Being a Smart Borrower: 5 Tips for Women Borrowers

Money is a need at all times. In reality, many of us will look for opportunities through which some additional money can be received for meeting various necessary requirements. In India, we are lucky to have a wide range of loan opportunity to meet our needs and goals. Banks have laid out a red carpet for customers to taken loan to meet any type of financial needs. They attract customers through offering low interest rates, easy processing and quick disbursal. But it all drill down to one simple question- How much EMI can you pay?

5 Tips for Women Borrowers

As a token of appreciation for their hard work, women are given low interest rates and other charges in banks and NBFCs for loans. Here are some tips for women to manage the money and to be a smart borrower.

• Be Smart and Do an all-inclusive Comparison:

Most of the time people end up comparing between banks for loan by looking at their interest rates, but it is important to keep in mind- interest rates are not the only additional price that you will end up paying a bank for taking loan. Thus always check with banks what would be the all-inclusive charges for a loan and compare the same among different banks. There are lot of hidden charges that banks will throw at the customers such as conversion charges, pre-payment charges, part payment, payment default charges and more. Thus do not get fooled by just looking at the cover of the gift.

• Examine all Options:

Don’t take a loan just because someone is ready to offer to you. Firstly check if there is a need and also examine all options available for money. Compare between all options, like what if your parents are ready to lend you some money which you can repay a while later without any interest charges? Or what is other bank are offering a top-up loan on your existing personal loan. Even after taking a loan, monitor it in regular intervals to check if any other bank is offering loan at better rates and look for balance transfer options.

• Check for Banks that Offer Discounted Rates and Charges for Women:

There are lot of banks and NBFCs that offer discounted facilities for women. This is to encourage every woman to considering all these banking facilities to smartly manage the money. If there are some lenders especially keen to help women, make use of such services instead of ending up paying extra money on a sum that is borrowed.

• Read the Loan Document Thoroughly:

It is good to trust, but always verify. The bank officials or representatives would have already explained to you all aspects of the loan but still go through the documents.  Read them thoroughly until you understand every aspect of it. In case of any clarifications required, check it right at the beginning. The reason for this is lenders cannot be held responsible for anything which is explicitly explained in the documents.

• Make use of the Money Smartly:

Each of us would have borrowed the money for a specific requirement. It is crucial to ensure that the money is spent for the need for which loan was borrowed. Control your temptations and don’t over spend your money or end up spending on unplanned wants. Have an account for all expenditure done through the money borrowed.

Loan Rates for Women Borrowers

Here are top 3 banks in India that offer loan with discounted rates for women. There are many other banks that offer similar facilities for women which should be made use for all loan requirements including for business loans.

Apart from borrowing money and utilizing the same wisely, it is important to plan how to repay the debt without overburdening yourself. Those who live by paycheck to paycheck should set aside the loan amount separately along with other expenditure budget. This will help in not affecting your credit score and can look for more opportunities from lenders when there are offers and discounts available.