“Is there any rule in banking that allows them to refuse to sanction personal loans or credit cards to a relative of a lawyer or policeman whether the person is self-employed or salaried?”

“I work with an NGO, but I am finding it difficult to get a loan.”

These are some of the common queries that I come across when I talk to people.

Or, when a friend of mine approached for a loan and said that he was working with an ad agency, the bank agent politely declined the application saying “Sir, we do not offer services in your area”. So, the friend asked which areas had the service. The agent just walked away!

Though we are not aware of any such specific practices, banks may not be keen on lending loans to specific categories of lenders.

But, hearsay doesn’t really convince one of the issues that borrower community may face. A friend, Ms. Bhateja employed with a private limited company approached a private bank for a car loan. She was employed with a dotcom company and had a good pay package. Ideally, she should not have faced problems getting the loan.

Well, she could just get about 50 per cent of the cost of the car as a loan. And, being unmarried, she could not get a loan without a guarantor.

Bhateja’s mother, a teacher employed with a listed school applied for the same loan on her daughter’s behalf. She got the loan within 15 days - without a guarantor. She also got 75 per cent of the cost of the vehicle as a loan and for tenure as short as 12 months.

Well, while the borrower community may not like the idea of ‘preferred borrowers,’ it is very much there.

People working with dotcoms, private companies, or those associated with NGOs may not have a stable source of income. In fact, in a few cases, the income may fluctuate. Banks may also be wary of lending to professional such as lawyers and doctors, especially those with private practices.

By not lending a loan to a ‘weak’ borrower, the bank is saving its interests; as well as the borrower’s. Private practices can be monetarily lucrative, but whether the pattern can be sustained or not is not a risk the lender is willing to take. Keeping this in mind, the lender may offer a reduced loan amount or tenure. A loan default can spoil your creditworthiness. Worst, it can bring you face-to-face to a recovery agent.

There can also be an issue with designations. Once a borrower has given in the application, the verification is out-sourced to some credit-verification agency. More often than not, these individuals are not well-versed or exposed to the new careers, or may find it difficult to understand or converse in English. Say, a designation of Features Writer can be very ambiguous as compared to that of a Journalist.

Ms Bhateja got a call from a bank saying that she could apply for personal loan of a lakh against her credit card. Followed a rapid round and a promise that a guy from the bank would come to pick up the documents.

She got a call in the morning, “Madam, apaka designation clear nahin hai. Journalist log ko loan mein thoda problem ho sakta hai.”

No clear answers. All vague.