Now, you can avail a personal loan online without any phone calls or physical contact.

As the economy is reeling under lockdown due to COVID-19, lenders are further boosting their digital capabilities.

In the last few years, getting a personal loan has got easier with online application and instant approval.

With jobs and income under pressure, the demand for personal loans have also gone up.

“While lockdown is temporary, COVID-19 is here to stay for some time. It has had a profound effect on the way business is done, and some of these changes will become the way of life. As a result of the lockdown, we have gone full throttle in strengthening our digital platforms, tools and processes. For financiers, the major focus for the next few months would be on business opportunities where credit can be digitally sourced, delivered and collected,” says Bhavesh Gupta, CEO, Clix Capital.

Different personal loan providers have introduced newer features to enhance their digital presence and also boosted their existing digital channels. The idea is to make it easy for customers to access the product and also answer any queries they have.

Also, with most of their staff working from home, the onus is on training of customer service staff to adapt to the new normal and gain knowledge on new products and services.

And technology is making this possible.

AI powered chatbots were in vogue even before the pandemic, but now they are getting more traction. Clix recently launched an AI-powered virtual assistant, Maya, which has proved to be a boon in the current scenario. Maya has been very well received with a third of their total customer queries being addressed through it.

The company has also activated a very comprehensive business continuity plan days before the lockdown came into effect. The team has been able to handle the surge in customer queries working remotely. Training is also being conducted remotely through a learning experience platform - Curio - to enable remote learning for all employees. They have also implemented regular training and assessment programs via Webex and telecalls for its customer service staff. Training content on web/mobile for anytime, anywhere self-training has also been introduced. “Modules on a three-month moratorium, product and policy specifications, technology guides and manuals are periodically disseminated through Curio, which has really kept our employees speed up in terms of serving our customers smoothly,” says Gupta.

By focussing on their digital outreach, personal loan providers are trying to stay relevant even during the lockdown and get business. Even after the lockdown is over, these practices are here to stay.

Loan providers are thus opening up multiple channels for people to access personal loans like website, app, chatbot and also a dedicated team of customer service personnel who are available on mail and call to address customer grievances.