RBI’s new home loan rules will help borrowers

RBI has made it mandatory for banks and home loan providers to clearly communicate with the borrowers for resetting the tenor and provide options of switching to fixed-rate loans or foreclosure of loans.

“The supervisory reviews undertaken by the Reserve Bank and the feedback and references from the public have revealed several instances of unreasonable elongation of the tenor of floating rate loans by lenders without proper consent and communication to the borrowers. To address the issue, it is proposed to put in place a proper conduct framework to be implemented by all REs to address the issues faced by the borrowers,” RBI said.

The framework envisages that lenders should clearly communicate with the borrowers for resetting the tenor and/or EMI, provide options of switching to fixed-rate loans or foreclosure of loans, transparent disclosure of various charges incidental to the exercise of these options, and proper communication of key information to the borrowers. The detailed guidelines in this regard shall be issued shortly.