State Bank of India (SBI), the largest bank in India, is one of the market leaders in the home loan segment. But SBI's reputation has surely taken a hit following the collapse of the erstwhile SBI Home Finance Limited in which SBI was the largest shareholder along with other institutional promoters like HDFC and LIC. Due to continued losses and complete erosion of its net worth, the company's certificate of registration had been cancelled by the National Housing Bank.

SBI offers home loans for a variety of purposes: purchase/ construction of new House/ Flat, purchase of an existing House/ Flat, purchase of a plot of land for construction of House and extension/ repair/ renovation/ alteration of an existing House/ Flat.

SBI home loans come with some unique features that make them stand out in the competition: no cap on maximum loan amount for purchase/ construction of house/ flat, option to club income of one's spouse and children to compute eligible loan amount, free personal accident insurance cover and complimentary international ATM-Debit card.

Besides the standard package of home loans, SBI has some customized home loan products in its kitty that address the needs of niche customer segments. 'SBI-Flexi' Home Loans are designed to enable borrowers to hedge their Home Loan against unfavorable movement in interest rates and gives the customers a one time irrevocable option to choose one of the three customized combinations of fixed and floating interest rates.

'SBI-Freedom' Home Loans are customized for high net worth individuals and offer benefits such as 100 per cent finance of the project and no mortgage of the property, provided the individual could show liquid securities such as LIC policies or NSCs.