan, I quite do not like someone keeping the insurance-purchase as a 'condition' for extending a good rate of interest to my clients. My client's credibility and the lender's willingness to offer him a good deal for acquiring his business should be a standalone cause. The client might choose to buy insurance products beneficial to him along with his Home Loan and I will always encourage him to do so, but no force please.

2. Semi-fixed with pre-closure penalty- If you are being offered a good rate along with a lock-in period and exit penalty clause, then it is not a decision you should make now. The market is softening & no wonder why the lender is offering you a cheaper deal to keep you 'fixed' with them for a larger tenure. You will land up losing if you compare the floating rates and find in future that they have gone down. Don't let your fear of 'what if the rates increase after this' come in play, especially when you are dealing through an advisory firm. They will advise in time.

3. Company to be Co-applicant- Never agree to this clause if you are a businessman(self-employed). Some banks purposely add your company as co-applicant so that your loan comes under non-individual category and they can penalise you during pre-closure. Offering a cheap rate might just be a stunt to capture your business.

4. Semi-fixed with larger margin after auto-switch to floating- I will explain this with an example. Suppose a bank's base rate is 9.5% and they are offering you a semi-fixed loan for 2 years at 10% with a margin of 50bps. So, this will become floating at the expiry of 24 months. Sounds all good. But do not forget to check whether the margin will remain 50bps after 24 months or will increase. Mostly these offers will have clauses like extra margin upon auto-conversion to floating rate. It means your rate will auto increase even if the base remains same.

5. Monthly reducing rate- A monthly reducing rate disallows your loan to re-amortise the principal-interest breakup the very next day you partially prepay. It waits till your standard EMI payment date comes and hence takes additional interest from the date of your partial prepayment till the EMI date, costing you more. Wherein, the daily reducing balance method adopted by banks allow you to consider your loan partially foreclosed from the very next day of your making the payment. It will make a lot of difference in future, as you are likely to do multiple part closures whenever you have excess liquidity.

6. Not tied down to base rate or similar- Having a sanctity of the fluctuation on your mortgage is absolutely necessary. How are you otherwise going to gaze the trend? Base rate or similar milestones with fixed spread allows you to determine the modality of your loan with the lender and their increase or decrease is basis one centric value, without which your loan rate can keep going upwards without any reason and never get reduced. The initial offer of a cheap deal is just a hoax.

7. New lender with no proven track- A new lender always will have to woo borrowers with cheaper offer, more like a pre-launch deal we are familiar with in real-estate industry. As we all know that at pre-launch stage there are some approvals pending from different Govt authorities and to dipstick the market sentiment on the property, the builder offers some stock at a cheaper rate, which howsoever has a risk-bearing quotient. A new lender also is of similar nature and it is on your risk appetite that you shall go ahead with one such.

8. Aggressive lender with no experience and probably less infra- Aggression sometimes makes a lender offer a very low rate. Without a proper vision of how they will manage their books or manage their own manpower and infrastructure, they just offer a cheap deal. I have seen few such in 2004-2006. Those lenders have exited mortgage market immediately after building the portfolio and hiring left right and center and leaving their employees and borrowers at a lurch with no one to fall back upon.

9. Guarantor/Co-applicant mandatory- Obligation to get a person to be your guarantor or making your mother/housewife with no income a co-applicant for the loan isn't a good judgement call you should take. Sometimes lenders will insist on such for offering you a tad cheaper rate. You might feel like a winner now, but may not experience it if something goes unexpectedly wrong later in the relationship or otherwise.

10. Lender not doing so good in their business- A lender not able to do business will try to sell their portfolio and in order to get a good pricing will want good profile borrowers in kitty. They will know that they won't be in the game longer and the other institute who purchases their portfolio will take decisions on your loan as per their new policy later. Better to avoid such lenders for a cheaper rate clause.

11. Lesser loan to value ratio- If you are buying a property worth 20 Mn and instead of 15 Mn, the bank offers you 10 Mn against a cheaper rate, it suggests that they are not willing to take exposure on you/your property. Better to avoid such offers unless you actually understand the reason for getting such low funding offer.

12. Lesser eligibility- Similarly, if you are offered lower rate for giving you lesser amount of money, in spite of your having the income eligibility, they probably do not like your profession or profile, and have some other interest in taking you in as a customer. Don't be delighted before you find out why.

