Knowledge Center
Understand lending before you borrow
Plain-language guides, document checklists, FAQs and comparison charts covering how Indian banks and NBFCs actually assess a loan file.
Showing 55 of 55 guides
Builder and developer project finance: a practical funding guide
How Mumbai builders and developers can prepare project finance, construction funding and completion funding applications for banks and NBFCs.
8 min readRead full guide →Loan against unsold inventory for builders: eligibility and documents
A detailed guide to raising liquidity against completed unsold property inventory without distress-selling eligible units.
7 min readRead full guide →What is a CIBIL score and why lenders start there
A three-digit number between 300 and 900 that summarises how reliably you have repaid credit. It is the first filter almost every lender applies.
4 min readRead full guide →How to lift your credit score in 90 days
Realistic actions that move the needle before you apply, and the ones that do nothing at all.
5 min readRead full guide →CIBIL, Experian, Equifax and CRIF: why your scores differ
Four RBI-licensed bureaus, four scoring models, four different numbers — and lenders do not all look at the same one.
3 min readRead full guide →Fixed vs floating interest rates: which to choose
Fixed rates buy certainty at a premium. Floating rates track the repo rate and reprice as policy moves.
5 min readRead full guide →How EMI is actually calculated
The formula behind every EMI calculator, and why your early instalments are almost all interest.
4 min readRead full guide →Secured vs unsecured loans: the real trade-off
Pledging an asset cuts your rate sharply — and puts that asset on the line if repayment fails.
4 min readRead full guide →Why loan applications get rejected — and how to fix each cause
Nine recurring reasons behind rejection, ranked by how often we see them.
6 min readRead full guide →FOIR explained: the ratio that caps your loan amount
Fixed Obligation to Income Ratio decides how much EMI a lender believes you can carry.
3 min readRead full guide →Prepayment: reduce the EMI or reduce the tenure?
Both feel like progress. Only one meaningfully cuts your interest outgo.
4 min readRead full guide →Home loan tax benefits under the old and new regimes
Section 24(b), 80C and 80EEA — and what survives if you have moved to the new tax regime.
5 min readRead full guide →Loan Against Property: a complete working guide
How lenders value your property, what LTV to expect, and where LAP files usually stall.
7 min readRead full guide →CGTMSE explained: collateral-free credit for MSMEs
How the guarantee works, what it costs, and which enterprises actually qualify.
6 min readRead full guide →PMMY Mudra loans: Shishu, Kishore and Tarun
Micro-enterprise finance up to ₹20 lakh with no collateral, via banks and MFIs.
4 min readRead full guide →PMEGP: subsidy-backed finance for new micro units
A margin money subsidy of 15-35% for setting up a new manufacturing or service unit.
4 min readRead full guide →Stand-Up India for SC/ST and women entrepreneurs
Bank loans of ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore for greenfield enterprises led by SC/ST or women promoters.
3 min readRead full guide →Document checklist for salaried applicants
Everything a salaried file needs, assembled once and reused across lenders.
3 min readRead full guide →Document checklist for self-employed applicants
Self-employed files are judged on three years of consistency, not one good year.
4 min readRead full guide →Property document checklist before you sign anything
The legal and technical papers a lender's team will demand, and what to verify yourself.
5 min readRead full guide →Bank or NBFC: which lender suits your profile
Banks price lower and underwrite tighter. NBFCs are flexible and faster, at a cost.
5 min readRead full guide →Home loan vs loan against property
Both are secured by property. Almost everything else differs.
4 min readRead full guide →Overdraft vs cash credit: how they really differ
Both revolve, both charge interest on utilisation. The security and the drawing power differ.
4 min readRead full guide →Personal loan vs credit card debt
Revolving card balances at 36-48% a year are the most expensive money in retail credit.
3 min readRead full guide →Is a balance transfer worth the cost? Run this test
Rate saving beats switching cost only when the gap and the residual tenure are both large enough.
4 min readRead full guide →Top-up loan vs personal loan for the same need
For anyone with a running home loan, a top-up is usually the cheaper answer.
