The Loan Hunter

Oh the woes of getting a home loan as an NRI! After having been through the torturous process of getting a Home loan sanctioned and disbursed, I can now look back at the horrendous roller coaster ride and look at where I went wrong.

The first assumption I made was that if a bank has an "online" application form then the application can actually be processed online. Turns out that this is absolutely not true. The online application is a marketing front designed to lure you into a false sense of hope that its going to be easy. What follows after submission of the Online application is another story.

The second assumption which haunts me till date is the fact that "NRI Services" can actually help you considering the fact that you are out of the country. When the service is "Online" and is for "NRIs" and the bank says that you need to be physically present in INDIA to submit the forms it borders on ridiculousness.

The well distributed architecture of the Bank where each branch is so autonomous that sometimes it does not even feel like you are dealing with two branches of the same bank is just awesome. The home loan is sanctioned somewhere, disbursed somewhere, the property verification is done somewhere and the amendatory document is submitted somewhere else. This seemingly vast expanse of random occurrences do seem to occasionally result in a satisfied customer once in a while. The probability however is extremely low.

The interest rates are well... "interesting". I have a comparatively good deal as of now so I will not whine too much but that was attained after a struggle that can only be compared to what the 300 Spartans had to do to while facing the Persians.

The number of documents required is vast and that is understandable as it is a question of substantial amounts. What I fail to understand is the lack of clarity in stating outright WHAT documents are needed. The iterative process of submitting documents is painful to say the least specially if one is out of the country. It is like, "Sir, you have submitted a billion documents so far and we appreciate it but you also need to submit your Birth Certificate, Power of Attorney and the Galactic Space Shuttle Permit" and all I can say is
" I see, I see, I........???"