13. Higher processing fee- Last but most common hidden agenda that will blow your top off. When you receive your sanction letter, it will demand more fee to be paid at the time of loan disbursement. When you come out of your shock and call the sales manager demanding an explanation, the response would probably be the 'cheaper rate'. Please note that every 16/- you pay increases 0.25% of your rate per lac per month and obviously paying a few thousand rupees may kill your rate advantage for next 5 years or more. Take help of your adviser to do the math before accepting such clause, especially if arrives unwarranted.

Check all 'conditions' before accepting such an offer and before you lose your initial application fee!

Happy borrowing !!

5 Factors to check before being a Guarantor

2015-05-21T05:16:00.000-07:00

Home Loan industry has changed an ocean since retail mortgage industry had taken it's first step in 1977 when HDFC Ltd. started their specialised mortgage company in India.

One among the few things which hasn't changed thus far is the 'requirement of a Guarantor' under few conditions. Though earlier in 90-s a guarantor was almost a mandatory requirement by the lenders to grant a home loan, it is not so now. A guarantor is been asked for extreme conditions like high-value corporate funding or few low value funding where the comfort is not gained by the applicant's own financial strength. To add to the comfort, a guarantor is added and the loan is disbursed to the main borrower.

However, general knowledge about who, how and what about a guarantor is not generally understood before one obliges.

The most important notes about being a guarantor is listed here:

1. Financial or Non-financial guarantor:

There are both these types of guarantors that is demanded by a credit appraiser. If you are a non-financial guarantor for simple purposes like contacting the primary borrower, then need not worry. But if your financial documents have been considered to do loan for the primary borrower, then it's a serious call you need to take before you agree to be one.

2. Obligations accepted as a guarantor:

As a financial guarantor, you are obligated to pay up the loan outstanding and/or any other dues created by the primary borrower on the mortgage, in case of a default. A recent circular dated 1-July 2014 clarifies the stance that will be taken by the court in case of a 'willful defaulter' and their guarantors.

3. How does your own loan eligibility get affected:

Being a guarantor is as good as being a borrower. The only difference would be that the guarantor will not have to pay the regular payments of interest and principal to the lender, which the regular borrower would. However, the liability of the borrower and the guarantor are considered at the same tune. In an instance where the main borrower has taken a loan of 1 crore, the eligibility of the guarantor also is reduced by the exact amount when he wants to borrow fresh loan for himself. A record of the lending, repayment and any default will be maintained with the credit scoring companies and the score of the guarantor will be affected by the repayment pattern lead by the primary borrower.

4. Duration of the loan term of the primary borrower:

The loan term play a pivotal role for the guarantor too, as he/she is obligated till that tenure is completed. If it's a short term loan then the relief is of course early. If the loan is foreclosed prior to the end of the term, then the release of the guarantor-ship should also be notified by the lender to the credit scoring authorities which will enable the guarantor to obtain higher amount of credit for his own needs. A guarantor should monitor whether such has been correctly reported on time and should also seek an NOC from the lender after such closure of the loan.

5. Repercussions in the event of default by the main borrower:

It is not only limited to the payment of the principal outstanding, but if the guarantor is unable to do so, then his own assets can also be attached by the court to realise funds to nullify the losses incurred by the lender. In case of untimely demise of the borrower, when the loan was not covered by any insurance, the guarantor will have to come forth to make the payment to foreclose such loan.

Hence, be an informed person before you 'guarantee' someone else's repayment as sometimes due to family relations or friendship, one might tend to agree and regret later

Your 'Actual' Cost of Home with a Home Loan

2015-05-21T05:13:00.005-07:00

Most of us borrow while acquiring a home. Gone are those days when our parents and grand parents saved throughout their lifetime with the 'dream' of constructing a house with their life's savings and retiral benefits like provident fund, gratuity funds etc. and still the house remained unfinished to some extent. They hoped that their next generation will get a stable job and help built another floor before he gets married.

Sounds so nostalgic, isn't it? In today's day, soon after getting a job, people get their credit cards, swipe it to pay down-payment for a two-wheeler, within first year buys a four-wheeler & pays the self-contribution from the sale proceed of the bike and come the end of second year, starts looking to buy a one/two Bhk flat with a home loan.

