Loans delivered at the speed of pizza! This start-up facilitates loans instantly

Qbera is making instant loans a reality whereupon providing all necessary documents, one can secure a loan in as little as 30 minutes
Qbera is a Bengaluru-based start-up | Pics: Vinod Kumar T
Qbera is a Bengaluru-based start-up | Pics: Vinod Kumar T

There are three people in the room. One is a student who has a promising start-up, another is a  small businessman who buys and sells furniture and the last one works in an MNC. Who is likeliest to secure a loan? Today’s robust banking system may have you thinking that all three are eligible, but everyone knows the answer isn’t that simple. Largely, there are three criteria that banks consider before they approve a loan — who your employer is, how much you make and your CIBIL score.

Coming back to our question, what if we say that the man working in a multinational company has been maxing out his credit card for the past three months or the businessman has no collateral, then what would your answer be? They clearly fall into that unserviced segment which the bank doesn’t consider.

A Team: Aditya Kumar (centre) along with his team 

Enter Qbera — a company which is facilitating loans instantly or as their website claims — “We believe that getting a loan should be as fast, easy and painless as ordering pizza or hailing a cab.” And for this, as Aditya Kumar, the founder and CEO, tells us, they have a data-driven approach. “We are developing lending programmes, a profile of applicants and a scorecard, using which we approach banks and tell them about the scope of lending money to this huge unserviced segment,” says Kumar. Their mission is simple, “Applicants who fail any of the three criteria are our target audience,” he states.

So anyone from a young professional, to an entrepreneur or an SME owner can approach Qbera, which has partnered with RBL Bank and IndusInd Bank, for a loan. “Home improvement is the most common reason for which people approach us apart from debt consolidation, paying off credit card bills, travel, marriage, second-hand cars and more,” says the 34-year-old, who started Qbera in January 2017, though the idea has been brewing in his head for some time now.

Changing the perception in the industry of an entire customer segment and to say that we will lend to such applicants, provided that they work for an employer we recognise and have an income cut-off, is a game-changer


Aditya Kumar, founder, Qbera

He informs us that they have processed about 150,000 applications and have funded up to Rs 30 crore worth of loans till date. Their USP is the amount of time it takes for them to process loans, provided the customer is available to provide the necessary documentation (KYC and such). “While the reality is that banks take about two to four days to transfer the loan into your bank account, we can transfer it in as quickly as 30 minutes,” Kumar, who grew up in Germany and returned to India in 2008 to explore opportunities here, explains.

Ask Kumar what the biggest challenge was and without a second thought, he says that it was getting RBL Bank on board. “Getting a bank to agree to lend customers who won’t even be considered was a challenge indeed,” says Kumar. He also found it challenging to put together his team.

Qbera believes in serving an under-served segment
They facilitate hassle-free, instant loans
The process of applying for loans is comparatively easy, provided one has all the documents
They follow a data-driven approach which ensures more efficiency
Qbera has a low NPA

While Qbera currently functions in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad, they hope to expand to Tier II cities like Coimbatore, Lucknow and others as well. They want to partner with multiple institutions to offer multiple products and expand their product base in the coming days.

While considering loan applications, there are essentially two questions Qbera focuses on — their intent of taking the loan and their ability to pay it back. And when it comes to the defaulters, which the bank is responsible for, they assist the banks in the recovery process. They visit the customer’s residence and office, encash the security cheque and help with legal proceedings as well.

Time period: The duration for which loans are given ranges from 12 to 60 months

And as far as the answer to the question we asked at the beginning goes, we say that all the three of them stand a chance to secure a loan as long as organisations like Qbera are around.

For more, click on qbera.com

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