Anil Pinapala is a FinTech entrepreneur with an experience of over 18 years in the Micro Loans /Digital Lending Industry. For the last couple of years, he has been working on expanding Credit Access in India with Vivifi – a FinTech NBFC – that offers Innovative Financial Products to customers across the Credit Spectrum with a focus on the Under-Served / Unserved Customers. Vivifi’s flagship product, FlexSalary– India’s first emergency Line of Credit, provides unsecured personal loans to prime and non-prime salaried individuals.
Time, like they say, is the healer and the killer; and like with everything in life, this holds true for your money. Digital transactions have eased the process of borrowing and lending, but while it is a welcome change considering it has augmented the reach (to more sections of society), the onus of repaying your loans, is obviously, on you. Being diligent in timing your repayments and forming a habit of timely repayments will not only ensure you don’t default, but also reflect the same on your credit history.
Here are some smart tips one could follow:
Get it right the first time
Almost all personal loans have ECS (Electronic Clearing System) set up, and the bank will make sure to debit the EMI amount from an individual’s account for the loantaken.
- If you have signed up for ECS, the first thing that you need to ensure is that you have your bank account sufficiently funded, at least a day before the due date itself, to avoid the riskof a return, because once a cheque returns, it’s a huge negative for a lending institution for consideration of any other loan/s you may need and apply for in the future. Hence, it is important you get it right the first time.
- If you have planned for an ECS set up, the second most important thing to make sure is that the amount you have in your bank is inclusive of any unpaid cheque/s.
- The most critical part is the date on which your account is going to be debited. So set up your EMI date such that you are confident and comfortable about having enough cash in your bank to pay the EMI. Also, you need to keepan eye on when the bank or the lending institution will present their ECS – a day before, a day after, or the same day.
Do not procrastinate
If you don’t have ECS on your account, then remember the following tips to ensure timely repayments of your personal loan.
- Set up alarms or reminders to make sure that you have enough money in the bank to repay your personal loan on time.
- If you don’t have the money to repay your EMI, a smart thing to do would be to have some savings locked away for the purpose, and remember to not touch or consider this amount when spending for any of your other needs, so that you can use the locked up amount for repayments.
- Always try to have 2-3 months’ EMI set aside in some kind of an interest yielding deposit so that when you face a tough phase, the repayment doesn’t become too big a burden for you.
- In the unfortunate event of absolutely not being able to make your repayments, nor having any savings to your resort, the smart and wise thing to do would be to be frank with your bank or the lending institution and ask for some time off while explaining the situation you have fallen into. You can request the bank/lending institution to put your personal loan on hold. Of course, not everybody obliges, but duringhard times, it’s worth a try.
- When you are taking a personal loan, you can opt for an insurance, so that in the case of death, disability or unemployment, the insurance company will cover the EMI for the first few months. It’s a great relief if one is really hit by hard times.
- Last but definitely not the least, the best and the smartest tip is to get a personal line of credit, like from FlexPay that allows you to borrow money as needed to cover emergency needs.
To conclude, one does not really have to worry much or put in a lot of effort to repay your personal loan on time if you are smart enough to keep yourself prepared for the best and the worst times.