Now, our story starts here. In order to acquire an apartment in the city where you work, what is the price you pay? No, don't get me wrong. I know you can clearly understand what is the amount you are paying the seller/builder for the flat. I want you to show you here, how much you pay for getting the absolute ownership of that flat.

First, you start looking around for a suitable home. Nobody buys the first house they see. Amongst Indians, I can happily say that no one will buy a house unless they see minimum of 30 apartments over a period of 6 months to the least. Before that it seems to the first time buyer that- 'Since I am new, I need to observe and understand more.'

This time, effort and energy costs you too. You take a few off-days, call hundred brokers and builder's project sites, drive down to these places, eat outside and spend money. Now, this seems to be very natural and a must for all home-buyers. This cost of 'gaining experience' is a mandatory period for anyone. So, let's not cry over it.

Then once the house is finalised for the purchase to be made, you start talking to your credit card company, bank, family & friends to arrange for the 20% of the cost of the property which you need to accumulate for the 'self-contribution' bit of it. You break your fixed deposits, Kisan Vikas Patra(KVP), borrow from Provident Fund A/c, sell/mortgage your jewellery and accumulate say, 10 Lacs(we are assuming the home you are buying is worth 50 Lacs here). You will also have to pay a brokerage & you arrange for that too.

Then you start comparing rate of interest(ROI) of different banks online & offline, meet a lot of sales executives, hard negotiate on processing fee and finalise on one lender and apply for the loan. After some paperwork & a wait-period you receive your loan sanction letter and go to the seller/builder to sign the agreement.

Your surprises start here.

Banks told you their fee, builder told you their price, broker told you his commission amount. But no one told you the Government fees and levies. You always knew about the stamp duty & registration charges, but never knew that there are Govt. fees for taking a loan! Everyone now shakes their hands off saying that was not a fee for them! You always thought that acquiring a bank loan was about an upfront processing fee and you negotiated that best and opted for a 'nil' fee bank! But now what is this legal fees, valuation fee, administrative charges, documentation fee, franking charges on sale agreement as well as loan agreement(mortgage origination fee), intimation of registration charges.......!! Oh my God! Can someone please list out the 'charges' for you? Yes, sure we can. And mind you, after all this too, your home is still not yours, it is hypothecated with the bank. You will get the title deed once you repay the full loan amount with due interest payable in the next few years. So, let me try to chart out the actual cost of your home-buying. I am guessing that you will continue with your home loan at least for 8 years as that is the average Indian standard before someone pre-closes their home loans.

Now, please find the chart below:

Expenses	Amount
Initial cost of search for 6 months	6000
Self contribution	1000000
Loss of interest on PF,KVP,Gold etc. @12% in 10 yrs	1200000
Brokerage @1%	50000
Loan processing fee(all inclusive)	10000
Govt levy on loan acquisition	20000
Stamp duty & registration cost	250000
Loan principal	4000000
Interest over 10 years @10% on 20-year tenure loan	3553076

Cost	10089076

Now, you are reading the numbers correct. For a 50-Lac worth home to acquire completely after 10 years with a housing loan will cost you Rs.1,00,89,076/-(Rupees One Crore Eighty Nine Thousand & Seventy Six only).

Now this is a tentative projection. With interest rate & other fees and charges fluctuating, it will vary.

But not to lose heart. Your property in 10 years may be valued at 2 crores. You will happily live in it during your haydays of life, get tax relief from the Government year-on-year and have the protection on your and your family's head. So why wait till retirement and still do not fulfill your wishes? Go ahead and start searching for a home today!

Buying a house for a family with toddlers? Here are tips

2015-05-21T05:09:00.001-07:00

How to Buy a Property for a family with Toddlers

In India, most of the first-time home-buyers are of the age between 25-30. Amongst them, a lot are newly married and some having newborns and toddlers. Babies start crawling from the age of 7-8 months and roam around the house. They will start taking steps to walk as early as 9 months and if late, by 15-16 months. While buying a property, please keep this growing bundle of joy in mind and follow the steps below.

If you are lucky enough to buy from a builder who is willing to make small alterations, great. If that option isn't available or you are buying a home on resale, I recommend few alterations in the home.

