Personal loans come with the following features and benefits that make one opt for the same. Let’s take a look at them.

Instant Loan Approval & Disbursal – The loan can be approved instantly provided you have the required income, desired credit score and repayment capacity as sought by lenders. Once the instant personal loan approval happens, the next course of action is sanction. The lender, after assessing your income and credit profile, sanctions a loan amount and communicates the same via an email or SMS. After sanction, the process of disbursal begins and you get the loan amount credited to your account within a few hours from the sanction.

Flexible Repayment Tenures – The best part about a personal loan is that you are given time to repay the dues. You will get a loan tenure ranging from 1 to 5 years.

Attractive Interest Rates – Personal loans are available at attractive interest rates starting from 9.85% per annum. As the cost of funds for banks has come down rapidly, the rate of personal loan interest rates has also come down like secured loans.

No Collateral/Security Required – You won’t need to submit any collateral or security to get a personal loan, which is unsecured in nature. As a result, the loan sanction and disbursal depend firmly on your income and credit score.

Use the Personal Loan the Way You Want – The loan amount disbursed can be used by the borrower in the way he/she wants. You can get the loan for numerous purposes such as marriage, travel, home renovation, etc.

Prepayment Allowed in a Loan – You can prepay the loan anytime after the successful payment of the first 12 EMIs. The prepayment means the payment of the outstanding loan balance before the completion of the original loan tenure. Now it depends on the lender whether it allows you to prepay in full or parts.

A personal loan comes with a list of charges that you can see below.

Interest Rate – The first charge that most of us contemplate is the interest rate at which the loan will be available. The effect of the interest rate will be seen in the monthly installment as well as the overall interest outgo.

Processing Fee – It’s a one-time fee that banks and other financial institutions levy to process the loan amount. The fee can either be a flat amount or account for a certain percentage of the loan amount. The personal loan disbursal amount is different from the applied amount because the processing fee payable is deducted from the latter. But the interest rate will be charged on the applied amount.

Late Payment Charges – If you pay the EMI after the due date, the lender will deduct late payment charges at around 2% of the amount due.

Foreclosure Charges – If you close the loan before the original tenure, it will be called foreclosure and charges will apply on the same.

As the loan comes to you without collateral, lenders like to be absolutely convinced of your ability to pay off the EMI. So, the lender can place conditions regarding age, earning amount, the period of employment, residence stability, credit score, the type of organization, etc. Instant personal loans can be granted if you tick all the boxes. Let’s check out each of these aspects below.

Age – The age of the applicant is an important criterion for personal loan approval. There’s a difference when you apply for a personal loan in your 30s compared to the time when you go past 50. The difference is the job prospects are greater when you are younger. The greater job prospects make lenders more confident of your repayment capacity. Lenders can allow you to apply for a personal loan when you attain a minimum age of 21 years (salaried) and 24 years (self-employed). However, the maximum age of the applicant must not be more than 58 years if you are salaried and 65 years if you are self-employed.

Earning Amount – Different lenders can have different minimum income requirements for borrowers to meet. Not only the amount varies, but also the definition of income. Yes, there are some banks assessing eligibility based on the gross monthly income of an individual. Whereas, some banks assess eligibility based on the net monthly income. Salaried can get their personal loan sanctioned on earning a minimum net monthly income of INR 15,000-20,000. One more thing, lenders don’t consider your variable income such as incentives while assessing personal loan eligibility. In the case of self-employed, loan eligibility is based on the profit that comes after the incidence of tax.

Check Your Existing Loan Obligations – The lender assesses the personal loan eligibility of candidates based on their existing loan obligations too. In case you have a running loan, the lender will check the EMI amount and add it to the EMI of a personal loan you want. If the combined value comes within 50% of your net monthly income, the lender would approve the loan easily. In case it is beyond, your personal loan eligibility will be lower.

