Struggling To Raise Funds For Medical Expense During Covid Crisis? Here Are Options You Can Consider

In case you want to consider taking a loan to meet the medical emergency, here are few options to look at from credit card, gold loans etc .

A Covid patients sits outside LNJP hospital in Delhi (Image: PTI)

Covid-19 will go down in the history as one of the worst pandemics with people going through emotional turmoil as well as financial hardships.

Although taking an insurance cover can help you meet the cost of treatment for Covid-19, but there are times when the settlement may take depending on if the insurer feels the hospital overcharged the customer.

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The claims of insurance policy depend on various terms and conditions of the policy, and depending on that insurers may also reject to pay certain components of the hospital bill. However, the insurance regular has asked companies to not delay settlement of Covid-19 claims.

Until the claim is passed, you may turn to relatives and friends and also consider withdrawing the investment to arrange for a medical emergency. In case you want to consider taking a loan to meet the medical emergency, here are few options you can look at.

Use credit card

In case of medical emergy, most hospitals will accept payment through credit card. It is one of the fastest ways to arrange for the money, but remember that the cost of a credit card can go up to over 40 percent annually.

Make sure to check for a pre-approved loan

Depending on your credit history the bank may offer you a pre-approved personal loan offer.  In such a case, you can avail of a pre-approved loan instantly through net banking. The amount is credited to your account in a few seconds.

Turning to gold

Another way to get access to money is by taking a loan against gold. There are non-banking financial companies offering gold loans in a span of one hour if they know your customer documents are in order.

In a pandemic situation, some lenders also don’t mind sending executives at the borrower’s location.

Opt for loan against securities

You can also consider at taking a loan against fixed deposits, and in most cases, you may have to visit the branch. You can also apply for a loan online against securities which include mutual funds and stocks. However, there are restrictions on the kind of stocks banks offer loans against. So far, you can opt for a loan against mutual funds investment from top fund houses.

Also, note you can avail up to 50 percent of the current value of the investments in equity funds and get a slightly higher value in the case of debt funds.

Even though loans should be the last resort and you should always have emergency funds to deal with such health crises but if you are forced to opt for any of these options, make sure you have a plan in place to repay the debt as early as possible.