The following are a few specific terms related to personal loans that you must know:
.Personal Loan for Women: It is a special category of personal loan offered to women by several banks and NBFCs. A preferential rate of interest is applicable in such cases to promote and support female entrepreneurs and working women
.Personal Loan for Pensioners: It is offered to senior citizens so that they can meet their retirement needs, medical expenses, or plan a trip without any financial constraint
.Pre-approved Personal Loan: This is a special category of personal loans, also known as instant personal loans. These are usually offered to existing customers (account holders/credit card holders) of the bank or NBFC. Instant personal loans are characterized by minimal to no documentation and quick disbursal of the loan amount (generally within a few hours). However, the loan amount sanctioned in such quick personal loan offers depend on the applicant’s profile and cannot be changed
.Top-up Loan: This is a personal loan issued to a borrower who already has an unpaid personal loan from the current lender. Top-up personal loans are usually available to select PL customers of the NBFC and they often feature an interest rate similar to that of a standard personal loan
.Balance Transfer – Balance transfer is the process by which the principal outstanding of an existing loan is transferred to a new lender offering a lower interest rate. This decreases the overall interest payout over the loan tenure
.EMI – Equated monthly installments (EMI) are the scheduled monthly payments that a borrower needs to pay over the loan tenure to pay off the amount borrowed along with interest accrued
.Partial-Prepayment – In case the borrower decided to repay a loan amount that is greater than the monthly EMI payout, the extra amount is considered to be a partial-prepayment. Such partial prepayment decreases the outstanding loan principal and in effect reduces the total interest outgo for the loan. In such cases, prepayment penalties and related taxes may be applicable.