A personal loan is a type of loan which requires minimum documentation and zero collateral. It is the best option in case of a financial crisis, where there is an immediate funding requirement.
It is extremely beneficial in cases of legitimate financial requirements like funding education, medical expenses, wedding expenses, funding a holiday, or consolidation of debt. Also, the process of applying for a personal loan is fairly simple when compared to a home loan or any other type of loan and can be easily completed with minimum documentation and without collateral.
What are the Steps Involved?
- Eligibility Check.
- Verification of Credit Score.
- Scrutiny of Documents.
- Verification of application.
- Approval
- Final disbursal of Loan Amount.
Timelines for a Personal Loan?
Approval for a personal loan depends on the lender. With the advent of digitization, applying for a personal loan has become more simplified. You can evaluate your eligibility for a loan within a few minutes and also the entire process can get over in less than an hour.
On submission of an application along with the required documents, it can typically take
Anywhere between 1-7 days for approval and a couple of days for disbursement. The timeline may vary depending on the type of lender. Online direct lenders may process your loan faster, whereas banks may take anywhere between a few days to a few weeks for actual processing and disbursement.
Factors affecting Turnaround time on a Personal Loan
There are several factors that affect the processing of a personal loan, with the critical factors being your income proof, age, Credit Score, and other factors. A credit score of 700+ will get your loan processed sooner. Also in some cases, where additional information is sought the loan approval gets delayed.
At times, verification takes a lot of time as well. A thorough verification process helps the creditworthiness of an applicant, specifically as no collaterals are required. The documents required for a personal loan include your income details, bank statements, employment proof, and address proof and if any of these do not meet the approval criteria the chances of a delayed approval are high.
Ensure that before applying for a personal loan, your documents are in order and you have a high credit score. With a rise in paperless applications, the whole process has been simplified to a large extent which has further helped fast-track the approval process.
Reasons for rejection of a Personal Loan:
The rejection criteria of personal loan applications vary with different lenders. Also, failure to meet the eligibility criteria of the lender can serve as a major reason for rejection.
The other reasons for rejection include:
- Having a poor credit score and credit history.
- Applying for multiple loans at a time.
- If your debt-to-income exceeds 40% or more.
- Discrepancies in the information provided.
- Not having a stable source of income.
- Not meeting the minimum income requirement.
How much can be borrowed?
It is usually dependent on your income and varies on whether you are salaried or self-employed. Usually, the banks restrict the loan amount such that your total EMIs are not more than 40-50% of your total monthly income. Any existing loans that are being serviced are also taken into account for calculating the personal loan amount. For the self-employed, the loan is determined based on the profit earned as per the latest profit/loss statement, while also taking into account any additional liabilities that he might have.
What are the criteria for determining the maximum loan amount by Banks?
The key factors in determining the maximum loan amount to be sanctioned depending on the credit score, current income level, as well as liabilities. A higher credit score means that you have a higher level of credit discipline and have promptly serviced your loans and credit card dues, which reflects your image as a safe borrower to lenders, which in turn leads to a higher sanctioned amount.
Your current income level and liabilities including outstanding credit card dues, unpaid loans, current EMIs, etc have a significant bearing on your repayment capacity. Therefore, if you belong to a lower income bracket or have a large amount of unpaid credit card outstandings or loan EMIs, the personal loan sanctioned will be significantly lower than those with higher incomes or fewer financial liabilities.
Should you opt for the lowest EMI when choosing a loan provider?
Low EMI offers typically result from two factors i.e either a longer repayment term or a low-interest rate or a combination of two factors. Thus, you may end up paying a higher amount of interest to the lender in case you opt for lower EMIs. So it is ideal to utilize online tools like EMI calculators to calculate your interest payout over the loan tenure and compare it with your repayment capacity before taking the said loans.
What are the rates charged on Personal Loans?
Since such loans are unsecured loans, they have a higher rate of interest than ‘home’ or ‘car’ loans which are considered to be secured loans. At present, many banks and NBFCs offer such loans at interest rates as low as 11.49%. However, the rate applicable to a particular borrower is contingent on several key factors such as credit score, income levels, loan amount and tenure, and also any earlier association with the lender ( in any form such as via savings account, loans, or credit cards).
How is having a higher credit score beneficial?
A higher credit score illustrates that you have a good financial record with loans and also good credit history. Therefore, if your credit score is high (exceeding 750 in the case of CIBIL TransUnion), your chances of being granted a higher amount of loan are higher. Also, you may also be able to negotiate benefits such as lower interest rate, a higher loan amount, waiver of processing charges, etc by leveraging your higher credit score.
Conclusion
A personal loan is one of the most efficient and easy ways to get credit from the market. The interest rates are also very less and hence it is preferred by the public at large. India has a huge credit market and hence personal loans are among the favorite credit instruments.
