With every financial institution gearing to make the most of the current festive season that is considered as auspicious by our Indian community to make different purchases, time is indeed right for consumers to make deals but with diligence. A gamut of discounts and waivers for different charges are on offer at present. So, if you had been prolonging your deal for quite some time due to the high interest rate regime, you can capitalize on the current opportunity.

First and foremost, you should not bet on a deal only because there is some marginal discount being offered on it, you should first judiciously uncover your real need for the product or commodity and then head for it. Because, eventually you'll have to part away with a considerable amount of your disposable income on a regular basis for a long span of time for servicing EMIs for the high-end purchase on loan.

Secondly, the different offers on hand will best serve you, if you are able to crack a combo deal. For instance, housing loan at lower interest rate and waiver on processing and documentation charges. Otherwise your focus should primarily be on lower interest rate as the payment due on account of it is recurring in nature while other fees and charges are made for the processing of loan disbursement and are one-time.

To augment credit off-take from the retail segment, banks and other financial institutions are leaving no stone unturned and are in fact combining and providing special combo deals. For instance, Indian Bank is offering dual benefit to individuals taking home loan in the form of home loan @ base rate and discounted loan of 10.20% for loan on vehicle or consumer durable. However, it should be noted that discount is available in case you opt for both the loans together. So, in case of genuine need, if you wish to opt for the combo deal, experts suggest it will be to your advantage to make the deal only when your cash outflow per month for all EMIs is well below 40% of your net take home.

SBI is offering auto loans @ 10.55% in comparison to previous 10.75%. As a processing fee, bank is levying a flat fee amounting to Rs. 500 instead of the previous 0.51% on the total loan amount. A special advantage is given to salaried account holders with the bank in the form of a initial interest rate of 12.05%. The new rates stand applicable until January 31, 2013.

Corporation Bank to cash in on the fervor is extending ‘grand festival bonanza scheme' that is valid until 31st January'2014. The bank has slashed home loan interest rate rate by 0.5%. The floating rate for all of the tenures for loan amount up to Rs. 50 lakh stands at base rate of 10.25% while for higher amount the loan is offered @ 10.50%. Coupled with the lower interest rate benefit, bank has fully waived processing fee for amount upto Rs. 25 lacs and 50% discount is offered in case of higher loan amount. Loans for personal cars has been reduced by 1%.

IDBI bank is offering auto loans and home loans @ 10.25% (base rate) during this time. The bank has fully waived processing fee for both the loans. The offer is available from October 9, 2013. Vijaya bank is also providing festive offer with interest rate slashed on two-wheelers, home loan, car loan and consumer durable to 10.60%, 10.25%, 10.75% and 12.50% p.a respectively. Private banks are also likely to join the league with lower rate of interest on different fronts to cash-in on the fervor.

So, festive loan offers available at a reduced rate, lowered by few basis points (one bps is one-hundredth of a percentage point) could save you substantial amount that you can deploy elsewhere.

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