Sri Lanka · Methodology
How we compare borrowing rates
One pipeline feeds the Loans, Leasing and Pawning boards. Here's where the numbers come from, what each one means, and the choices we make so banks compare fairly.
Where the numbers come from
We read each bank's own published rate board — the same source the bank shows its customers — and record every rate as a dated observation. Boards re-fetch daily; a rate only gets a new data point when the bank's effective rate actually moves, so a flat sparkline honestly means "unchanged". The date stamp on every row shows you how fresh the figure is.
Loans
The loans board is a scan, not a quote. Each cell is the bank's APR rangefor that loan type — across terms, customer segments and fixed-vs-floating — so you can see at a glance who's in the running. Lower is better, and we flag the lowest published rate in each column; note that low end may be a shortest-term or preferred-customer rate, not what everyone gets.
For the rate that applies to you, open a bank(tap its name). The per-bank page shows the full term ladder, the better "from" rate for salary-routed or preferred customers, and the fixed-vs-floating split — the detail the single range can't carry. We deliberately don't quote a personalised rate: your actual rate depends on the amount, term, security and the bank's credit assessment.
Fixed vs floating.Many loans are quoted as a margin over a benchmark — for example "AWPLR + 2.50%". The absolute rate moves with the benchmark, which the bank doesn't restate on its board. We track CBSL's AWPLR (the Average Weighted Prime Lending Rate, published weekly) and resolve each floating loan to today's number — AWPLR plus the bank's margin — folding it into the product's rate range so fixed and floating options compare on one axis.
Tenor bands ("4 to 5 years") are placed at the upper rung of the band. Niche and time-limited promotional rates are excluded from the comparison.
Leasing
Banks quote leasing in two incompatible ways: some publish a monthly rental(rupees per Rs 100,000 financed, by term), others an interest rate (APR). You can't compare a rupee rental against a percentage, so we put every bank on one APR axis, by vehicle class. Lower is better.
Implied APR. Where a bank quotes a rental, we compute the effective annual rate baked into it. A lease is an annuity: if you finance Rs 100,000 and pay a fixed monthly rental for the term, there is exactly one interest rate that makes those payments add up to the amount financed. We solve for it (the internal rate of return) and annualise it effectively. So a rental of, say, Rs 8,797/month per Rs 100,000 over a year implies an effective APR we can line up directly against a bank that quotes its rate outright. The monthly rental is kept beneath the APR so you still see the cash figure you budget against.
Caveat — read it as indicative. The implied APR is an effectiverate (it accounts for paying down the balance over the term). A bank's own headline lease "rate" is often a flat rate (interest on the original amount), which looks lower for the same deal, and quoted rates may exclude documentation or insurance fees. So treat cross-bank leasing comparisons as a strong guide, not a quote — and confirm the rate basis with the bank before committing.
Pawning
Two numbers matter for gold pawning: the interest rate (lower is better) and the advance per sovereign — how much cash the bank lends against a sovereign of gold (higher means more liquidity). Rates are often banded by facility size, and the advance is banded by karat (22kt vs 24kt). We show both.
What we don't do
We don't rank or score banks here — these are factual rate boards. Your actual rate depends on the amount, term, security and the bank's credit assessment, so always confirm with the bank before applying. We hold no paid placements; ordering is by the rate alone. See our independence statement.