I have jointly applied for housing loan to State Bank of India. SBI has housing loan scheme for women where it extend 0.05% extra concession on interest if the application fulfills the below condition:
The property proposed to be financed should be either in the sole name of the woman borrower or she should be the first owner in case of joint ownership
Bank is intrepreting that 'First owner' mentioned in the condition above means 'First name in the purchasers' section of the sale deed'. In other words in our case, my wife's name appears second out of the 2 names of purchasers mentioned. Hence she is not the First owner.
Due to this interpretation, Bank is refusing to extend the concession in interest.
My case is as below:
1. As joint owner of the plot we are equal owners. Hence the Bank's interpretation of 'First owner' is not correct.
2. Legally there would be no change whatsoever irrespective of whether the name is first or second in the sale deed. This is not like Bank accounts where first account holder is considered for tax purposes.
3. My wife is also working and she contributes to EMI equally. Hence Bank's stand is against the spirit of the scheme.
Due to this I'm insisting the Bank to refer this condition back to their legal team/product tailoring team to provide proper interpretation.
I request the forum to provide your views on my case and also provide definition of 'First owner' in the parlance of property sale deed.
Thanks in advance
