Emergency money requirement can be fulfilled through various options such as personal savings, lending money from relatives or friends, using credit card. But if these options do not fulfill the emergency money demand, then taking personal loan is the best option. You can get personal loan from financial institutions such as banks/financial service companies and others or peer to peer lenders or private money lenders.

Not many of us are aware that banks offer multiple options to take personal loan and one of the option is personal loan against fixed deposit, which is nothing but a secured loan in which you pledge your FD account as a security.

But when should someone choose for this type of loan. Listed below are the reasons when to prefer loan against term deposit.

Low CIBIL score: An individual who defaults monthly EMIs consistently or over-crosses the credit limit or does not pay the EMI fully is more likely to have a low CIBIL score. So in future, whenever they apply for personal loan, chances of rejection are very high. Such individuals are risky for any lender as they are predicted to default in the future as well and turn out loss making for a financial institution.

Although a default can be due to many reasons such as job loss, other emergency or financial instability etc. but banks do not care about this. They want their money back along with the interest applied (as high as possible). So for such individuals, personal loan against fixed deposit is the most recommended option. There is no credit history check and neither the banks will ask for any income proof.

Loan rejected: If someone applies for a regular personal loan but faces rejection due to whatsoever reason, then applying for a loan against FD is a better alternative. The success rate is quite high and eligibility criteria are not very stricter compared to a normal personal loan.

Loan amount required is small: One of the biggest difference between personal loan against FD and regular loan is that the interest rate charged is very high in case of normal personal loan. E.g. if you take personal loan of Rs. 3, 00,000 then interest charged would be between 16%-20% whereas in case of FD, interest would be 4% – 5% less but higher than 2%-3% of the interest received on FD. So loan against FD should be preferred over normal one, if the loan amount is small, as you will save money on interest. But remember that, you can get higher loan amount in case of FD, only when the investment in fixed deposit account is very high. This is typically not the case i.e. investing huge sum of money in FD is not a recommended investment avenue.

For short term: If someone wants money for short term and is ready to close the loan within a short time period, then choose for loan against term deposit. Early closure of a regular loan will result in pre-closure charge which is not the case in overdraft loan. You can close it anytime and there won’t be any charges.

No CIBIL score: Lenders first check CIBIL score and then take decision on approval or rejection. Individuals with no credit history will naturally have no credit score. And lenders have no way to judge their financial history and evaluate credit worthiness. Typically individuals fitting in such categories are students, housewives, recent graduate with no job at present. Such individuals can choose for taking loan against FD. Of course they will need to money to open FD account, which they can do by using their own savings or asking their friends or relatives.

Additional reading: Various 8 options to get personal loan when you have no or low CIBIL score.

Save money: Other reason loan against FD is recommended is that it is a money saver. When someone applies for and receives personal loan then there is a processing fee applied. But in case of loan against FD, there is no processing fee and also very few banks charge a prepayment penalty which is always charged in a normal loan.

No salary slip or income proof: Lenders always ask for income proof for evaluating the repayment capacity of the applicant. However not everyone gets income proof or salary slip from their employers or file IT returns. So such individuals can choose term deposit loan which requires no income proof documents or tax proof.