As convenient as loans or any credit instruments are, the truth remains that they are to be repaid and that too with interest.  Once you are done through the process of availing the loan, starts the process of repayments and EMIs. Life throws up many surprises at you which may offset your financial balance in spite of all the planning. But there are always smart ways to reduce the loan burden without stressing your wallet. Let's see how! 

Draw up a budget: As boring or as it may sound, a budget is a basic necessity, be it a huge company or a household.  The lenders see your take-home income to decide your loan eligibility. But only you know what you do with that amount. Resist the temptation to go in for a high-value loan like a house loan when you already servicing high-interest loans like personal loans. Emergencies may strike anytime, so cater adequate funding for that as well.  

Make use of tax benefits: Not all loans bring in tax benefits, only housing and educational loans do so. If you decide to prepay some loans, always do a cost-benefit post-tax analysis to see how you benefit. Sometimes, it may be worthwhile to retain the loans with tax benefits. For Ex: The effective ROI of a 13% educational loan will work out to be 9.1%  for an individual in the highest tax bracket.  

Put your bonus/one-time receipts to good use:  It is good to earmark a portion of your bonus/ one-time receipt from other sources to prepay your home loans. It could also be used to pay off high interest-bearing loans like personal loans or credit card debt. 

Explore refinancing:  Refinancing options are available for many loans. Refinancing would mean paying off the existing loan with a new one either with the same lender or another. This is helpful if you are servicing a loan availed at a very high rate of interest or unfavorable tenures. Refinancing could help you change the rate of interest or tenures. However, there are charges to be paid for refinancing any loans.  Do some research on how worthwhile the saving will be. 

Increase your EMIs, whenever you can:  In an ideal scenario, your EMIs should increase in proportion to your increments in income. It may not be possible to do so each time because of the administrative process involved in changing the EMI. If you can do it once in 2 years also, it would reap you benefits. 

Use saving instruments for prepaying:  Set aside an amount each month in a saving instrument like the Recurring Deposits/Debt Mutual funds which could be used at maturity for prepaying your loans.  This creates not only a habit of saving but also prevents you from having to fund a huge chunk of the amount at once.  

While these are some strategies that could help you reduce your loan burden, you will have to bear in mind that regular EMI payments will have to be made no matter what. For only then can you keep up a good credit score.