As the times have changed, today women are making revolutionary career choices to be financially independent, which was never the case earlier. Financial decisions in India were taken only by men for very long. Everyone dream to own a house, but the processing of the same is complicated. Saving money for a down payment to availing a home loan can be tiresome for few. But it is a little less complicated for women in India as to empower women many states gives some extra benefits to the woman who apply for a home loan. Here is the list of benefits which woman can enjoy if they are availing home loan from either banks or Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs).
- Reduced Rate of Interest
Woman applying for a loan individually or if she is a co-applicant, lenders offer special home loan interest rates to woman that are a few points lower than the market rate. Some lenders also believe that women are more reliable as borrowers.
For example:- State Bank of India provide a home loan to a woman at an interest rate of 8.15% – 9.50% and for others the rate is 8.20% – 9.55%, you can see the difference of 0.5 percent. Banks like HDFC and PNB Housing Loan provide home loan at 0.15 percent less interest rate.
- Reduced Stamp Duty
If a house is registered with woman’s name then the stamp duty is 1%-2% lower when compared to the stamp duty charged from man. Stamp duty brings a lot of difference in the amount as it is part of property cost. A woman can save upto Rs 50,000 – Rs 1,00,000 on a property worth Rs 50 lakh.
For example:- Rajasthan charges 5% of the market value as a stamp duty whereas 3% of the market value is charged from women.
- Tax Reduction
All home loan buyers enjoys some reduction in tax reductions. If a woman apply for a home loan with her spouse or individually she is eligible for Housing Loan tax benefit. A woman can claim tax deductions up to Rs 1.5 lakh on the principal amount under Section 80C, while you can also save Rs 2 lakh, if you claim for a tax deduction on interest under Section 24. On the other hand, if you and your spouse are jointly taking the Home Loan, you can claim tax deductions up to Rs 3 lakh on the principal under Section 80C, while Rs 4 lakh on interest under Section 24 of the Income Tax Act.
- PMAY Benefits for Women
Woman can also enjoy benefits of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, under which woman need to be a co-owner to avail a subsidy of Rs 2.67 lakh on a home purchase. The scheme also aims to provide benefits on Home Loan to single women and widows who comes from a Economically Weaker Section (EWS), who have a family income of upto Rs 3 lakh and Lower Income Group (LIG) whose family income is between Rs 3 lakh and 6 Lakh.
- Longer Repayment Tenure
As a woman borrower you can take a loan for upto 25 years with no charges levied on making part-prepayments and foreclosing your loan. This will be you relief from financial burden and you can take care of other commitments.
Bottom Line: Now you are aware about the benefits that can be availed by a woman borrower in case of home loan. They get loan on lower interest rate, less stamp duty, more benefits in tax as well PMAY scheme. If you are planning to avail a home loan or any of your friend make sure that they are also aware about these benefits as lenders prefer to give it to females due to their reliability.
