A friend of mine lately had some urgent financial requirement. As it didn't qualify of any of the standard category of the loans viz. house, vehicle, education, et al, he had to opt for a Personal loan. Now, personal loans are insanely exorbitant. The rates vary from 7% at the lower end to as high as 17% per annum. As a natural choice, my friend was premeditating for such financial institution that offered lowest interest rates. Nevertheless, he dug up a survey - all by himself - about the prevalent rates and payback options. His thesis was pretty entertaining.
As any other cellular customer, he also keeps getting unsolicited calls from financial institutions regarding personal loans and ilk. This time, he decided to deliberately pay heed to them. An executive from a Sensex market cap topper (privately owned yet publicly listed) financial institution said on such a call that he can avail a lakh rupee loan to him at 17% interest compounded annually on reducing balance. He refused the offer right away, quoting financial unviability. Half an hour later, the same executive came up with a 15.5% offer! In the meantime, he had visited another institution - incidentally, a PSU- that offered the loan at 13.5%, other factors remaining same. When my friend persisted on reducing it further, the executive quipped that he will need to pay a processing fees elsewhere, which is inclusive in this offer. Besides, he said that he will personally visit him for the signatures and ilk and the loan amount will be credited to his account via ECS. He went back to the PSU people and inquired about the processing fees, which they denied levying of. Merrily he decided to trust in the PSU. When that executive called again, he denied politely·
Next morning, he presented himself to the Branch Manager (BM) of the PSU institution. The BM smiled wryly and said that he just need to open and account and that's it! The loan amount shall be instantly transferred into it. Agog, he requested for the account opening form. It was a dozen page form demanding plethora of documents including Identification proof, Residence proof, Employment proof, two month salary slips, last three I-T return receipts, attestation of the loan form from a guarantor and all aforementioned documents from the guarantor too. eh... Did I mention that all of them were to be countersigned by both the loan seeker and the guarantor? Of course, all this wasn't demanded at once and in the beginning. My friend had to shuttle between his office and the bank branch at least half a dozen times. In the end, the BM demanded the Salary Account to be transferred to the loan disbursing branch for it will easy for them to deduct the requisite amount of EMI, hassle free. As if it wasn't enough, the BM finally asked my friend to visit the main branch of the institution to get the loan cheque. When my friend quizzed him with a puzzled face the BM offered him a repartee in a unmoved businesslike manner, 'Ours is an extension branch for the exclusive service of the enterprise you are an employee of. We don't disburse such high amount loans. Thank You.'
Master is always right, Quality comes at a price.
As any other cellular customer, he also keeps getting unsolicited calls from financial institutions regarding personal loans and ilk. This time, he decided to deliberately pay heed to them. An executive from a Sensex market cap topper (privately owned yet publicly listed) financial institution said on such a call that he can avail a lakh rupee loan to him at 17% interest compounded annually on reducing balance. He refused the offer right away, quoting financial unviability. Half an hour later, the same executive came up with a 15.5% offer! In the meantime, he had visited another institution - incidentally, a PSU- that offered the loan at 13.5%, other factors remaining same. When my friend persisted on reducing it further, the executive quipped that he will need to pay a processing fees elsewhere, which is inclusive in this offer. Besides, he said that he will personally visit him for the signatures and ilk and the loan amount will be credited to his account via ECS. He went back to the PSU people and inquired about the processing fees, which they denied levying of. Merrily he decided to trust in the PSU. When that executive called again, he denied politely·
Next morning, he presented himself to the Branch Manager (BM) of the PSU institution. The BM smiled wryly and said that he just need to open and account and that's it! The loan amount shall be instantly transferred into it. Agog, he requested for the account opening form. It was a dozen page form demanding plethora of documents including Identification proof, Residence proof, Employment proof, two month salary slips, last three I-T return receipts, attestation of the loan form from a guarantor and all aforementioned documents from the guarantor too. eh... Did I mention that all of them were to be countersigned by both the loan seeker and the guarantor? Of course, all this wasn't demanded at once and in the beginning. My friend had to shuttle between his office and the bank branch at least half a dozen times. In the end, the BM demanded the Salary Account to be transferred to the loan disbursing branch for it will easy for them to deduct the requisite amount of EMI, hassle free. As if it wasn't enough, the BM finally asked my friend to visit the main branch of the institution to get the loan cheque. When my friend quizzed him with a puzzled face the BM offered him a repartee in a unmoved businesslike manner, 'Ours is an extension branch for the exclusive service of the enterprise you are an employee of. We don't disburse such high amount loans. Thank You.'
Master is always right, Quality comes at a price.
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