Hindu mythology believes that a person’s character is dependent on his name. There is an entire ceremony around naming your kids. And believe me, there is a lot of thought that goes behind this. A name has to be synonymous with the aspirational behavior and characteristics of the child. Talking of that, I found a Fintech platform that is doing something very similar. MoneyTap, an application that gives you money on a tap of a button. We have discussed this in the past as well, Fintech is shaping the lending landscape of India bigtime. With tech enabled, paperless solutions to help out borrowers in need, Lend Tech in India is shaping rather beautifully.
What is MoneyTap:
Founded by Anuj Kacker, Bala Parthasarathy, Kunal Varma (IIT/ISB Alumni) in 2015, MoneyTap is a Bangalore based startup. MoneyTap aims to provide a quick borrowing solution to the millennial and Gen-Z population in tier 1 and 2 cities of the country (for now). They intend to achieve this by providing the customers with a line of credit. Now, a line of credit is different from a loan. Let us understand the key differences between the two below:
MoneyTap recently appointed a new chief product officer, Ashutosh Dabral. In one of his media interactions, he mentioned that MoneyTap continues to focus on new age products that suit the needs of Millennials and GenZers alike. If you are a boomer or even a millennial who hasn’t realized this yet, just pause for a moment and notice. New age people hate loans. At the same time, they are not afraid of borrowing. Credit cards and platforms like MoneyTap are on the rise. Therefore, there is dramatic shift in how we want to access credit. Rather than focusing on the transactional or functional aspect, people are experimenting a lot with interactions – the emotional and cognitive aspect of finances.
How to Avail Line of Credit from MoneyTap?
The process of availing a credit from MoneyTap is super simple. As a first step, you fill out a form which will seek your basic details like PAN number, job profile. Individuals earning between 15,000 and 9,99,999 only are allowed to borrow money from MoneyTap as of now.
I put in some dummy details and using my Doosra number to complete the form. Of course there is a validation based on your PAN card and details that you enter. Once you are done with that, a limit is generated for you. For me, it was 1,56,000.
The next obvious step is to complete your KYC wherein you mention why do you need the money and submit photo identification documents. Once all the documents are submitted, bank processes them and eventually, a limit is established in your application.
Now, each time you need money, all you have to press the ‘Get Money Button‘. That will take you to the requirement screen. Depending on the amount of money borrowed and the duration, you will get a summary of the entire transaction. This will give you a detailed breakup of all the charges on the transaction.
Credit Card Vs MoneyTap:
Although the interest at which the line of credit is offered (~15%) is quite low as compared to credit cards (~30%). But if you are borrowing a small amount, keep a track of processing fees. Also, they charge something called ‘one time setup’ fees of Rs. 500 to extend the line of credit.
So let’s evaluate with a quick example. Say you borrow Rs. 10,000 from a credit card at 30% rate of interest. This means that at the end of the year, you would pay 13,000.
Coming to MoneyTap, at rate of 15%+ Rs. 500 (one time setup fee) + Rs. 500 (Processing Fee), the total cost comes out to be 12,500.
As you can see, higher the amount, benficial would it be to opt for a line of credit. Because that would take care of the fixed charges of Rs. 1000.
Conclusion:
I am not a big fan of borrowing money just to cover an irregular month. This just shows financial indiscipline. However, in the need of emergency, it is important to evaluate the cost of loan. At that point, if something like MoneyTap wins the race, I am up.
Have you used any such platform in the past?
Got questions? Want to take it to the next level? Reach out to me using your preferred platform from the links below
Until next time..
This blogpost is in association with Blogchatter’s #BlogchatterA2ZChallenge.