1. Floor - Apart from cleanliness, you need to ensure that the floor is structurally smooth, with no protuberance which can hurt the baby's knees, palms or feet. Various types of flooring is offered by the builder which are sometimes optional too. Tiles, need to be fixed nicely and marble should be laid without any broken corners. Wooden floor quality should be of top quality and fixed evenly.

2. Electrical points - Preferably at a height where small children upto 5-6 years can not reach. Plug points should not be left open and covered with holders available in the market. babies have small fingers and they tend to put their fingers inside these small holes. Switch points which are at lower level, like nest to bed, table lamp points etc. should be covered with holders when unused & when in use, babies should not left unattended around those sockets.

3. Balcony railings - Designer railing look good and plenty have designs which are like straight steps where a child can easily climb like stairs! Please try to avoid such designs. If there's any vertical design which can not be climbed upon, that's the best. Also notice if any sharp edges are there which can cut your child. These are mostly wrought iron and if cut by these your child will need immediate medical attention.

4. Grill - Better to be careful than sorry. Cover your balcony even if you are on first or second floor. Builders will generally have a standard design of grills for all occupants to make the building look good. Take help of their vendors to fix the same kind.

5. Window - Modern day apartment building have open windows with sliding shutters and is extremely risky for children who can push them open & peep. You may not always remember to lock it and even if you do, children will quickly learn how to open it too. Window grills are a must and if builder doesn't allow it on outer facade, fix them internally for your child's safety.

6. Planter box - Penhomes, Duplex, apartment with large patio or balcony will have provision of planter box which may be hanging out of the balcony or within the square-feet area. Firstly, choose plants which are child-health friendly. Chidren tend to put everything in their mouth. So, cactus with thorns or other poisonous/harmful plantation are a big no-no. Have tulsi, marigold, hibiscus etc. instead and drop rose even if it looks more pretty.

7. Kitchen - Open kitchen is a craze these days. It looks good and living dining area seems more specious, but responsibility increases. No sharp cutters like knife etc should be left on the floor or even on the kitchen-slab close to the child's reach, the waste bin should be covered hidden inside a closed cupboard, floor should be always clean. White goods like microwave, toasters, mixed should be stored at a height. Refrigerator should be locked, washing machine and dryer should not be front loading and switches of all these high-voltage gadgets should always be at a height and covered when unused. Design your kitchen accordingly.

8. Bathroom - Always keep the door closed. Keep the water closet covered, waste basket with a lid; hair dryer, shaving kit away, plug points at a height which are out of children's reach. Water buckets etc. not to be filled with water unnecessarily. Bathtub area closed with sliding glass door(shower curtain is not enough). Not to have auto-locks which if the baby goes inside and pushes the door gets locked. If bolts are used, should be at the top of the door and not near the handle where baby can also reach.

9. Wall paint - Emission of toxic materials from fresh paints inside the house could be harmful for babies. Try not to enter the home till the smell fades away. With some low-quality paints the smell never goes. Please check with your builder as to what quality paint is being used and if there's no choice to better it, pay additional amount to get a safe paint done.

10. Fan & Air-conditioner - Children bedrooms are not only about their floor, paint and furniture. Please make sure you don't place the bed right below the fan or directly under the blow of air-conditioner. Use good quality products which require lesser maintenance and consumes lesser electricity, makes no noise.....in a nutshell, the best quality. Even better than the master suite you will use.

11. Staircase - If you are buying a villa, row-house, penthouse, duplex or triplex there will definitely be internal staircase and sometimes a private lift. Be super-cautious. Fix small gate at the entrance of the stairs in lower floor as well as the higher floor to stop the baby from trying to crawl up or down. Spiral staircase is more risky(as there will be more gaps in between) than a three/two turn staircase with small landings. If you fix wooden planks, make sure it is fixed nicely without any uneven edges. Granites are generally more slippery, marble is extremely hard material and cold during winters. So, choose wisely.

At the end, as a parent now you are having more responsibility while choosing a home and decorating it. Your focus should be more on safety measures than the beauty of the property you choose. A builder who is understanding and co-operating with your need should be chosen. Few large developers do not want to accommodate and they should also gradually get accustomed to the new-era "children/aged parents/pet friendly" homes as the requirement is changing. 'Beautiful' homes are no more the end of requirement.

