Take personal loan for medical expenses

Rajeev Ranjan, a tech professional, found himself to be financially ill-prepared to meet an emergency he had never anticipated. He was in for a rude shock when his wife’s medical condition which started with benign symptoms like swelling and a feeling of general ill being persisted and deteriorated quickly. Medical investigations revealed that his wife was suffering from a dysfunctional kidney, with high chances of a chronic kidney failure, if left untreated. At this point, Rajeev had all of his money already locked in long term tax-related investments and was extremely short on liquidity. The doctors pointed out that the treatment needs to be done as soon as possible to avoid any undesirable outcome.

But things became a bit tricky for Rajeev as time was slipping out. His medical insurance coverage was inadequate to cover the entire cost of the suggested treatment. He could not afford to liquidate his long term investments which came with a lock-in period and his attempts to get a quick loan from his circle of family and friends failed. He had a house that he could mortgage, but the same would again mean a delay of a few weeks to a month which he could not afford to do in the current scenario.

One of his friends advised him to take, a personal loan. As he researched for loans, he landed on an online loan marketplace where he compared loan offers from various lenders, checked his eligibility and applied for an instant personal loan. The entire loan amount was approved by the lender within 24 hours and loan amount was disbursed to his account in the next 12 hours from the time of approval. Rajeev paid for the treatment at the hospital and timely treatment prevented further health deterioration of his wife.

Medical Conditions: Why delaying can cost you more money instead of saving it?

Medical expenses can come knocking at one’s door when a person least expects it. The public healthcare in India still faces considerable challenges in terms of infrastructure, which ultimately pushes one towards private healthcare institutions. Availing a treatment at government hospitals is often time-consuming and complicated.

The private institutions are renowned for their patient care and superlative treatment, but come down too heavy on the pocket of a patient. The Central Government’s Economic Survey of 2016 reveals that the average medical expenditure at private hospitals is about 4 times higher than the cost of treatment at government ones.

All of us will agree that there is nothing more valuable than the life of our loved ones and that delaying on a medical condition can not only aggravate it further, but can also result in a much greater financial burden later.

In these situation, people struggle to arrange for immediate cash to meet the medical expenses as most of the times, bulk of their savings are locked into long term illiquid investments or real estate. It can become distressing to run around looking for financial support when you would want to spend your time in taking care of and comforting your suffering loved ones.

With the advent of technology-driven online lending platforms, availing personal loans has become much easier and hassle-free. Unlike conventional lenders that require physical presence, extensive paperwork, and involve red-tapism during the loan assessment process, these platforms have developed technology enabled platforms to ease out the loan process for a borrower.

The platforms work on automated intelligent algorithms to scan a customer’s loan requirements and profile and match it with that of multiple banks eligibility conditions to filter out the right loan offers with high chances of loan approval for a customer.

Automated process

The entire loan origination process, from loan application to assessment of creditworthiness, is completely digital and requires minimal documentation. The whole process, thanks to automated processes and minimal human intervention, is rounded up within a matter of hours and days – offering a sharp contrast to weeks and months that conventional lending institutions can take.

Personal loans have come across as a boon for people earning stable income, yet facing temporary financial difficulties.

The interest rates are quite economical and in recent times, has emerged as a preferred choice for salaried people to
meet the expenses for medical emergencies.

So, if you ever find yourself in a situation of financial crunch and your social circle proves to be of little help in raising money, consider taking a personal loan instead of delaying medical treatment or emergencies.

(The writer is Co-founder and CEO of MyLoanCare.in)