T he word ‘loan’ is associated most often with home loans and vehicle loans — and occasionally personal loans. But banks and lending institutions have a range of other loans in special categories targeting specific audiences. Let’s see what’s on offer.

For the professional

Both banks and non-banking financial corporations offer unsecured loans for professionals — doctors, chartered accountants, architects, and so on — under the ‘professional loans’ category. To qualify, the professional should meet a minimum work experience criterion, which varies across institutions. The qualifying degree certificate has to be submitted as part of the paperwork: this helps get you a lower interest rate and assists in speedier processing. In the absence of a degree certificate, you will only get a regular personal loan, which comes at a higher interest rate. For instance, HDFC Bank offers professional loans at 14.15-14.5 per cent, whereas its personal loans come at 14.75-20.7 per cent. The loan tenure ranges from one year to five years; the loan amount can go up to ₹30-40 lakh — or even higher — depending on your current income and repaying capacity.

For the woman entrepreneur

As part of the effort to harness the entrepreneurial capabilities of women, some lenders offer special loan products targeted at them. One such is the special business loan for women. Typically, only public sector banks offer these: SBI has the Stree Shakti Package;,Central Bank of India offers a Cent-Kalyani loan; Union Bank of India offers a Union Nari Shakti scheme; and so on.

These loans come at lower interest rates and the process fee is waived. Oriental Bank of Commerce charges 10.7 per cent for women entrepreneurs under the Small and Medium Enterprise scheme for loans above ₹2 lakh and up to ₹25 lakh. This rate compares favourably with the 12.95 per cent charged for a personal loan for a corporate employee. Similarly, SBI offers a 0.5 percentage point lower rate under its Stree Shakthi Package for loans above ₹2 lakh.

To avail of the special benefits, businesses run by women should meet certain criteria. For example, Union Bank of India requires the business to be owned and managed by women; in the case of partnerships, the majority of the partners should be women. Under SBI’s Stree Shakti, more than 50 per cent of the share capital should be owned by women.

For the soon-to-be-married

Wedding loans are a variant of general personal loans and are offered to meet the wedding expenses. SBI, Corporation Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and even NBFCs like Tata Capital and Bajaj Finserv offer them.

The loan can be availed of by either the person who is getting married or their parents. The loan amount varies with geography: for example, Corporation Bank under its Corp Shubha Vivah Scheme offers a loan up to ₹10 lakh in metro cities and ₹2 lakh in rural areas. The loan tenure ranges between three and five years; in some cases, for instance with Tata Capital and Corporation Bank, it extends to six years and seven years, respectively.

In addition to normal documentary proof of salary details, identity and address, a person getting married, if s/he takes the loan in her/his name should provide a copy of the wedding invitation and proof of wedding-related service bookings such as for the marriage hall and for caterers. If the loan is in the parents’ name, they will additionally have to submit documents to establish the relationship with the person getting married.

Typically, a wedding loan is structured much like a personal loan in terms of the interest rates and charges. In fact, on occasions, a wedding loan may come at higher interest rates than a personal loan, in which case, of course, you’re better off opting for the latter — if you need a loan at all.

For the traveller

Again, loans for a vacation work pretty much like a personal loan, except for the fact that disbursals under this head are relatively faster to make sure that you get the money before the travel begins. However, the loan tenure is restricted to two or three years, as against five to seven years in a personal loan.

In some cases, travel loans may require collateral. In Bank of India’s Star Holiday Loan Scheme, you have the option to borrow with or without a collateral. Liquid securities like term deposit receipts, National Savings Certificate, LIC policy, Indra Vikas Patra and Kisan Vikas Patra are accepted as collaterals. BOI’s Star Holiday Loan Scheme offers you ₹5-10 lakh with a collateral, but only ₹2 lakh without collateral.

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