Period of Employment – Personal loans are offered to borrowers having worked in the organization for at least 1 year. Apart from that, lenders would also want your overall work experience to be of around 2-3 years so that the loan can be sanctioned.

Residence Stability – You must have stayed in your current residence for at least 1-2 years.

Credit Score – A credit score represents the creditworthiness of borrowers. The high creditworthiness enhances the possibility of a timely repayment track. For instant personal loan approval, it is important the credit score must be 750 and above. However, if the score is between 700 and 750, the loan can still be approved albeit at a slightly higher rate of interest. So, if you are having a credit history of 1 year and above, you must have a credit score. Whatever debt obligations you might have, be it a credit card, home loan or even a personal loan, make sure to pay dues on time. This will help build a strong credit history and a good score.

Type of Organization – The personal loan approval is also contingent on the type of organization you are working with. You can get the approval quickly if you are working in a top organization compared to someone working with a very less known company.

Type of Business – Self-employed applicants will need to be in the business that runs across seasons. This will ensure a greater degree of confidence amongst lenders about your repayment capacity. Some businesses are seasonal and can thus impact repayment negatively. Lenders remain wary of disbursing loans to such applicants.

Note – The eligibility criteria explained above can vary from one lender to another.

Choose your desired EMI first… then identify the loan that fits your pocket!

Documentation is an important aspect of a personal loan as negligence on the same can lead to rejection of the loan application. So while applying for a personal loan, don’t forget to submit the documents required by the lender.

Documents for Salaried

• Identity Proof – PAN Card/Voter ID/Aadhaar Card/Passport/Driving License • Residence Proof – Voter ID/Aadhaar Card/Passport/Driving License/Electricity Bill/Telephone Bill • Income Proof – Salary slips for the last 3 months, bank statement for the last 3 months • Recent passport size photographs

Documents for Self-employed

• Identity Proof – PAN Card/Voter ID/Aadhaar Card/Passport/Driving License • Residence Proof – Voter ID/Aadhaar Card/Passport/Driving License/Electricity Bill/Telephone Bill • Office Address Proof – Electricity Bill/Landline Bill/GST or VAT Registration • Income Proof – Salary slips for the last 3 months, bank statement for the last 3 months • Recent passport size photographs

It’s important to know the Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) in advance so that you can adjust your budget accordingly and arrange the required amount for timely payment. You can calculate the EMI using the Personal Loan EMI Calculator. All you need to do is enter the loan amount, rate of interest and tenure in the calculator. The EMI is a portion of both principal and interest payable towards a loan every month.

For example, you get a 5-year personal loan of INR 7 lakh at an interest rate of 12% per annum. As per these details, you will most likely pay an EMI of INR 15,571. Over 5 years, the interest obligations will amount to INR 2,34,267. The total amount payable will be INR 9,34,267.

Personal loans are often branded as the following loans.

Wedding Loan – You can get this loan to meet all your wedding expenses, which can be anything from guest accommodation to buying jewellery for the grand event. You can find special offers from lenders on this loan type.

Travel Loan – Travelling remains on top of everyone’s mind. But we often find short of savings to ensure the same. This is where a travel loan can help you! It provides you with the required funds for meeting your expedition desires.

Consumer Durable Loan – It varies from other personal loan types. This loan is financed upto 80%-90% of the purchase price of the consumer durable. So, it’s not financed fully, unlike other loan types where a 100% finance is possible provided you have the required income, credit score and repayment potential.

Home Renovation/Improvement Loan – You can get this loan to renovate or extend your existing housing unit.

Medical Emergency Loan – Medical emergency can be very hard to deal with if you don’t have savings to spend on the same. To ensure you recover from this, banks and NBFCs offer you a medical emergency loan. If all goes well, the loan can be approved and disbursed faster than what may be the case with other personal loan types.

Festive Loan – Festivals are celebrated with elan in India. Keeping that in mind, lenders come with exciting festive loan offers for borrowers wanting cash to meet their festive needs.