Company Credit Report

2015-05-13T03:05:00.001-07:00

COMPANY DISPUTES

2015-05-13T03:02:00.001-07:00

CIBIL Company Credit Information Report (CCR) consists of Company Details Eg: Address, Contact etc., Account Information and Enquiries. If any information on your CCR is inaccurate or needs to be updated, we shall be pleased to assist you in rectifying / updating your report. To raise a dispute online, click on the link provided at the bottom of the page. This process is known as Company Dispute Resolution.

Dispute request can be raised based on Company Credit Information Report (CCR) purchased by the consumer from CIBIL or CCR pulled by the Credit Institution. Go through the types of dispute enlisted below to understand the various inaccuracies that can be corrected. For more details, go through the Frequently Asked Questions.

TYPES OF DISPUTES

1. Company / Account Details
You can dispute various fields in your company’s CCR. For example : Company Details like Company Name, Address, Company Phone number, Company PAN Number etc and Account Details like Credit Type, Asset Classification, Sanction Amount etc just to name a few.

2. Ownership
You can also raise a dispute for Ownership of an Account. The term Ownership of an Account means that a particular account in your company’s CCR does not belong to you or the entire report is inaccurate.

3. Duplicate Account
If the same account reflecting more than once in your CCR, you can initiate a request for correction.

4. Fields that can be disputed

Dispute can be raised for the following :

Company Details :

Company Name
Company’s Registered Address
Company’s Branch Address
Telephone Numbers
PAN (Company)
Promoter/ Director/ Proprietor/ Partner Name
Relationship
Legal Constitution
City
State
PIN Code

Account Details :

Credit Type
Asset Classification
Sanction Date
Sanctioned Amount/ High Credit
Current Balance
Bank Remark
Status
Date Classified as Willful Defaulter
Suit Filed Status
Date of Suit
Suit Amount

Report Order Number & DUNS No.

Report Order Number – Order Number assigned to the Company CIR by the CIBIL system.
DUNS Number – D-U-N-S® Number is a unique identification Number provided by CIBIL to every Borrower, at a particular location.

Action initiated by CIBIL
Based on the information submitted by you to initiate a dispute, we shall check with the relevant Credit Institution/s and notify you as appropriate in 30 days.

HOW TO INITIATE A DISPUTE

The easiest way to initiate a dispute request is by submitting a duly completed On-Line Dispute Form. Please click below to initiate an On-Line Dispute request.

Raise an On-Line Dispute

Alternatively, you can raise a Dispute Request by writing to us at the following address :

Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd, Hoechst House, 6th Floor, 193, Backbay Reclamation, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021.

Top Eight Credit Mistakes To Avoid

2015-01-04T03:57:00.002-08:00

To err is human. But when it comes to building a credit history you cannot afford to err. Using credit cards responsibly may not sound appealing at first, but few credit mistakes on your credit card can hurt your CIBIL score for years. You can tread the credit path carefully by steering clear of these top eight credit mistakes.
1) Do not apply for too many credit cards at once: If you have made more than one application for credit cards within a short span, this will reflect in the "Enquiry" section of your Credit Report. This will negatively impact your credit score. This kind of behavior indicates that you are "credit hungry" and implies that you are constantly looking for credit, which is something lenders don't encourage.
2) Longevity of credit card: When once you open a new credit card account keep it active at least for a year. The speed of "opening" and "closing" a credit card account reflects on your credit report and credit score, and lenders associate such a behavior to a bad credit management capacity. Twelve months of history on the credit card, whether used or unused, is good enough for a lender to assess your financial standing and repayment capacity.
3) Credit utilisation: Use only 30% of your credit limit. For instance, if you have Rs 1 lakh credit limit in your account, use only Rs 30,000 and not the entire limit. Your CIBIL credit score may get negatively impacted when your balances on credit cards are very close to the "High Credit" reflected on your credit report.
4) Keep a tab on add-on credit cards: If you have an add-on credit card for your spouse, children or relatives, it is important to monitor and regularly make payments on these cards as well. The responsibility of the repayment of dues on add-on credit cards rests solely on the credit card owner and impacts the owner's credit profile.
5) Don't use credit cards for cash withdrawals: While cash withdrawal itself is an expensive form of credit, it also reflects badly on your credit score.
6) Do not miss a payment: Credit cards are unsecured form of credit. If you have been using your credit card for over a year and have been regular on payments, you have actually built a good credit history on your credit report. This helps in building the lenders' confidence on your repayment capability as you have shown a disciplined track record on an unsecured form of credit.
7) Monitor your credit card statements: The banks do make errors in credit card statements or there could be a possibility of someone misusing your card. So ensure you monitor them on a regular basis—if you notice an error call, your bank immediately.

