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Loans and EMIs in India, explained

What a loan costs over its whole life, what changes that cost, and how several loans running at once interact. Every figure in the guides below is worked out by the same calculators the app uses.

Educational information, not investment advice · Muktify is not SEBI-registered

The basics

An EMI is mostly interest at the start

Each EMI pays the month’s interest first and the rest reduces the balance. On a long home loan the early years are mostly interest, which is why a part payment made early removes more interest than the same amount paid late.

Lower EMI or shorter tenure

After a part payment or a rate cut, a lender can lower the EMI or shorten the tenure. A shorter tenure removes more interest in total; a lower EMI frees cash each month. The guides below work out both on real numbers.

The rate is not the whole cost

Processing fees, insurance sold with the loan and “no-cost” EMI offers all change what borrowing really costs. Paying only a credit card’s minimum due keeps a balance, and its interest, running for years.

Several loans, one order

With more than one loan running, which one gets any extra money changes the total interest paid. Clearing the highest-rate loan first costs the least interest; clearing the smallest balance first closes a loan sooner.

Start here

  1. 1 of 4

    How much EMI can I afford each month on my salary?

  2. 2 of 4

    After a part payment, lower EMI or shorter tenure?

  3. 3 of 4

    Which loan should I pay off first?

  4. 4 of 4

    Is no-cost EMI really free?

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