3 Things You Need to Know About a Cash Advance Loan
When it comes to borrowing loans today, the salaried professional has three broad options in front of him – borrowing against a credit card, taking a loan from a traditional bank, or availing a personal loan from among a host of lenders, including NBFCs and FinTech companies. Each of these options come with their own disadvantages, though. Traditional banks are known for long waiting times – it can take up to two weeks just to get your loan application approved, leaving aside the long queues and extensive documentation involved. Personal loans do come with a lot of benefits, sure, but if you’re looking for smaller amounts, chances are you won’t find anything below ₹50,000. The repayment tenures that personal loans come with are also usually from six months to a year. Let’s not even talk about how costly credit cards are – interest rates start from 15% and can go up to as high as 30%.
So, if you have a sudden expense to meet, but you only want a small amount, let’s say, around ₹8,000 and want to pay it off within a month, what do you do? You look for a cash advance, that’s what! Here are three things you need to know about them before you decide to take one out:
1. It is an Advance.
A cash advance is when you approach your employer and ask him or her for a portion of your next month’s salary beforehand, so that you can meet an urgent expense without worrying about a personal loan, credit card, and the like. In such a scenario, it is important to understand that this is still an advance on your salary for next month, and not “extra” money of any kind. You will either have to pay it off via a deduction in your next month’s salary (depending on your repayment tenure) or make a one-off payment towards it separately. This is still a liability which you need to pay off.
2. You May Be Charged Interest
Depending on how your company treats cash advances, you may or may not be charged interest on the same. Some companies treat it as a part of their Employee Benefits program, in which case it is usually interest-free. But even if you are being charged interest, it is bound to be at a rate much lesser than the prevailing market rate for personal loans. Couple this with the fact that such cash loans have fast approval, you still have an option of getting emergency funds from – your own employer!
3. Documentation is Still Involved
If you thought you were off the hook with regard to documentation for a cash advance, think again. This is not to say that there’s extensive paperwork waiting for you (heck, no), but there is an employee application form that will have to file all the same. Once that’s done, there might be an agreement of sorts that you may have to sign, stating the amount being loaned to you, interest involved (if any), repayment period, and and any other terms and conditions. This is still a loan, so it makes sense that there are documents to put it in writing.
In Conclusion
The above three points highlight why it’s a great option to take out a cash advance when you get a chance – just bear in mind that not all companies offer their employees this option.