How to get heavy discounts on EMI purchases sans the EMIs
New Delhi: These days, ecommerce firms offer hefty discounts on consumer products if you opt for equated monthly instalments (EMIs) on credit card purchases. But, what if you do not prefer the EMIs and would rather have only the discounts? Some people have come up with a clever workaround for this.
Noida-based Narayan Kumar was recently offered a sweet deal on a refrigerator–15% upfront discount by converting the purchase into credit card EMIs. On a listing price of ₹98,000, he could buy the fridge for ₹85,000 net of processing fees and tax and save ₹13,000. The deal was simple–by converting the purchase into EMIs, he was getting a significant upfront discount and the convenience of paying back the amount over 16 months. But, the 51-year-old had a better plan.
After buying the fridge and paying the first instalment, he had the EMIs cancelled to avoid the interest. “I called my bank RM (relationship manager) and got the EMIs cancelled. He even waived any foreclosure charges," said Kumar. After accounting for the processing fee and the total interest he would pay at 12% rate, his effective savings would have reduced to just ₹3,589 instead of ₹13,000.
“This was the second time I got the EMI cancelled on a purchase. This was entirely possible due to my over 25 years of banking relationship and 17 years as a premium credit card member with my bank," he Kumar.
If the loan ticket size is small, you don’t even need a banking relationship for this workaround. In Bengaluru, Sumit Nathany was able to cancel EMIs on his earphones in under one minute by just calling the customer care helpline of his bank. “They not only cancelled the EMI but also reversed processing fee and taxes of ₹235," said the 35-year-old software engineer. He
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