Eligibility:
Broadly speaking, home loans can be availed whether you want to buy or build a house and can be used to repair or extend an existing house. Salaried Employees and Self-Employed Indian residents over 21 years of age at the beginning of the loan and below 65 at its maturity can avail Home Loans. NRI Salaried and NRI self-Employed persons, under RBI guidelines, can approach nationalized banks and other Home Finance Companies for home loans

Loan Sanction:
The loan sanction amount depends on your repayment capacity - based on your total current income and your future repayment capacity. Your spouse's gross income can be added to enhance the loan amount eligibility. The maximum loan that can be sanctioned varies with each bank/institution and generally ranges from Rs.10 lakhs to Rs.1 crore.

Re-Payment:
Usually loan tenures range from 5 years to 20 years and do not extend beyond the age of retirement or when you turn 65 years of age - whichever comes first. The EMI - Equated Monthly Installment is the amount of money you repay every month until the end of the loan tenure -, which comprises both principal component and an interest component.

Services:
Most HFCs / Banks offer a wide range of personalized home loan services. Sometimes sanctioning loans even before a property is identified. Additional charges other than interest usually include processing and administrative charges and are expressed as a percentage of the loan amount - usually 1% to 2% of the loan amount.

Tax Benefits:
The Income Tax Act 1961, allows tax concessions on both the principal and interest components of the loan. The upper limit of the amount of deduction of interest payment deductible from your gross total income is now Rs.1, 50,000/- per annum. In addition, sec. 88 offers tax benefits for principal repayments up to Rs.20, 000/-.