State Bank of India (SBI) in a bid to increase its lending base has trimmed processing charges on auto loans to a flat amount of Rs 500 irrespective of the size of the loan. The bank will also continue with its festival offer of lower processing fees on home loans, which was due to end in December 2012.

The bank was earlier charging 0.50% as processing fees on car loans which were reduced by 50% to 0.255% during festival offer in October. Now the bank will charge a flat rate of Rs 500 as a processing fee on car loans.

The car loan offered by the bank is cheapest in the industry. It also offers loans of the longest tenure up to 7 years. Additionally the loans are based on floating rate and will move along with the bank's base rate. The loans can be pre-paid at anytime without attracting any penalty.

Besides, the home loans are available at 10% up to Rs 30 lakh and at 10.15% for loans above Rs 30 lakh. The processing fees vary from Rs 1,000-5,000 depending on the size of the loan and Rs 1,000 for takeover of loans from other lenders.