Medical crisis? Here's how you handle it

Taking a personal loan has become commonplace among those who wish to buy expensive items (gadgets, foreign holidays, home furnishings, among others) without swiping their cards. However, they are often not approved for unsalaried individuals. Lately, leading loan apps have started dispensing personal loans for the self-employed – and these loans are helping scores of people for a variety of urgent and non-emergent needs.

It is a myth that a personal loan is useful only to buy items. Indeed, it is a great boon for those faced with acute financial emergencies. It can fund your child’s education, or pay off old debt (through the process of debt consolidation), or help start a business, or even finance a medical procedure. It has wide-ranging applications, and can be availed of swiftly from a reputed lending institution.

Let’s look at how a personal loan can help one during a medical emergency.

Medical emergencies can take a huge toll…

Though it is an unthinkable prospect, there is scarcely a person in the world that does not face a medical emergency at some point in time. It might pertain to themselves, or it might relate to a family member or close friend. The problem is not just in facing up to the grim prognosis of an illness or injury, but in dealing with its financial repercussions. An emergency always comes calling abruptly, when one may not be prepared to meet its demands in a financial sense.

Not only does it take a huge emotional toll on one, but it makes one scramble to gather the requisite money to meet it adequately. Add to this the high costs of healthcare and hospitalisation in India. Even scheduling a planned surgery may takes weeks of planning as one works to gather the money for the procedure.

How to handle the crisis in a jiffy

However, what cannot be wished away must be dealt with. If faced with a medical emergency, here’s how you can handle it:

* Assess the requirement: Get a quote from the doctor and hospital about the procedure required, how much it will cost, the daily room charges, medicine costs, etc. Tally up the expenses to get an idea of how much money you need overall, and add about Rs 10,000 to it to create a safe buffer.

* Check your insurance: If you have a health insurance policy, check with the insurance provider about filing a claim against the intended hospitalisation and procedure. As per the policy’s deductible, a major part or all of the hospitalisation may be covered by insurance, while the remainder must be paid from your pocket. If you don’t have insurance to cover yourself or the intended family member, you must pay the entire costs from your personal reserves.

* Check your finances: Sort out your personal finances to know how much money you already have, and how much more you need to raise. If necessary, you can liquidate a fixed deposit or some shares, but this process takes at least a couple of days.

* Apply for a personal loan: Since you will use the personal loan for a medical purpose, it can be designated as a ‘medical loan’. The loan can pay for part or all of the medical procedure and other associated costs of treatment.

How to apply for a medical loan

This is how you can get the loan from a lending app:

• Download the preferred lending app on your smartphone and set it up in a few steps. Do check that the app offers personal loans for self-employed and salaried persons alike.
• Allow the app time to check your personal and financial information, and check your eligibility. The app will also have a loan eligibility checker/calculator that you can use.
• Check the list of documents that the app requires, and self-attest the set of copies. Keep the set ready to be submitted to the app office (a representative will check and pick up the documents from you).
• After checking the documents, your credit score and repayment history, the app sanctions the loan and disburses the money to your account.
• You can repay the loan from your business income every month via EMIs.

(Brand Desk Content)