Practically, not everybody has the resources to meet any financial need and want, so loans are present to help sail smoothly during those times. And a personal loan is one such loan that is provided to meet the personal financial expenditures of customers.

Broadly, loans are classified as secured and unsecured based on their requirement for an asset(physical or liquid) as collateral. Secured loans like gold loans, home loans, car loans, business loans, property loans are some of the secured loans that demand collateral from the customers, whereas unsecured loans like a personal loan do not demand an asset to be pledged. These loans are provided by all banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies(NBFCs) of the nation every day, all year round. Digital and the convention face to face methods are two of the options a customer can choose to apply. In the digital mode, the applicant doesn’t need to personally visit the bank or NBFC and complete the entire process online. However, in offline mode, the applicant has to personally visit the bank or financial institute to take out the loan and receive the loan amount. Both modes have proven to be effective and efficient time and again.
Secured loans require collateral pledging, which means an asset of the applicant is temporarily handed over to the finance provider till the applicant repays the entire loan amount with interest by the end of the tenure. And the bank or financial company has the right to auction the asset if the borrower doesn’t pay off the owed money in full. However, an unsecured loan doesn’t require collateral and is sanctioned based only on documents. At times when an applicant doesn’t want to pledge an asset as collateral or doesn’t own an asset to pledge as collateral, a personal loan suits their financial needs proficiently. Besides, a personal loan has numerous advantages that make them more appealing. A personal loan can be opted for any financial requirement. Be it medical emergencies, construction, business expansion, scientific research, car purchase, appliance or furniture purchase, weddings, debt consolidation, or location change.
Eligibility criteria of a Personal Loan
The applicant’s minimum age to avail a personal loan should be 18 years, and the maximum age must be 65 years. Although a few banks and NBFCs demand a minimum age of 21 years. To avail an ICICI personal loan, the minimum age requirement is 21 years. The applicant has to be a working professional with a minimum of two years of job experience. The minimum monthly salary required to benefit from a personal loan is Rs 15 thousand. Salaried employees, self-employed employed and co-applicants are eligible candidates to opt for a personal loan.
The documentation requirement of Personal Loan
1) ID proof: A gazetted document verifying the personal identification of the applicants is required as ID proof. It could be a voter ID, aadhar card, PAN card, driving license, passport or any other authorised document.
2) Address proof: A gazetted document verifying the official place of residence of the personal applicant is required as address proof. The address proof can be either of the following: voter ID, Aadhar card, PAN card, driving license, passport.
3) Income proof: An authorised document verifying the monthly or annual income of the applicant. ITR, form 16 or salary slips can be submitted for income proof to the banks and financial institutes.
4) Employment proof: An authenticated document verifying the applicant as an employee or employer of the company or organisation is demanded as employment proof. Business proof or employee id of the company is validated employment proof.
5) Bank statement: The bank account statement of the applicant for the last 3 to 6 months is required.
Personal loan features
The loan amount of a personal loan varies from Rs 25 thousand to Rs 40 lakh, and the interest rate of a personal loan varies from 9% per annum to 25% per annum. The loan term of a personal loan is a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 60 months. By searching for EMI calculator personal loan on google, the interest rates and loan details of a personal loan are known easily online. The processing fee of a personal loan is around 2.5% of the loan amount, and the prepayment fee goes as high as 6% of the outstanding loan amount.
Also Read:- WHAT IS THE REASON FOR DEMANDING CREDIT SCORE IN PERSONAL LOAN APPROVAL