Equated Monthly Instalments (EMIs) are a method of payment when you want to break up the payment for a large purchase into smaller, more manageable payments that you can make every month. Traditionally EMIs were only offered to Credit Cardholders, but there is a very small minority of Indians that use a Credit Card to make purchases, due to this the EMI payment option was hardly used in India. Vendors realized that this was drastically slowing down sales, as most people were waiting to save up the entire amount to make an online purchase, to give a boost to the Debit Cardholder while shopping, online vendors have now started offering EMIs on Debit Card with select banks on various consumer durable products.
Debit Card EMIs are a great way to go when you are making large purchases. They do not require you to submit any extra documentation and it will save you the hassle of applying for a Credit Card. A Debit Card EMI is, in some sense, an overdraft facility provided by your bank against your account. This overdraft facility can be repaid in EMIs over an extended period of time, thereby, not putting too much pressure on your savings at any given time.
Debit Card EMIs have been introduced to make your shopping experience quick, stress-free and enjoyable. Let’s see how they manage to do this.
Debit Card EMI Accessibility
Debit Card EMIs are a great way to shop for when making large purchases like a fridge, TV, Smartphone or any other household item you require. If your Debit Card is eligible for the Debit Card EMI facility it is very easy to avail this mode of payment. When you go to your vendor’s payment site it will show up as one of the options, just click on it and follow the simple procedure. It is very similar to making a regular Debit Card transaction except for the fact that you will need to select an EMI tenure.
No Documentation
As this is an overdraft facility being provided against your existing bank account, there is no additional documentation required to apply for a Debit Card EMI. You just need to confirm that the transaction is being made by you, which will be verified through an OTP sent to your registered mobile number.
Special Offers
A number of vendors and banks have special offers for purchases made through Debit Card EMIs. Some banks offer their customers no-cost EMIs on Amazon and Flipkart, when they use the Debit Card EMI option, others provide discounts on products and some others offer rewards to their customers. So the next time you are shopping make sure you check out all the deals that you can get on your Debit Card EMI.
Liquidity
There are a number of reasons to buy large items on EMIs, one of the main reasons being the fact that you don’t want to put all your savings into one purchase and it’s always good to have some emergency money for unforeseen expenses. The Debit Card EMI allows you to buy the things you need and maintain a healthy level of liquidity in your savings account.
There are a number of payment methods online now, with their own pros and cons, the Debit Card EMI is great for large purchases, but won’t be a great idea when making smaller purchases. Debit Card EMIs are especially a bad idea if you do not have a source of income, as some banks require you to provide a Fixed Deposit as a lien against the Debit Card EMI. If you miss a payment on your EMIs the bank will recover this from the Fixed Deposit in lien and the Fixed Deposit withdrawal will carry pre-withdrawal penalties.
So even though Debit Card EMIs are a great tool for buying the things you need, you should also exercise caution while using these types of instruments.
