I already pay 8,500 for a car. Now a top-up and a small personal loan are both sitting in WhatsApp from the same bank. The question is not how much they want to give. The question is how much extra EMI my month can take before groceries become a negotiation.
Existing EMI eats the FOIR pie. That is the only idea you need. The Loan Eligibility Calculator has a box for it. Existing EMIs. If you leave it 0, you are lying to yourself and the result will look generous.
I ran my own 40,000 take-home with 8,500 already going out. The leftover is thinner than people expect.
Existing EMI is not optional on this page
Monthly take-home, I used 40000. Same story as the clean-salary post. Use slips, not CTC.
Existing EMIs, I put 8500. Card EMI, car, a old personal loan, add them. If two cards have converting EMIs, add both. Bank will see them on the bureau even if you forget.
FOIR cap, I start at 45. Then I try 40 and 50 so you can see why 50 feels tight.
Assumed interest rate depends on the new loan. 9 for a home or a long top-up. 12 or 13 for a personal loan.
Tenure is years on this tool. 20 for home style. 3 or 5 for personal. Not months. The EMI tool is the one with months.
Calculate. Spare EMI is the leftover room. Rough eligible loan is what that leftover can borrow.
This is an estimate, not an official figure. Safe is a feeling after you see spare EMI, not a stamp from me.
If you have zero existing EMI, the sister post is salary is 40,000, how much loan can I get. Same tool. This one is for the already-paying crowd.
8,500 already going out on a 40k month
FOIR 40 percent of 40,000 is ₹16,000. Minus 8,500. Spare EMI ₹7,500.
At 9 percent for 20 years, that spare supports about ₹8,33,587.
FOIR 45 percent is ₹18,000. Minus 8,500. Spare EMI ₹9,500. Loan about ₹10,55,877.
FOIR 50 percent is ₹20,000. Minus 8,500. Spare EMI ₹11,500. Loan about ₹12,78,167.
Look at spare, not only the loan. At 45 percent you have ₹9,500 left for a new EMI. That is a decent two-wheeler or a thin home loan, not a 20 lakh flat on your own.
At 50 percent you get ₹11,500 leftover EMI and the loan jumps to about 12.8 lakh. The month now has 8,500 plus 11,500, that is ₹20,000 EMIs on ₹40,000 in-hand. Half the salary pledged before rent. I have lived near that. It is legal. It is not calm. One skipped bonus and you are rotating credit card bills.
I also ran Existing EMIs 12,000, FOIR 45, 9 percent, 20 years. Spare ₹6,000. Loan about ₹6,66,870. You are almost full. A new home loan of 6.7 lakh may not even cover a down payment gap in many cities. The honest read is, wait till the car EMI drops, or add a co-applicant.
Existing 6,000, FOIR 45, rate 10, 20 years. Spare ₹12,000. Loan about ₹12,43,495. That is the example on the tool card. Still not 20 lakh. The old EMI already stole a chunk of the pie.
Why 50 percent FOIR feels tight even when the loan looks nicer
On paper 50 percent is just a slider. In a month it is this.
40,000 in. 20,000 EMIs out, if you fill the pot. Rent 10,000 if you are in a city rental. Left 10,000 for food, petrol, phone, school, medicine, a train home.
One AC bill in May and that 10,000 is 7,000. Then you pause the SIP. Then you take another small personal loan. That is how FOIR 50 becomes FOIR 60 in real life even if the bank said 50 was okay at sanction.
I treat 50 as a stress view, not a target. If even at 50 the spare EMI cannot buy the thing you want, you dont have an eligibility problem. You have a price problem. Smaller house, longer wait, joint income. The calculator will not invent income.
Joint income, add both take-homes, add both existing EMIs. People add salary and hide the spouse's car EMI. Dont. The bureau on a joint file can still show it depending how it is booked. Cleaner to type the truth and see a smaller loan now.
Credit card minimum due is not an EMI. But a converted card EMI is. If you pay revolving dues, some banks still load a percent of the limit as obligation. This box cannot model that fully. If your card is heavy, put a extra 2,000 or 3,000 in Existing EMIs to be mean to yourself. Better mean now than bounce later.
Personal loan leftover is shorter, so the principal stays small
Same 8,500 existing, 40,000 income, FOIR 45. Spare ₹9,500.
If I put Assumed interest rate 13 and Tenure 3, the rough loan is a personal-loan sized number, not 10 lakh. Three years cannot gear 9,500 EMI into a house. It can gear it into a 2.5 to 3 lakh style personal loan, same neighbourhood as personal loan of 2 lakh for 3 years.
I ran Existing 5,000, FOIR 45, rate 12, 5 years. Spare ₹13,000. Loan about ₹5,84,415. Five year personal or consumer loan zone. EMI 13,000 on top of 5,000 is 18,000 total, which is the full 45 percent pot. Possible. Tight if rent exists.
After you have spare EMI, confirm the actual installment on the EMI Calculator. Eligibility uses years. EMI uses months. 3 years is 36 there. People mix them and think they are safe.
First time using an EMI calculator if you need the three boxes again. And if the bank EMI later disagrees, why bank EMI and this calculator dont match.
Safe, for me, means spare EMI that I can pay even in a bad month, FOIR at 40 or 45 not 50, and rent still paid. It does not mean the maximum Rough eligible loan on the screen.
How I fill it when a second loan is tempting
Monthly take-home, average slips.
Existing EMIs, every EMI, including the one you are bored of mentioning.
FOIR cap 45, then 40. Look at Spare EMI both times.
Assumed interest rate for the new product.
Tenure in years for that product.
If Spare EMI is 6,000 or less on a 40k salary, I tell people to wait. Close something. Dont stack.
If Spare EMI is 9,500 and they want a 25 lakh house on one name, I tell them the math said no. Bring a co-applicant or change the house.
The WhatsApp from the bank will still say you are pre-approved for a fat number. Pre-approved is a marketing sentence. This page is a leftover-EMI sentence. I trust the leftover more.
I already have an EMI. That sentence should make the second loan smaller, not make you hunt for a 50 percent FOIR to keep the dream size. Type the 8,500. Watch the loan shrink. That shrink is the safety.