How long before I pay off my loans?

Try to lower your interest rate. Negotiate with your bank. One other way is to convert your credit card debt into a personal loan debt. It will definitely be lesser than the credit card interest rate. Calculate your net worth and see if any of your investments could help you prepay a part of your loans. read more

'Vipul needed a quick fix. Fortunately for him, he was in a hurry to invest also and had started young. Things like compounding interest, safe investment options like FDs and some shares that did extremely well, had stocked his treasury quite generously over time. Had he sat back and given a careful thought to his finances, he could have either liquidated some of these assets for his use or taken a secure loan pledging these assets as security, instead of opting for a personal loan. read more

There is no set upper limit to the amount you can pay as down payment - it all depends on how much cash you can manage to set aside. The more you are able to pay as down payment, the lesser is the amount of loan taken from a bank, resulting in easier monthly payments or shorter loan tenure. Try to put down a sizable amount of down payment. read more

Maintain and use your credit card. It serves as an excellent tool to boost a good credit score if utilised properly. However, the trick is to use it well and avoid making late payments. Things like not stretching it too close to your credit limit, regular use of the card but timely payments upfront is proof of how you manage credit lent in the short term. This will lay the foundation or provide a sample of how capable you are in managing loans long term, hence this can prove to be an asset to your credit score and help in improving your credit score. read more

A long term loan like a home loan is a debt that is part of your budget every month. If you invest too much into it, there might not be adequate funds to manage a huge list of other expenses that will tend to accumulate with time. For eg. You need to make allowances for future expenses like education expenses for children, emergency funds for a job loss or the loss of one income in a situation where two people have taken a joint loan. read more