Almost everyone in India wants to be making purchases online , one reason being that you get lots of discounts online which otherwise you would not get at regular offline retailers in your local area. The discounts are so huge that it lures you online to make that purchase. But sometimes it may happen that I think happens a lot to many people. Ability to afford something. Yes not everyone can afford high-end stuff or even low-end stuff. Thats when the concept of EMI jumps in because everyone wants to be making purchases for different occasions for their household or office.
EMI Purchases using Credit Card
To be able to make purchases online or offline at a store on an EMI you should be having an EMI card preferably a credit card that offers a good discount on purchases at online or E-Tailers and also offer cash-back options at various places. Regular Credit cards have a very high rate of interest, somewhere around 2-3% a month and believe it or not many people swipe their card on credit and eventually either never pay the amount or pay the amount late, causing late payment fees to be accrued on their cards.
Some banks like HDFC,Axis and other private banks offer 0% interest rate and processing fees on EMI's but those are like special offers at festive occasions. Also if you pay you Credit Card bills regularly then definitely you will get offers from Banks.
EMI Purchases using Bajaj FinServ EMI Card
I think better than opting for Credit Cards one should go in for Bajaj FinServ EMI Cards for purchases. But then .... then what? Yeah so earlier Bajaj FinServ used to have agents at various retail outlets who would be there for you so that you can make a purchase for Electronic Items by filling up a form and then submitting it. Regularly if your purchase or loan amount is less than 1,00,000/- INR then you can easily get a loan but above 1,00,000/- it normally goes in for a CIBIL verification. I will talk about this in a while.
All you need to do is make the downpayment on successful approval of your loan and an ECS form is signed where in say if you have taken finance for 18 months, a debit is made every month on a fixed date for 18 months till your amount is paid in full to Bajaj Finance. However things are a bit different from how it was a couple of years back. They have introduced this EMI card, even I was not aware way back when I had taken a finance.
So a Bajaj Finance EMI card is a pre-approved card that is linked to you Bank account at the time of signing your documents where ECS is deducted. You do the same process as you were doing offline before and you get an EMI card couriered to your address. But you cannot use this card every now and then, I believe it is 1 time usage every 6 months. And this card can be used at retailers at local stores that have tie up with Bajaj Finance, as well as online shopping sites. These guys also have an app on Android and iOS and a website where in you can check all details and pay your bounced EMI and so on. Its pretty exhaustive.
Coming to the service of these guys, sorry but it is really poor. Primarily because not everyone gets their loan approved mostly because now everything is online and linked to your CIBIL score. So if your score is less than 750 , for gadgets thats the limit your application will not be approved. For Electronic Appliances the score can be lower. This was what was communicated to me. Also they have a link that you can click here. You can fill up the form and the system auto checks your score and if your eligible they take you to a payment page where in you can pay an amount of INR 350/- and get the EMI card. They have a landline number mentioned on their website which connects to an IVR that never lets you reach a human! Its really annoying and neither can you get in touch with an executive at their office. So your best bet to catch a Bajaj Agent is at an offline retailer like probably a Samsung Store.
Remember one thing if you use that link I gave you and punch in your PAN card number and register and if the application is rejected you cannot use the same PAN card to apply for a loan at a retail store at least for 3 months! So careful , I would suggest going offline and doing it. But if your thinking Credit Card, Bajaj Finance is much much better in terms of 0% interest offers. Trust me!
So what is CIBIL and how it affects my Credit Card Application or Bajaj Finance Card?
CIBIL is a Credit Bureau that keeps that of your Loans, be it in any Bank or Financial Institution and that is compiled in the form of something called as a CIBIL score. So CIBIL score will decide where you can get a loan or not. For Credit Card applications and Bajaj Finance they normally look at your CIBIL score. Now what affects your CIBIL score. For more details on that check this link.
It is very important that you pay your loans in time and your credit card bills otherwise it affects you at the time of a situation where you urgently need money. Do not always rely on credits. Earlier people used to default and get away and apply new loans but now its not like that. Its different in those cases when politics is involved or there is corruption but not for the common man.
If you score is below 650 forget about getting any finance at all. Always maintain a score of 700 and above to be able to apply for finance. Banks update your loan records with CIBIL and if there is an outstanding or overdue showing it greatly affects CIBIL score.
If you want a detailed score report you can pay a fees of INR 500/- for a one time report. CIBIL also offers reports quarterly and Bi-Annually . Please check their website for more details.
So then how to get a finance? I want to buy a new gadget :(
I know it can be really frustrating when you want to buy a new gadget or an appliance for say an occasion like Diwali or Dusshera. Occasions like this always demand for gifts.
Do not worry. I did a little bit of research and this is a tried and tested approach. I happened to google many sites that offer similar services like Bajaj Finance and finally I came across through this website named Finomena! Yes , I was really really apprehensive about buying from any other site that I do now know or is not popular.
First thing that I checked about this company was whether it was Private Limited or not. Yes it is very important to know whether the company is registered, so that at-least in case of a fraud you know you can approach the ROC or the court. If you go in for a company that is proprietorship or partnership based they cheat most of the times that I have seen. Secondly this company was backed by Matrix Partners which is one of the big Venture firms and I knew that it would always be good to be associated with known players. Finally the best part about Finomena was that everything is online.
So how does it work?
The way Finomena works is absolutely easy. You just make sure you have photocopy or scans of your documents like ID , Address Proof, Income Tax Return latest or before that, Bank Statement proof where you will pay the EMI from(make sure this has lots of transactions), if salaried then salary slip and all that.
So how it works is simple. Just copy and paste the URL of the sites that Finomena is associated with and it will fetch the details. Adjust the payment options as shown in the image as per what fits best in your budget. After that go ahead and hit the button called "I want this!"
After this you will be presented with a form with your First, Last name and Mobile number, enter that and you will get an OTP, enter that to proceed. Proceed with all the form filling from the website. This includes Basic Information, Personal Information, Employment Information, Business/Salary Information. Here you will need all those things that I have mentioned in the first paragraph. You will need to upload it on the website.
Once your application is complete, it will show you a page where you will be shown the expected wait time for your application. Then depending on how busy these guys are you get a verification call and for me it was just 6-8 hours. When done, you will be emailed the Loan Agreement E-Signed which you need to fill up. This will be collected by their courier team in person as well as you need to send them the scan or photocopies of this. You will also sign an ECS for that will auto debit your account for EMI every month for the amount and duration you chose. So follow this carefully.
Once done and everything is verified you will be presented with a payment link to make the downpayment , after which your product order will be placed by Finomena. Make sure all details entered are correct. Once again if your bank statement is poor then it may affect your application. High value products will again feature CIBIL scores. Also just to let you know to do all this you can also use their Android App. Its very simple and easy. All communications are acknowledged by email and SMS. So do not worry!
Once this is done and they place your order, you will be given tracking details where you can track your product on your favourite e-commerce site. But remember this is done using Finomena's account on E-Commerce, so while tracking do not be logged in to your account. Just ensure that at every step you communicate to the team via phone call what all has been done. I know this is all technical but the way the interface is designed by the team makes it simple.
Thats it, you get your favourite product delivered at your doorstep! I got my Google Pixel delivered through Finomena, what about you? If you have tried out some other platform feel free to add it in the comments section!
No comments:
Post a Comment