Home loans in India being here

I am planning to buy a property in India and was looking for home loans.

Has anyone gone through this process with a bank by remaining here and doing it online? Could you share your experience on the loan process and how easy/difficult it is?

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And to pile on with an interesting news

http://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/No-fine-pre-payment-home-yahoofinancein-509877775.html

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I did it last month. The process is fairly simple with banks like ‘ICICI’ or HDFC. It took around 1 month to complete the formalities. You need to give a Power of attorney to someone whom, you trust and who is currently in India. The loan agent will work with him to complete the formalities. You need to send all your details by mail.

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I took a property loan recently. My suggestion is to give a POA to parents restricting the powers to only buy/sell and execute bank loan on your behalf. I went through SBI and sent signed documents from here. My dad handled the rest using the POA.

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I am currently working with one of the agents in India for the home loan. But in my case I will be going there, so I can complete all the formalities face to face.

As per my information that I have got from him, you can take home loan from here. It’s just that there are some additional steps which are:

·        Your property should be finalized

·        You need to get done power of attorney to someone there  who can take care of the things there on your behalf

·        All the documents that you need to submit (income documents etc.) must be notarized by Indian consulate / embassy

·        Some banks will send  letter to your HR to confirm the employment

However, if you want to take loan from LIC Housing Finance, you need to be present there because they  have 1 round called as ‘personal discussion’ with the customer before they sanction the home loan.  Not sure but I guess for all the nationalized banks like SBI etc. this round might be there. But please confirm this.

You should be able to get the  loan from other banks like HDFC etc.

Please let me know if you have any questions , I can try answering them to the best of my knowledge J

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You need approve someone in India with power of attorney so that they can sign on any documents on your behalf. For power of attorney form, download it from the bank website and, complete the form and get it notified by a notary.

Also, you need to send all the required documents including postdated blank checks  with your signature.

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I did this activity a couple of years back and all you need is someone in India (your father/brother) to represent you.

It was easy and hassle free.

Steps     -

1.      Identify the bank. (HDFC in my case)

2.      Get a list of required documents from your bank. (HDFC asked for – Notarized Power of attorney, resume, Passport copies, Visa page, Petition document, last 6 months salary slips, Credit report, Bank account statement for last one year, driver’s license photocopy, Address proof in US, Age proof document)

3.      Send these documents to India and your power of attorney can take it further.

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I have done it; though not online – but by using phone, email and postal mail – in my case with HDFC.

End to end, it took ~2 months. It required opening an NRE/NRO account and having someone in India, who could be the POA.

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I would suggest stay away from Private banks. They are very easy to get a loan from but have lots of hidden fees and charges for prepayment of loan et al. Also they do not play it right when the rates go down and will up it at the first hint from RBI.

For a govt bank, it would be really hard to get a loan. Though I think that might be changing now. But once you get the loan, life is very easy. I have a loan from Bank of Baroda and have a really good experience with them. I have heard first hand good things about SBI as well.

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Get in touch with SBI US branch. I remember SBI offering good rates compared to other banks and there is no pre-payment charges.

Contact information can be easily searched on web.

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LIC housing is also a good option along with SBI. I have taken loan recently from LIC, interest rates are competitive and the overall process is seamless and took about 45 days and as Manish pointed you have to open an NRE account to start with and needs someone to be POA back in India.

http://www.lichousing.com