HDFC vs ICICI personal loan: compare your quote, not the floor

ICICI Bank's personal loan interest rates page, https://www.icici.bank.in/personal-banking/loans/personal-loan/personal-loan-interest-rates, as published on 29 September 2026, gives a range of 9.99 to 16.50 percent a year, built as its one-year MCLR of 8.40 percent plus a spread of 1.59 to 8.10 percent. It lists processing charges of up to 2 percent plus taxes, and a prepayment or foreclosure charge of 3 percent of the outstanding principal, nil after 24 EMIs are paid. ICICI's product page, https://www.icici.bank.in/personal-banking/loans/personal-loan, fetched the same day, gives loans from ₹50,000 to ₹50 lakh over 12 to 72 months, for salaried applicants aged 18 to 58 earning at least ₹30,000 a month and self-employed applicants aged at least 23, with a credit score of 750 and above preferred. It adds that foreclosure is possible after at least one EMI.

HDFC Bank's personal loan page, https://www.hdfc.bank.in/personal-loan, as published on 29 September 2026, offers up to ₹50 lakh at a rate starting from 9.99 percent. Its rates-and-charges page, https://www.hdfc.bank.in/personal-loan/interest-rates-and-charges, did not return its rate ceiling, processing fee or foreclosure schedule when fetched that day, so this page does not state them. On exits, HDFC's sample personal loan agreement, https://v.hdfc.bank.in/content/dam/hdfc-aem-microsites/common-pdfs/pdf/PL_Agreement.pdf, as published on the same date, says prepayment is not allowed within twelve months of disbursement and before twelve EMIs are paid, that only the entire outstanding can be prepaid, not a part, and that the charge is as stated in the schedule. Meanwhile an HDFC XpressWay offer page, https://v.hdfc.bank.in/xpressway/personal_loan.html, advertises zero foreclosure charges on a limited-period offer. One bank, two exit stories: the one that binds you is the one printed in your own Key Facts Statement.

Take ₹5,00,000 over 48 months, reducing balance, at the low, middle and high end of ICICI Bank's published range, with the processing fee at its published cap of 2 percent plus GST, taken here at 18 percent: ₹11,800. The floor row applies to HDFC Bank too, because an EMI depends on the rate, not on the lender's name. Above the floor, read each row as the price of whatever rate HDFC quotes you, with HDFC's own fee in place of ₹11,800.

At the floor with no fee, a ₹5 lakh loan costs 9.99 percent. With a 1 percent fee plus GST, ₹5,900 comes off and ₹4,94,100 arrives; 48 EMIs of ₹12,679 against that cash are a rate of 10.62 percent. At the 2 percent cap, ₹4,88,200 arrives and the rate is 11.26 percent. Across the range, each percent of fee adds about two thirds of a point on a four-year loan.

ICICI Bank's own interest-rate FAQ, https://www.icici.bank.in/personal-banking/loans/personal-loan/personal-loan-interest-rates/personal-loan-interest-rates-faqs, as published on 29 September 2026, lists what its rate depends on: credit score, income level, employer category, existing liabilities, age, relationship with the bank, loan amount, tenure and FOIR. Its rates page adds segment, asset category and location. HDFC's pages did not return an equivalent list when fetched, but these are the inputs lenders generally price on, and four of them do most of the work.

What a step is worth on ₹5 lakh over 48 months, from a 12 percent base: a quarter point is ₹61 a month and ₹2,950 over the loan, half a point ₹123 a month and ₹5,908, a full point ₹247 a month and ₹11,848.

One salaried borrower wants ₹5 lakh over 48 months. Four illustrative quotes, none a real quote from either bank, show how the answer moves. Q1 comes from whichever bank holds the salary account, as a pre-approved offer. Q2 and Q3 are two possible replies from the other bank. Q4 is what the same person might be quoted as a walk-in with no relationship at all.

At ICICI Bank, closing before 24 EMIs costs 3 percent of the outstanding principal, and ICICI's rates page says GST may be charged on it. At the 13.245 percent midpoint, here is what closing the ₹5 lakh loan costs and saves at different months.

At HDFC Bank the charge itself could not be fetched, and the sample agreement puts a floor under the exit: no prepayment before twelve EMIs, and only in full. Under exceptional circumstances it lets a borrower close earlier by paying the residual interest in the first twelve EMIs; read that way, closing after six EMIs at 9.99 percent means paying ₹21,239, the interest in EMIs seven to twelve. After twelve EMIs, whatever percentage your schedule states, each 1 percent of charge with GST costs ₹4,637 on the ₹3,92,992 still owed at 9.99 percent, and ₹3,957 on the ₹3,35,360 left after eighteen.

Start with the bank that holds your salary: log in and look for a pre-approved offer, which states a rate and an amount without an application. Ask the other bank for a quote in writing, with the fee in rupees and its foreclosure and part-payment terms. Before either, check that the loan fits your income. ICICI's minimum for a salaried applicant is ₹30,000 a month. At that income, under an illustrative cap of 50 percent of income on all EMIs, ₹5 lakh over 48 months fits at every point in the range, but only just: the EMI takes 42.3 percent of income at the floor and 47.7 percent at the ceiling, leaving ₹701 of room.

Add an existing ₹5,000 EMI and the room falls to ₹10,000. The ceiling-rate EMI is then ₹4,299 over it, and the loan that fits is ₹3,49,687 at 16.50 percent or ₹3,94,356 at 9.99 percent. Tenure is the other lever: ICICI goes to 72 months, which at the midpoint cuts the EMI by ₹3,373 to ₹10,102 and adds ₹80,549 of interest.

This comparison needs three numbers you have to go and get: the rate each bank will sanction you, your credit report as a bank will read it, and the EMIs you already carry. Unyfy helps with the last two before either bank sees an application. Its loan eligibility check pulls your Equifax credit report as a soft enquiry, which does not affect the score, and shows the score with every account behind it, including any overdue, settled or written-off line an underwriter will see. It also computes a live FOIR from the loans and cards it can see in your bank and card transaction emails and, on Android, SMS, so you know whether ₹5 lakh over 48 months fits before a bank tells you. It then compares loan offers from 15+ banks and NBFCs, and only the one lender you choose to apply with runs a hard enquiry.

What you see is your score, the accounts behind it, any overdue or settled one included, and a FOIR worked out from the EMIs and card dues it has seen leave your accounts. It never asks for your bank password or UPI PIN.

If your salary bank shows a pre-approved offer in its own net banking or app, set it beside the rest; the rate each bank quotes you arrives with its offer. Install Unyfy on Android, or use the web app at app.unyfy.co.in on an iPhone.