A financial emergency can happen at any time. The COVID-19 pandemic was an emergency that hit the entire world. A lot of people lost their jobs, it became difficult for them to continue honouring their EMI commitments. Lenders across the world came to the help of borrowers and offered a moratorium period to those who truly needed it. It is not uncommon for people to lose jobs or be forced to handle an emergency that leaves them financially dry. In such a scenario, paying EMIs becomes difficult. What should one do if their EMI is overdue? Before we answer this question, let us look at what happens when your EMI is overdue.
A Late EMI Payment Can Prove To Be Bad at Various Levels
Listed below are the areas which might get affected due to missed or delayed EMI payments.
Your Credit Score Will Go Down
The first thing that will happen after you miss an EMI payment is that your credit score will go down. Borrowers do not know this but even a single late EMI payment can reduce a borrower's credit rating by 50 to 70 points. Eligibility requirements set by most lenders these days require borrowers to have a credit score of at least 750. A low credit score compels lenders to question the borrower's creditworthiness and repayment capacity and thus, reduce one's chances of getting approved for a housing loan in the future.
Read Also: 7 Tips to Help You Improve Your CIBIL Score
You Will Be Compelled to Pay a Late Fee
If you have missed an EMI payment, you will be asked to pay a late fee. Lenders generally levy a flat penalty on late payments. Some lenders also levy late penalty on the EMI amount in the form or interest. In this case, the late fee is usually 1%* to 2%* of the EMI amount.
You May Lose Ownership of Your Property
If you miss one or two EMI payments, you will most certainly not lose ownership of your property. However, if you do not clear your EMIs for more than 90 days, your lender will label your loan account as a non-performing asset. After this, your lender will hire recovery agents to recover their loan money. If the recovery agents aren't successful and the lender has no communication from your side, they may sell your property for loan recovery.
Missing EMI payments is a big deal. If you are someone who misses EMI payments because you tend to forget things, set up payment reminders or auto payments. However, if you have been missing EMI payments due to some financial emergency, here are a few things you can do to help yourself out.
Now that we have established some basics, let us answer our main question: What should you do if your Bajaj Housing Finance loan is overdue? Read on to know the answer.
What If Your Bajaj Housing Loan is Overdue?
Bajaj Housing Finance offers Home Loans at highly competitive interest rates, making it truly possible for borrowers to make their dream home their own. In this age of digital, the company makes it not only easier for people to apply for a Home Loan by giving them the option of applying online but borrowers can also pay EMIs, clear late payments, raise queries and do so much more through the Bajaj Housing Finance Customer Portal. Here's how you can pay your overdue Bajaj Housing Finance home loan EMI using the company's easy-to-use customer portal.
- Go to Bajaj Housing Finance's customer portal and sign into your account using the credentials provided to you.
- Once you have logged into your account, go to the payments section and click on the 'Overdue or Missed EMI.'
- Enter the overdue EMI amount. You will find that additional penal charges have been applied to your EMIs. Review these charges and make payment.
You can also walk into one of the Bajaj Housing Finance branches near your home and clear your overdue amount in person.