Why headline rates mislead — and what to check instead
The rate a bank advertises is its best case: the largest loan slab, the cleanest credit profile, often a limited-period offer. The rate you are sanctioned can sit meaningfully higher, and the slab tables on each bank’s page here show that spread explicitly. Three things move your offer most: your credit score (the cheapest slabs typically ask for 750+), the loan amount (home-loan pricing steps up at ₹30 lakh and ₹75 lakh at most lenders), and whether you already bank with the lender — salary-account and existing-customer pricing is a real discount at several of the banks we track.
For deposits the distortions run the other way: the eye-catching FD rate is usually a special tenure — 400-odd days is a favourite — not the round 1-year rate we use for comparison. And a public-sector bank’s lower FD rate versus a small finance bank’s higher one is not a like-for-like choice; DICGC insurance covers deposits up to its limit per bank either way, but above that limit the institution’s own strength is your only protection.
How AtFinance tracks these rates
Each bank’s figures are taken from its published card rates, dated on the page, and re-checked on a rolling cycle — a stale rate shows a visible warning rather than silently pretending to be current. Every rate links to a calculator preset to it, so the number becomes a monthly EMI or a maturity value in one click instead of staying an abstraction. Our methodology page describes the sourcing rules; if you spot a rate a bank has since changed, the fastest fix is the contact route listed there. Always confirm the final figure with the bank before signing anything — rates move, and a page, ours or anyone else’s, is a comparison aid, not an offer.