Many banks and Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) have rolled out COVID-19 specific personal loans for their existing account holders and borrowers. This loan is targeted at providing relief to their customers from the liquidity mismatch occurring during the lockdown.
Most of the middle and lower-middle-class families are currently facing a cash crunch as they have exhausted their savings. To provide some respite, many banks have launched COVID-19 Personal loans.
In this article, we will see a comprehensive analysis of COVID-19 personal loans.
List of Banks Providing the COVID-19 Personal Loan Schemes
Below is an indicative list of banks offering Covid-19 specific personal loans.
● Bank of Maharashtra Emergency Credit Line- Personal Loan scheme COVID-19 for Individuals
● Punjab National Bank SAHYOG COVID-19 Personal loan scheme
● Punjab National Bank ABHAAR RIN Personal loan scheme
● Indian Overseas Bank Insta Pension-COVID-19 Relief loan for pensioners
● Bank of Baroda COVID-19 for individuals
● State Bank of India COVID-19 emergency Credit Line for businesses
Eligibility criteria
The banks and NBFCs are, , rolling out the COVID-19 personal loans only for their existing account holders, borrowers or salary and pension account holders. The banks also require the applicants to have a clean track record of loan repayments prior to the lockdown.
Bank of Maharashtra offers its COVID-19 Emergency Credit line- Personal loan scheme only to its existing home loan customers. Punjab National Bank ABHAAR RIN COVID-19 Personal loan is being provided only to customers who have their pension accounts in the Punjab National Bank. The PNB home loan borrowers are also eligible for another aid; the SAHYOG COVID-19 loan scheme, provided that they have their payments up-to-date as of 15th of March, 2020.
How Is COVID-19 Specific Personal Loan Different From Other Personal Loans?
COVID-19 Personal loans are being offered only to existing retail customers. The lenders do want to help people with these loans, but not at the risk of default. Banks have restricted the availability of these loans to only their existing customers because they are aware of their credit history. These offers are being rolled out only to borrowers who have maintained a good payment track record and a decent credit score.
As of now, there is no provision of applying for a COVID-19 personal loan online in most of the banks. One has to either physically visit the bank or call the respective branch to get more information on the loan. You can apply for other personal loans online but not for the COVID-19 specific loans.
COVID-19 personal loans are designed to meet the temporary mismatch in the liquidity. Therefore, the loan amount ranges from 25,000 Rupees to 5lakh Rupees. Other personal loans can range from 50,000 Rupees to a maximum of 20lakh Rupees , depending on the credit score and the level of income.
Benefits of COVID-19 Specific Personal Loans
● Personal loans usually come with an interest rate of 14% to 24%. However, most of the banks have rolled out the COVID-19 loan schemes at 7-15% interest rates. Low-interest rates could genuinely help people whose cash flow has been affected.
● These loans do not carry hefty prepayment fees. Also, the processing fees charged for these loans is either zero or a bare minimum.
● Since these loans are offered only to existing customers, there is a lot less paperwork involved. This helps the people to get their applications approved quickly and get the loans sanctioned.
COVID-19 Personal Loan schemes are designed for helping people in facing this pandemic and are one of the best financial product available to the general public to tackle the liquidity crunch caused by the pandemic.
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