3 min readRead full guide →How banks assess your working capital limit
The Nayak method for smaller limits, MPBF for larger ones — and how to present projections credibly.
6 min readRead full guide →Drawing power: the monthly maths behind a CC limit
Your sanctioned limit is a ceiling. Drawing power is what you can actually use.
4 min readRead full guide →Why your GST returns decide your business loan
GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B are now a primary underwriting input, pulled directly by most lenders.
4 min readRead full guide →Udyam registration: why every MSME needs it
Free, online, Aadhaar-based — and the gateway to CGTMSE, priority sector lending and delayed-payment protection.
3 min readRead full guide →Writing a project report that actually gets funded
What a credit officer looks for in a DPR, section by section.
6 min readRead full guide →Moratorium periods: relief now, cost later
Interest usually keeps accruing during a moratorium even when nothing is payable.
3 min readRead full guide →Six clauses to read before signing a loan agreement
The terms that matter are rarely the ones in the sanction letter headline.
5 min readRead full guide →Processing fees and the costs nobody mentions
The headline rate is one of at least eight numbers that determine what a loan costs.
4 min readRead full guide →Co-applicant vs guarantor: the difference matters
One shares the loan and the asset. The other shares only the liability.
3 min readRead full guide →Home loans for self-employed applicants: presenting income well
Tax-efficient books and loan-friendly books pull in opposite directions. Plan two years ahead.
6 min readRead full guide →Buying under construction: disbursement, pre-EMI and RERA
Staged disbursement changes how your loan behaves in the first few years.
5 min readRead full guide →Financing a resale flat: the extra steps
Older properties bring title-chain and age-of-building questions a new project does not.
4 min readRead full guide →Used car loans: why the sanction is lower than the price
Lenders fund a percentage of their valuation, not the price you negotiated.
3 min readRead full guide →Buying machinery on loan vs leasing it
Ownership and depreciation against flexibility and lower up-front outlay.
4 min readRead full guide →Digital lenders: convenience, cost and the RBI rules protecting you
App-based credit is fast. RBI's digital lending guidelines set out what a legitimate lender must disclose.
4 min readRead full guide →Do you need loan protection insurance?
Useful cover, frequently mis-sold as mandatory and funded by increasing the loan itself.
3 min readRead full guide →Penal charges: what RBI now allows lenders to levy
Penalties on default must be a reasonable flat charge, not compounding penal interest.
3 min readRead full guide →Foreclosure charges: when they cannot be charged at all
Floating-rate loans to individual borrowers for non-business purposes carry no prepayment penalty.
3 min readRead full guide →CERSAI, equitable mortgage and what registration means
How your property gets charged to the lender, and why the entry matters when you sell.
4 min readRead full guide →Closing a loan properly: a six-point checklist
The last EMI is not the end. These six items protect your credit record.
3 min readRead full guide →A first-time borrower's roadmap
No credit history is not the same as bad credit — but it needs a different approach.
5 min readRead full guide →Salaried vs self-employed: how eligibility is computed differently
Same loan, two entirely different underwriting paths.
4 min readRead full guide →Repo rate, EBLR and MCLR: what your loan is linked to
The benchmark decides how quickly a policy rate cut reaches your EMI.
4 min readRead full guide →Can you get a business loan without ITR?
Banking-surrogate and GST-surrogate programmes exist, at a price.
4 min readRead full guide →CIBIL Rank and the CCR: how businesses are scored
Companies get a rank from 1 to 10, derived from the Company Credit Report, not a 300-900 score.
3 min readRead full guide →What one bounced EMI actually costs you
Bounce charges are the small part. The bureau entry is the expensive part.
3 min readRead full guide →Loan eligibility by income: quick reference
Indicative home loan eligibility at a 20-year tenure with no existing obligations.
3 min readRead full guide →Home loans for NRIs: what changes
Shorter tenures, mandatory power of attorney and repayment through NRE/NRO accounts.
4 min readRead full guide →How iFINTRUST structures and places your loan file
What actually happens between your first call and disbursement.
4 min readRead full guide →