(About the author: Rajiv Raj is the Director and Co-Founder ofwww.creditvidya.com)
Image: www.tradeandexportme.com

Source:

http://www.businessinsider.in/Top-Eight-Credit-MistakesTo-Avoid/articleshow/45627082.cms

CIBIL Facts

2014-11-02T01:44:00.001-07:00

CIBIL Facts

Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited or CIBIL is a Credit Information Company (CIC) founded in August 2000. Post Inception, we have come to play a critical role in India’s financial system. Whether it is to help loan providers manage their business or help consumers secure credit faster and at better terms, the use of CIBIL’s products have led to a massive change in the way the credit life cycle is managed by both loan providers and consumers.

So what exactly do we do?

CIBIL collects and maintains records of an individual‘s payments pertaining to loans and credit cards. These records are submitted to CIBIL by banks and other lenders, on a monthly basis. This information is then used to create Credit Information Reports (CIR) and credit scores which are provided to lenders in order to help evaluate and approve loan applications.

What is our role in the Loan Approval Process?

CIBIL’s products, especially the CIBIL TransUnion Score and the CIR are very important in the loan approval process.
The credit score helps loan providers quickly determine, who they would like to evaluate further to provide credit. The CIBIL TransUnion Score ranges from 300 to 900. Our data indicates that loan providers prefer a credit scores which are greater than 750.

Once the loan provider has decided which set of loan applicants to evaluate, it analyzes the CIR in order to determine the applicants eligibility. Eligibility basically means the applicants ability to take additional debt and repay additional outflows given their current commitments.

Post completion of these first 2 steps the loan provider will request for the applicants income proof and other relevant documents in order to finally sanction the loan.

What this means for you as an individual

Since, the credit score and CIR not only helps loan providers identify consumers who are likely to be able to pay back their loans, but also helps them to do this more quickly and economically. This translates into faster loan approvals.

Until recently, there was little visibility and transparency with regards to the loan approval process and the elements that loan providers used to evaluate your loan application. Since, CIBIL has made your credits score and CIR available to you, you will be able to see how valuable a customer you are to loan providers.

In alignment with our creed , CIBIL empowers both loan providers and individuals to see their world more clearly and hence, take better and more informed decisions.

Useful Links

2014-11-02T01:40:00.002-07:00

SELF SERVICE PORTAL

What is the CIBIL TransUnion Score 2.0?

2013-08-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

The CIBIL TransUnion Score 2.0 is a new, updated version of the Credit score which has been designed keeping in mind the current trends and changes in the consumer profiles & credit data. Banks are gradually switching to the new version and you may find a difference in the new version when compared to the earlier version (i.e., the score 2.0 may be lower than the earlier version). Please note, the score currently available to you is the earlier version. However, the difference in the Credit Score does not impact the credit decisioning during the Loan approval process as both the versions of the score may have a different score eligibility cut off while processing the loan application.

For example, if your Bank earlier used to sanction loans/credit cards to individuals with a credit score of 800 and above it may now lower its score cut-off, if it has switched to the new version.

The CIBIL TransUnion Score 2.0 also introduces a risk index score range for those individuals who have a credit history of less than 6 months. These individuals were categorized under the category of “No History- NH” in the earlier version. The score range is from 1-5, with 1 signifying “high risk” and 5 signifying “low risk”.

