For home loan borrowers, the National Housing Bank has delivered a good bit of cheer. For all loans above Rs 20 lakh taken from housing finance companies, the initial contribution that has to be made has been brought down to a uniform 10 per cent.

Hitherto, for loans between Rs 20 and 75 lakh, the down-payment that had to be made was 20 per cent. For loans over Rs 75 lakh, the initial margin was even higher at 25 per cent. The condition is that such a loan should be supported by a mortgage guarantee cover issued by a registered mortgage guarantee company.

Mind your KYC

Have you been ignoring earnest entreaties by your bank to update your KYC documents? Well, buck up. The RBI last week said that if customers fail to update their KYC requirements despite repeated bank communications, banks can impose ‘partial freezing’ in a phased manner. This involves allowing all credits but disallowing debits.

The bank has to give truant customers a 3-month notice about such a partial freeze, followed by a reminder for a further 3 months. After six months of this partial freeze, if KYC requirements are still not met, all credits and debits will be disallowed. The account may also be closed.

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