How home loan buyers can benefit from the base rate

Saikat Das
Moneycontrol.com

Base rate and benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) are quite familiar terminologies among corporate borrowers. However, a retail customer still struggles to unfurl the difference between the two. Finally, he ends up paying extra interest cost for a loan taken before July, 2010, when the base rate system was introduced. Confused? Consider this: Delhi-based Dipesh De, a pharmaceutical professional had taken a home loan of Rs 30 lakh in February, 2009 under the BPLR regime. At that time, the floating rate of interest was at 9.75%. In the last two years, floating rates have moved up by 200 basis points to 11.75% on an average, taking De