EMI Calculator, and what the loan actually costs.

Shortening the loan almost always saves more, because interest accrues on the balance for fewer months. Lowering the EMI re-spreads the same reduced balance over the tenure you originally signed up for, so you keep paying interest for the full term. The only reason to prefer a lower EMI is cash flow — if the instalment is straining your month, take the relief. The calculator will show you the cost of that choice.

Because a processing fee is money you never received but still pay interest on. If you borrow ₹5 lakh with a 2% fee, ₹10,000 goes straight back to the lender and you service the full ₹5 lakh. The effective annual cost here is the rate that discounts your actual payments back to the cash that actually reached you, which is the honest comparison between two offers.

Early. In the first years of a long loan almost all of your instalment is interest, so a rupee of principal knocked off then avoids many years of compounding. The same rupee paid in the final years saves very little, because there is barely any interest left to avoid. Check the year-by-year split — the crossover is often later than people expect.

On a floating-rate loan taken by an individual for a non-business purpose, the RBI does not permit foreclosure or prepayment charges. Fixed-rate loans and loans to businesses can carry them, typically 2–4% of the amount prepaid. Check your sanction letter before you plan a large part-payment, and count any charge against the interest you save.

An instalment that rises by a set percentage every year, on the assumption your income rises too. Because the extra goes almost entirely to principal, a modest 5–10% annual step-up can take several years off a long loan. Some lenders offer it as a product; you can also simply pay more each year yourself, which this calculator treats the same way.

Under the old regime, interest on a self-occupied house is deductible up to ₹2,00,000 a year under section 24(b), and principal repayment counts towards the ₹1,50,000 section 80C ceiling — shared with your PPF, ELSS, insurance premiums and the rest. At the 30% slab that is up to about ₹1,05,000 a year. Under the new regime neither is available, which is often what decides the regime question.

Yes. Any principal you repay in the year counts, whether it arrived as part of an instalment or as a lump-sum part-payment, so the calculator adds prepayments into the 80C column. Remember the ₹1,50,000 cap covers your entire 80C basket, so treat that column as a ceiling rather than a promise — if your PPF and insurance already fill it, the loan principal adds nothing.

Yes, as a snapshot. Run it at your current rate to see where you stand, and re-run when the rate resets. On a floating loan a rate rise usually extends the tenure rather than raising the instalment, so the number that moves is how long you are paying, which this makes visible.