Personal Loans for Pandemic Crisis

Posted in Personal Loan Blogs By Bajaj Markets-
view icon 1.31 K Views like icon 0

India and more than one-third of the world is fighting a battle on two fronts because of the pandemic. One is the battle to save lives and the other is to save livelihoods, businesses and the economy.

The central government is using all the tools and policies at its disposal to provide relief to citizens and businesses. It has announced stimulus packages for businesses and asked banks to disburse loans freely. Recently, the RBI allowed a 3-month moratorium on term loans providing a welcome relief to borrowers grappling with dwindling income, job loss and pay cuts.

In line with RBI’s stand to infuse more liquidity in the economy and to spur consumption, many banks and NBFCs are offering personal loans in india at attractive interest rates and terms. These personal loans have become lifesavers during the lockdown and these personal loans for pandemic crisis are borrower-friendly because they come with relaxed norms.

Interested in learning more about them? Here is all about the features and benefits of new personal loans for pandemic relief in India.

Personal Loans for Pandemic Relief– Features & Benefits

Eligibility

Personal loans for pandemic relief are only available to existing customers of the bank or NBFC. If you are an existing borrower, salary account holder or have a pension account with the financial institution, then you are eligible for personal loans. You also need to have a good track record of loan repayments and must have not defaulted on any EMIs with the lender. Especially, home loan and salary account holders with good credit scores are given preference.

Loan Amount

Unlike regular personal loans, a personal loan for pandemic relief is only available up to a maximum amount of Rs. 5 lakh. However, you can apply for personal loans starting as low as Rs. 25,000 to meet immediate cash requirements.

Personal Loan Interest Rates

You can avail these personal loans online at attractive interest rates. During this lockdown, banks and NBFCs are offering personal loans with interest rates as low as 7.25%. Even the maximum interest rate is not more than 15% per annum.

Loan Tenure

Most financial institutions are offering pandemic relief personal loans for a maximum tenure of 3 years while a few are providing loans with duration of up to 5 years.

EMI Moratorium

If you take a pandemic relief personal loan, you may be eligible for EMI moratorium by default. Also, most banks are offering a 3-6 months moratorium on pandemic relief personal loans. During the EMI moratorium period, you only have to pay the interest part of the loan and you can avoid paying the principal.

Regular Personal Loans vs. Pandemic Relief Personal Loans

Factors Regular personal loan Pandemic relief personal loan
 

 

Eligibility

 

 

Depends on monthly income, credit score, employers’ profile, etc. Existing relationship with the lender is not mandatory.

 

 

Loan applicants must have an existing relationship with the lender. You must have an existing loan, salary account or pension account with the lender.

 

 

Loan amount

 

 

Ranges from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 20 Lakhs.

 

 

Ranges from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 5 Lakhs

 

 

Interest rate

 

 

Ranges between 9-24%

 

 

Ranges between 7.25-15%

 

 

Loan tenure

 

 

Mostly up to 5 years. Some offer up to 7 years.

 

 

Maximum tenure is 3 years. Few are offering up to 5 years.

 

 

EMI moratorium

 

 

Up to 3 months

 

 

Up to 6 months

 

 

 

Should You Opt For a Pandemic Relief Personal Loan?

Since we are not sure how the pandemic situation is going to pan out in the next 3-6 months, experts advise not to increase your debt burden until you are facing a cash crunch. Even these personal loans are available with attractive interest rates, you should only avail them if you don’t have an emergency fund to rely on.

You can also avail this loan if you are planning for debt consolidation or repayment of debts. For example, you can get a pandemic relief personal loan to pay off your credit card dues as the interest rates on credit cards are much higher than on these loans. However, if you are receiving regular income and can pay off your debts on time, you cannot avoid applying personal loans online at this moment.

In conclusion, you should avail these personal loans if you think it doesn’t add to your debt excessively. If you are an existing customer with the lender, you should definitely take advantage of pandemic relief personal loans because they have no or very low processing fees and there are no prepayment charges.

That means, you can repay the loan as things get normal and your previous cash flow is restored. Therefore, pandemic relief loans can be a win-win deal for some borrowers and for some it can only lead to undue accumulation of debt. Though this new type of personal loan is cheaper than any other personal loan that we have seen, you must carefully assess your current financial state and debt repayment capacity before availing such loans.

Home
active_tab
Loan Offer
active_tab
Download App
active_tab
Credit Score
active_tab