New Delhi, April 8 -- When Ram took his first home loan two years ago, he didn't have a credit history, so the bank offered him a 9% interest rate. Fast-forward to today-after two years of consistently paying his EMIs on time, his CIBIL score soared past 800.

Armed with a strong credit score and a little persuasion, Ram returned to his bank and convinced them to lower his interest rate to 8.5%. That 50-basis-point drop may sound small, but it translated into savings of Rs.25 lakh on his Rs.1 crore loan over 25 years.

Though Ram's example is illustrative, the approach is grounded in reality-many borrowers successfully negotiate lower interest rates after their credit scores improve.

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