Since it's such a celebrated metal in India, it's present in almost every house here and every age group has it. Even when a child is bold, is gifted gold bangles or anklets. This makes gold loans the most popular loan product in India.
However, before applying for a gold loan, it's highly recommended to wait and compare the options and look at the below-mentioned points carefully and make an informed decision -
LTV of Gold Loan:
LTV stands for loan to value. It is that percentage of your gold's actual value, that is given to you as a Loan. Since we know that 100% of the value of gold is not given out as a loan, how much is to be given is decided by RBI in the case of banks. It is usually 75 per cent for banks and can go up to 90 per cent in the case of Non-Banking Financial Corporations. This means that if a bank gives you a 75,000 rupees loan against 1,00,000 worth of gold, a Non-Banking Financial Corporation can give you as much as 90,000 rupees as a loan. Consider the alternative that you believe is better for you.
Note: the scheme that gives the higher value for the same amount would mostly have a higher interest rate too.
Interest Rate:
The lowest Gold Loan Interest Rates are yet another factor that attracts people towards gold loans more than often. Gold loans have the lowest interest rates among all other loan products. The interest rates of banks are generally lower than the interest rates of Non-Banking Financial Corporations. Notice how NBFCs offer higher LTV ratios and then also charge extra interest to shield themselves from potential loss.
Gold Loan Tenure:
Gold loans are short term loans, therefore, before availing of a gold loan, You must check if you would be able to repay funds in a short period of time and also if the purpose for which you are availing a loan, doesn't require money for a long period. Usually, the gold loans are for a term of 12 months while in some cases it is also extended to 24 or 36 months.
Repayment Structure:
As we know the gold loan is a short term loan, and this means it would mature in a year or two (Three in rarest of rare cases). This also means that you would have to repay the entire amount early. Repayment is usually done in EMI's or Equated Monthly Instalments. These are fixed amounts that you repay on a fixed day, every month after the first month of amount dismissal till maturity for the repayment of your loan.
You have two alternatives to repay your loan:
Repay EMI's after the maturity which would include a part payment of your interest plus principal amount. Repay interest amount before maturity in equal instalments every month and repay the principal after maturity.
Note: Gold Loan does not have any prepared charges.
The credibility of Lender:
Many people have lost their gold by taking gold loans from fraudulent lenders. This has mostly happened when they see people offering both - higher LTV and lowest interest rate than any other Bank of NBFC.
Therefore, first, do a proper check if the bank or NBFC or jewellers are an established entity or not. Read about them over the interest. Talk to free consultation companies which don't charge you for giving financial advice. Search for Manappuram Gold loan near me, or SBI Gold Loans near me etc. to know which NBFCs and banks offer loan products in your area and check their LTV ratio, Interest rates etc.
Non- Payment:
The first advice to a person taking any type of loan must be to not take it if they feel they don't have the repaying capacity. If you default on a gold loan, the bank, NBFC or the jeweller will ask you a few times and send you the last notice to repay your loan. If still, you fail to do so, your gold would be sold to compensate for their loss.
Conclusion -
There are numerous fraudsters who are aiming to earn money by people's ignorance. Don't fall prey to such people by staying uneducated regarding the loan you are planning to avail.