5 days Ago By Kamya Pandey
Explainer Briefly Slides In an attempt to expand outside marriage matchmaking, Matrimony.com has opened up a wedding loan service called “WeddingLoans.com” .
This comes after the company said it was in the process of launching its wedding loan service earlier this month during its earnings call . The company calls this a “customer-first advisory-led lending platform creating an industry-first dedicated category for facilitating wedding loans in collaboration with leading institutions.” The company is providing its loan services in partnership with Tata Capital, IDFC First Bank, L&T Finance, TVS Credit and Bhanix Finance and Investment Limited.
“With WeddingLoan.com, we wish to extend our services to make the process of wedding planning, budgeting, and execution simpler,” Matrimony.com’s CEO Murugavel Janakiraman said in a statement about the company’s new loan service, according to an ET report .
Details of Matrimony.com’s loan service: The company clearly defines a wedding loan as a “financial credit facility designed to help you cover your wedding expenses”. Depending on the end-use requirements it could be a personal loan, an overdraft facility (where a user withdraws more money than present in their account), a revolving credit (which allows you to withdraw funds whenever wedding expenses arise, repay the amount, and borrow again as needed) or other novel credit products.
The loan amount averages between Rs 50,000 to Rs 25 lakh and doesn’t typically require any collateral. The co-applicant here must be a parent or spouse (not a fiance) and the customer must have the necessary documents to prove their relationship with the co-applicant. The company specifies that the wedding loan does not cover gifts for guests or the wedding party, extravagant entertainment costs (like celebrity performances) and personal items not related to the wedding such as home furnishings or electronics.
Customers also cannot use the loan amount for investments like starting a business or a house down payment. While WeddingLoans.com has not mentioned a specific interest rate on their site, according to a report by Jefferies, the interest rate for wedding loans in India are on the higher end from 10-36% per annum.
Difference between wedding loans and marry now, pay later: WeddingLoans.com clarifies that while some may use Marry Now Pay Later schemes (MNPL) and wedding loans interchangeably, they are not the same. “Marry Now, Pay Later’ schemes are financing options that allow couples to plan and host their wedding without immediate payment, spreading the costs over time through easy installments,” the website explains.
It adds that largely, fintech lenders provide these services in partnership with hotel chains. Under MNPL schemes, fintechs pay the hotel on a customer’s behalf and then collect that money back spread over a period of 3-36 months, with no penalties for early repayment. However, as per WeddingLoans.
com’s explanation wedding loans appear to be standards credit lines especially meant for wedding related expenses. Matrimony’s plans to become a wedding stack service: Started as a match-making service in 2001, Matrimony.com has gradually beyond that.
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