You must have seen the ad for Union banks collateral free loans, where a young guy wants to start a business and is looking for money and his dad comes to the rescue with a loan application from Union Bank… if you haven’t… please check the TVC below. I will uncover the truth behind this false advertising.

When i saw this commercial, i was like WOW! this is super. Now even i can apply for a loan for my startup… So i called Union Bank customer care, after a couple calls and 5 min wait, i was told that the call centre had no information about this loan and they gave me a number to their retail loan division. I called that division and was told that they are only for home loans and some other types of loans and have no information about the collateral free loans either. Upon telling them that i was given this number by the call centre, they said that “don’t know they keep giving our number”

Anyways, i was still very enthusiastic about this scene so decided to visit the nearest branch (Vasant Vihar, Delhi) I was pointed to the credit division desk in the basement of the branch, so i asked… please tell me about the collateral free loan which is being advertised.

Officer: (From behind the desk) “Ask”
Me: I need more information.
Officer: “ask”
Me: (frustrated, so i reworded my question) Please tell me what i need to get the loan.
Officer: Do you have an account in the bank?
Me: No, but i can open one!
Officer: You need a current account in operation for 3 years
Me: This is not what is being advertised.. you are showing someone who wants to start a new business, applying for loan?
Officer: We do not show everything in the commercial
Me: But this is nothing at all what you are showing
Office: “Free me paise de denge kya?”
Me: This is stupidity… and i walked out.

Even if i consider for a minute that the father in the commercial got the loan for his son, then also it does not make sense as the father would only have a savings account and not a current account as he was an employee himself.

I would request people who make such commercials and banks who propagate false advertising to stop doing this, this not only wastes everyones time but also creates a negative image in the mind of people. The brand value of Union Bank just dropped in my eyes… not that this would make any difference to such banks.