4 Burning Questions About Laxmi Bank’s Smart FoneLoan Answered: Up to 2 Lakhs of Collateral-free Loans

Borrowing a loan is often viewed as a tedious process as it involves tons of paperwork and requires considerable visits to the loan offices. But things are getting simpler now – as should they be, with technology driving the official work in almost every other aspect. Along with the facility of opening a Bank Account, PAN card from your phone at home, another exciting feature has been added to the list which is the ‘FoneLoan’ facility offered by multiple banks in Nepal.

To date, different banks including Nabil Bank, Citizens Bank, Kumari Bank, and Mega Bank have been providing the “Smart FoneLoan” feature. Joining this is Laxmi Bank, who in February this year, launched their ‘Smart FoneLoan’ service allowing customers to apply for mini loans straight from their mobile devices.

Here we run down a few hot questions you may have about this new feature, so you have the necessary information as to whether it is relevant to you.

Laxmi Bank’s Smart FoneLoan Overview:

What is Laxmi Bank Smart FoneLoan?

Putting it simply, Laxmi Bank Smart FoneLoan is a digital lending service that offers instant loan facilities to its customers through the Laxmi Bank Mobile Money app without any collateral needed. Basically, it is a short-term pre-approved loan offered by the bank.

How does Laxmi Bank Smart FoneLoan Work?

This might be the first question that arises in mind after learning about the paper-less Loan borrowing service. Smart FoneLoan is entirely based on “Decision Analytics” which studies the transaction history of the customer’s salary account to determine whether or not the customer is eligible for the loan. After the Analytics approval, the customer’s agreement to the terms and conditions for the loan process is required. Thereafter the approved loan amount is provided immediately to the customers. 

Who are eligible?

The next thing you might be wondering about is the criteria for eligibility. As of now, customers with savings account maintained in the bank with regular transactions can get access to the service. But this does not mean that every Laxmi Bank customer with a savings account can get this service. This means the Decision Analytics algorithm determines customer’s eligibility mainly based on the following given factors:-

1. Average monthly salary/balance maintained in the account
2. Transaction history of the customer
3. Status of existing Loans in bank
4. History of previous loans in the bank

You will be able to check your eligibility status for the Smart FoneLoan in the app itself. For this, open the bank’s mobile application, Mobile Money, and after you land on their dashboard look for the “Register for Short-term Loan” widget popping up. If you see it then you are Good to go otherwise, you are not. However, if once your account starts growing positively and you meet the requirement of the Analytics parameter, you can become eligible in the future. 

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Loan Amount Limit and maturity date

The loan amount starts from a minimum of Rs. 500 to maximum Rs. 2,00,000. But again, not every account holder can apply for a loan of Rs. 2,00,000. This is because the amount of loan you can apply for is determined by the Decision Analytics algorithm being based on the above factors. Taking about the maturity period of the loan, it is 30 days. Remember, you can’t pay back the loan before the maturity date.

Taking about the charges in the entire process, an applicant will be charged Flat Rs. 250 as the loan processing fee. Likewise, the monthly interest rate is minimal: 1.25% of the loan amount. In case the applicant fails to pay back the loan on time, Rs. 300 will be fined every month followed by the daily interest rate. And any amount of money deposited on your account will first be debited until the loan is cleared out. 

While banks seem to be eager to get ahead in the race of offering smart financial services, as customers, we do welcome the competition as it most certainly is a step in the right direction. Let us know if you have tried Laxmi Bank’s ‘Smart FoneLoan’ service yet!

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