By Chaitali Dutta
* As the RBI has put a pause on interest rates, should I prepay some loan to reduce the tenure or should I wait for the RBI to cut rates?
In case there is a loan outstanding, and you have extra funds repay part of the loan immediately, rather than waiting for the interest rates to go down as doing the repayment now itself,will save you more interest.
* Is it better to pledge my fixed deposits for a loan of Rs 5 lakh or take a personal loan?
—S R Dubey
Loans against FD or any other securities are considered secured loans and are generally cheaper than unsecured loans like personal loans. It would be better to go for a loan that is lower in interest rate.
* I had taken a home loan and two top-up loans later. I have cleared all the dues. But when I went to collect my documents, my sale deed was missing. The bank has assured me of a duplicate copy. What should I do?
—R K Rao
It is highly unusual for the bank to misplace such a document. Obtain this in writing from the bank and do not go by any oral confirmation of a bank employee. As a first step, write to the bank to return your sale deed, attaching the proof of full repayment of the loan. Submit this letter under the bank seal and acknowledgment. Once you have their letter accepting the fact that the document is lost, you may have to file an FIR with the police. This FIR is needed for obtaining the duplicate sale agreement from the registrar.
* For a loan against property, do I have to show the end-use of the money?
No, the loan taken against a property is not necessarily for any specific use. You may use it at your discretion.
* Is there any upper age to take an education loan for my son to study abroad as I will be retiring after two years?
—Yash Rajpal
An education loan is to be repaid by the student, so the responsibility of EMI payments is on your son. You, as a parent, are a co-borrower. You may be required to pay, only if he defaults.
The writer is founder, AZUKE Personal Finance Advisory (www.azukefinance.com). Send your queries to fepersonalfinance@expressindia.com
