CIMB Personal Loan Review: Should You Apply For This Loan?

CIMB Personal Loan Review: Should You Apply For This Loan?

What is a CIMB personal loan? 

CIMB’s personal loan is quite one of a kind in the market today. It’s a no-collateral loan that doesn’t require a guarantor! Plus, they don’t have a physical branch where you can transact with them directly. 

Everything is done through their app, even their loan application. Registration is fairly easy, you only need a local phone number and a valid ID to get started!

CIMB Personal Loan

CIMB Personal Loan

Get approved in just 10 minutes!

Feature highlights

  • Unsecured personal loan
  • Minimum loan amount of ₱30,000; the maximum loan amount of ₱1,000,000.
  • Loan tenure of 12, 24, 36, 48, or 60 months.
  • Monthly add-on rates range from 1.12% to 1.95% (corresponds to annual contractual rates of 24%, 30%, or 36%).
  • Income requirement of only ₱15,000.

Criteria to be eligible for CIMB Personal Loan

  • Individuals only
  • Applicant must be at least 21 years old; at most must be no older than 65 upon loan maturity
  • Applicant must be a Philippine citizen and a non-US person
  • Applicant must have a Philippine mailing address and active Philippine mobile number
  • Applicant must have a minimum gross monthly income of ₱15,000
  • Applicant, if employed, must be tenured for at least 6 months, or 1 year of continuous
  • employment, unless employed in the top 15,000 corporations
  • Applicant, if self-employed, must be operating for at least 1 year

You also need any one of the following valid IDs:

  • Driver’s License (or its variants including conductor’s license, student permit, temporary
  • permit)
  • Passport
  • Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) ID
  • SSS – Social Security System
  • Unified Multipurpose ID (UMID)
  • Postal ID
  • Voter’s (COMELEC) ID Card

Interest rates

Annual contract rates of 24%, 30%, or 36%.

Fees

  • Document stamp tax – ₱225
  • Disbursement fee – ₱500

What makes this CIMB loan different from other loans?

First of all, this unsecured personal loan doesn’t require post-dated checks, a credit card, or a CIMB bank account unlike other unsecured loans offered by most banks. That alone sets this apart from other similar products. Another unique feature of this loan is that it is only available through their app. No third-party application or bank appearance needed.

The app-based application is necessary as CIMB doesn’t have a physical branch in the Philippines yet. This goes without saying that everything will have to be done online, even for those crucial inquiries that are better off done face-to-face. They do have a customer service hotline, but it doesn’t exactly replace the assurance and efficiency of the help that you in person. 

What we like about the CIMB Bank loan

The application is easy and convenient, from initial application, submission of documents, to the contract signing, I only did everything through my phone. 

The main attraction for the CIMB personal loan is the loan term options. You can choose a payment term as short as 12 months, or as long as 5 years for any amount – even if you are looking to borrow the minimum ₱30,000. 

In comparison, ₱30,000 is usually considered a short-term loan by most loan providers (banks and non-banks), thus the typical tenure offered is often capped at 12 months. While this may not necessarily be beneficial for a longer repayment term because of the interest payments that it will incur, it might be beneficial if you’re looking for lower monthly repayments to give your cash flow some breathing room.

Things to consider before applying for this loan

CIMB’s marketing presents their monthly interest rates as ranging from 1.12% to 1.95%. However, these actually translate to annual contract rates of 24%, 30%, or 36%. While it’s easy to apply for a bigger loan with longer-term with CIMB, you might end up paying almost or more than 50% of the principal amount if you opt for a tenure of more than 12 months. 

A ₱30,000 loan on a 24-month term contract will rake in 48% interest (₱14,400). CIMB’s interest rate is quite steep, but this is a pretty standard rate for most unsecured loans from lenders even banks (Citibank’s annual contract rate for one is 26%). You can get around this, though, by getting a shorter loan term, but for some, it’s going to be at the expense of their cash flow. 

On top of the interest rates, there are other fees that will be deducted from your loan amount upon disbursement which are the documentary stamp tax worth ₱225 and a disbursement fee of ₱500. These fees are pretty standard, but they might eat up a bigger fraction of your loan if you only apply for a small amount. 

Finally, CIMB doesn’t have a physical branch that you can visit for your urgent concerns. While this isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, it’s something to consider if you think you may need immediate support from the bank at some point during your loan tenure. 

Why should you consider this loan?

All things considered, CIMB personal loan still offers a competitive interest rate for an unsecured personal loan. It’s the lowest compared to other banks!

Bank Annual contract rate
CIMB24%
BPI 25.60%
Citibank26%
BDO26.27%
Security Bank29.48%

However, where their Personal Loan shines is the flexibility of the loan amount – you can borrow as much money as you need or opt not to borrow more money than you need. 

In the end, CIMB Bank personal loan is a good loan option. Not only does it have a seamless application process and fast turnaround time, but there’s also so much flexibility in their loan offering, from the amount to the payment term. 

Just like any major financial decision, always look at whether you can afford a loan and take only what you can afford. Remember, smaller monthly payments may seem great on affordability but you could easily end up paying way more than what you’re actually borrowing! So always look at the cost of it over the entire loan period and adjust your loan accordingly.

 

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