Score 2.0 summary and interpretation:

Score & Index		Interpretation(i.e., for whom does this score reflect)
NA or NH	Individual has no credit history & it has not been reported to us. Individual has no credit history but has only been enquired upon Individual has credit history but none that is reported in the 24 months prior to enquiry. Individual has a credit history but it has not been reported to us in the last 24 months.
1-5	Individual has a credit history which is less than 6 months, hence a risk Index is returned Higher the index, lower the risk
300-900	An individual with a credit history of more than 6 months (in the last 24 months) Higher the score, lower the risk

DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCESS

2013-08-18T10:53:00.001-07:00

DISPUTE YOUR CREDIT REPORT ONLINE :

Your Credit Information Report (CIR) plays a large part in the loan application process. Hence, any discrepancy in your CIR may result in reduced chances of a loan approval. Therefore, it is important that the information on your CIR is accurate and updated. A dispute request can be raised based on either a CIR purchased by you directly from CIBIL or a CIR accessed by the Credit Institution (CI) with whom you have applied for a loan.The CIR consists 5 sections namely Personal Information, Contact Information, Employment Information, Account Information and Enquiry Information. If any information on your CIR is inaccurate or needs to be updated, we will assist you in doing so.

FOR MORE DETAILS, GO TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs).

You can now raise an on-line dispute for any data inaccuracy reflecting in your report. All fields can be disputed in your report, except the following fields:

Control Number
Member Name (Unless it is an Ownership Dispute)
Account Number (Unless it is an Ownership Dispute)
Date Reported
Enquriy Date

HOW TO INITIATE A DISPUTE

The easiest way to initiate a dispute request is by submitting a duly completed On-Line Dispute Form. Please click below to initiate an On-Line Dispute request.

Raise an On-Line Dispute

Alternatively, you can raise a Dispute Request by writing to us at the following address :

Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd, Hoechst House, 6th Floor, 193, Backbay Reclamation, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

2013-08-18T10:52:00.002-07:00

The CIBIL CIR consists of Consumer / Borrower Information, Account Information and Enquiries. If any information on your CIR is inaccurate or needs to be updated, we shall be pleased to assist you in rectifying / updating your CIR. You can raise a dispute online by clicking the link provided at the bottom of the page. This process is known as Dispute Resolution.

A Dispute Request can be raised based on either a CIR purchased by you directly from CIBIL or a CIR accessed by the Credit Institution when you have applied for a loan with that Credit Institution. Go through the types of dispute enlisted below to understand the various discrepancies that can be rectified. For more details, go to the Frequently Asked Questions.

TYPES OF DISPUTES

1.	Consumer / Borrower Information:

On receipt of your CIR, if you observe that your Consumer / Borrower information needs to be updated, you can now rectify the same by initiating a Dispute Request.

The fields that can be disputed are as under:

Name
Date of Birth
Gender
Income Tax ID
Passport Number
Voter's ID
Telephone Numbers
Address
State
PIN

2.	Account Details:

You may also notice that your Account/s Information may not be updated for your most recent payment. This will usually be the case if you have purchased your CIR within 45 days of making a payment. Credit Institutions report information to the CIBIL on a monthly basis, which would mean that the latest payment will not reflect on your CIR immediately.

You can dispute for the following fields on your CIR.

Account/ Loan Type
Account Status
Ownership Type
Date of Last Payment
Date Opened
Date Closed
Sanctioned Amount/ High Credit
Current Balance
Amount Overdue
DPD/ Asset Classification

3.	Ownership:

You can also raise a dispute for Ownership of an Account. The term Ownership of an Account means that that some personal details and one or more account/s do not belong to you.

4.	Duplicate Account:


	If the same account reflecting more than once in your CIR, you can initiate a Dispute Request.

Kindly note that the following fields cannot be disputed:


	Control Number Member Name (Unless it is an Ownership Dispute) Account Number (Unless it is an Ownership Dispute) Date Reported Enquiry Date

CONTROL NUMBER


	Every CIR has a unique 9 digit Control Number which is displayed on the top right hand side of your CIR. The control number will assist us in accessing the CIR that you have purchased for your review. In case, you are initiating a dispute based on a CIR accessed by your Credit Institution, kindly obtain the Control Number and the date of the CIR from your Credit Institution before raising the dispute request. In case you are disputing on a Bank Control Number, we request you to provide the following additional information while raising a dispute: Account Type Ownership Date Reported Date Opened Current Balance Action initiated by CIBIL Based on the information submitted by you to initiate a dispute, we shall check with the relevant Credit Institution/s and notify you as appropriate in 30 days.

CIBIL REPORTS

My new Website is live now

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DISPUTE RESOLUTION