The Blahger

A very personal blog

My quick and easy loan application experience: CIMB PH 0% Fixed Loan Term

CIMB PH is offering 0% fixed term loan of up to ₱50,000 to select customers. Here are a couple of things I like about this promo:
✓ Fully digital loan application
 Approval takes less than a week
 0% interest rate for a fixed 12 months
 Cheaper than most loan programs from big banks
 Loan amount is disbursed to your CIMB account which you can transfer to GCash or withdraw directly via CIMB debit card (with 0 atm fees – tried and tested)
For more info:
In this promo, for a loan of ₱50,000 you will be disbursed a net of ₱47,125. Your monthly installment for 1 year is ₱4,166.67 per month.
Here’s how other banks compare, taken from iMoney PH Personal Loan Calcualtor
Principal loan amount: ₱50,000
Loan tenure: 12 months
Seeeee? With other banks you’d be paying ₱500 more each month! But of course, this is just a promo. 
CIMB’s regular personal loan rate for 50k at 12months is:
Still cheaper.

Alright, now on to my application experience

June 10, 2020 – Applied for a ₱50k loan through the CIMB mobile app
The application flow in the app is pretty straightforward. You’ll be asked to enter your personal and work details, attach your recent payslip, provide some ID details, and sign electronically. 
After submitting your application and getting pre-approved, every time you open the app you will be greeted by the current status of your application.I don’t know who really qualifies for a loan but ever since the promo period started I’ve been receiving SMS notifications about the promo. According the Verified GCash Users group on Facebook, there’s no required amount on your CIMB account to qualify. Even those with zero balance with CIMB, as long as they have an account, can apply. 
To manage your expectations, here are  sample computations:
For a ₱30,000 loan amount you will pay ₱2,500/month for 1 year
✦ But you will only be disbursed ₱28,275
✦ The deductions come in the form of 5% processing fee (₱1,500) and Documentary Tax Stamps (₱1.50 for every ₱200 amount of loan – that’s ₱225)
✦ Total deductions – ₱1,725
For ₱50,000 loan amount you will pay ₱4, 166.67/month for 1 year
✦ But you will only be disbursed ₱47,125
✦ The deductions come in the form of 5% processing fee (₱2,500) and Documentary Tax Stamps (₱1.50 for every ₱200 amount of loan – that’s 375)
✦ Total deductions – ₱2,875
So you’re not really getting the full loan amount since there are fees deducted upfront. In case you’re thinking of abusing this promo lol. Also, who in their right minds would offer 0% interest rate with no processing fees?
June 15, 2020 – Approved and disbursed net loan proceeds
I was notified via email that my loan application has been approved.
Email contains the loan contract, breakdown of fees, ammortization schedule, and so on. Loan amount (less deductions) has also been disbursed to my CIMB FastPlus account.
Due date is set to the 1st of every month
Aside from the abovementioned fees, the following fees are also worth noting:
✦ Loan repayment fees – waived 
✦ Early settlement fee* – 4% of the total unbilled loan  Free
✦ Late payment fee – 5% of unpaid installment due or Php300 (whichever is higher)
* – to be clarified because while it says 4% in the email, it says FREE in my attached contract. It’s important for me to know if I can finish my loan in advance without incurring fees. Other banks charge you for loan contract pre-termination so hopefully it’s really free!

ETA: I just confirmed that the early settlement fee is FREE because I just paid the whole loan amount and I wasn’t charged for it. Yey!

Finally

Overall I’m pretty pleased with the experience. Everything was fast, smooth, and easy. 
Have you tried applying for a loan with CIMB? How was your experience?