A Mumbai-based entrepreneur slammed KreditBee, a digital lending platform that guarantees funds to the applicant’s account within 10 minutes of application, for turning down her loan request because she did not have a male co-applicant and guarantor. Simran Sainani, the founder and CEO of Curl Care, turned to LinkedIn to share screenshots of her discussion with a KreditBee representative, who confirmed that the platform requires a male applicant for loan approval. Her post has sparked reactions from hundreds of social media users, including female businesswomen who shared their experiences of facing discrimination while funding their ventures.
Furthermore, the KreditBee representative shared that the male applicant must be under the age of 55, which instantly eliminated Sainani’s father as a potential applicant because he is 62, Curl Care’s CEO said.
When Simran asked if a female applicant’s father is over 55 and there are no other male members in the family, the KreditBee representative wrote to Sainani via WhatsApp: “I am truly sorry, Ma’am.” According to KreditBee’s company policy, they don’t give loans to female applicants without a co-applicant. “Ma’am, if you will take any loan, you have to provide a guarantor… but the guarantor needs to be male,” the KreditBee representative further added in the message.
Sharing screenshots of the chat with KreditBee, Sainani wrote, “Did you know that as a Female Entrepreneur in India, you can be denied a business loan simply because you don’t have a male co-applicant? Yes, you read that right—no matter how capable, driven, or creditworthy you are, institutions like KreditBee have a “strict policy” that blocks your access to funds unless you have a male guarantor.”
“And guess what? If you’re thinking your father could help, he must be under 55. If not, you better have a husband or a brother handy. Well, I don’t. My father is 62, and I’m being penalized for that,” Sainani further mentioned on LinkedIn.
She retorted, “It’s 2024, folks. We keep shouting about #BetiPadhao, but forget to mention the fine print: #CoapplicantKeBinaMatBadhana. To all the lenders out there: Women are JUST as capable of paying back loans and are more than worthy of supporting someone else as a co-applicant.”
On the subject, KredBee clarified in the comments that they do not support such practices and only adhere to RBI guidelines and industry compliances. The company further suggested that she share her details so that they can look into the matter.
Sainani’s post also resonated with many other entrepreneurs. Shilpa Vadrevu, a founder from Visakhapatnam, said that banks rejected her loan applications despite having an “excellent credit score” because she did not have a male co-applicant.
A Project Manager, while sharing her own experience, said, “Totally resonates with a similar experience I had with a Public Sector Bank. The loan officer asked me to bring my children (grey hair bias) as co-applicant as my father is 70+. I am single, no child, not employed as a full-time employee so I was outright rejected as not eligible for a loan, and I have been banking with them for 20+ years.”
Rahul Maurya, Co-Founder of Mubera, came out in support, claiming that women are more conscientious than men in paying their EMIs on time.
A LinkedIn user expressed her shock at the non-inclusive stance of financial institutions, which consider gender as a decision-making criterion. Another user shared her disappointment over the incident and said, “I thought we won most of our battles in 1921! I don’t understand the reason behind this inequality, plus they still want to reason it out?”
Other female entrepreneurs have also opened up about their experiences where they were denied a loan as they did not have a male co-applicant. “I’ve gone through something very similar—I was applying for a housing loan and business loan on different occasions with an excellent credit score, only to be denied by four different banks because I didn’t have a male co-applicant,” one wrote.
The LinkedIn post has sparked a fresh discussion on the issue of financial inequality, highlighting how gender bias still continues to impact a woman’s ability to access loans.
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