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Personal Loans Australia
Thinking of applying for a personal loan? Here’s what you need to know before you do.
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Features and benefits of our personal loan
Compare and secure a low rate personal
You can save on your personal loan through Savvy when you compare a range of competitive interest rate offers, as you can choose the lowest with more confidence.
Borrow up to $75,000
From a minimum of just $2,000, you can borrow for a wide range of purposes all the way up to $75,000 for your personal loan.
Money in your account in 24 hours
Our lending partners offer rapid responses within 60 seconds and can have your loan funds transferred to you in the space of 24 hours.
Repay your loan over one to seven years
Selecting the term over which you repay your personal loan enables you the power to shape your repayments to your liking, big or small.
Choose your payment frequency
Additionally, you can opt to pay back your loan on a monthly, fortnightly or weekly basis depending on which best suits your needs.
Free extra repayments
We can match you with lenders who afford you the flexibility to pay your loan off ahead of schedule and save hundreds, if not more, in the process.
Personal interest calculation
Each applicant will be given their own unique interest rate as part of their application, which you can check ahead of time with our lenders.
Eligibility
Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents, earning a minimum of $20,000 p.a. (although this varies) with a portion of this coming from full-time or permanent part-time employment and be at least 18 years old.
Types of personal loan
With an unsecured personal loan, you can potentially borrow as much as $75,000 without the need to attach any valuable assets, such as your car, as security. These loans are the most widely available and often the quickest, with same-day approval possible.
Secured personal loans, on the other hand, make use of collateral. This lowers your risk profile in the eyes of a lender, potentially lowering your interest rate and expanding your borrowing power beyond what you may be able to get through an unsecured loan.
Variable interest rates remain open to fluctuation during your term. This means you can benefit from decreasing rates and save on your loan if the market heads in that direction, although you’ll also pay more if rates start rising.
Fixed interest rates are locked at the beginning of your loan and remain constant throughout your repayments. This acts as a valuable protection against interest rate increases, as your loan will be unaffected, but you’ll miss out on potential drops as well.
If you’re paying off multiple debts at the moment, particularly those with high interest (such as credit card debts), consolidating them into one payment can not only make them more convenient to manage but also potentially save you money overall.
Looking to take off on a holiday with your family but want to pay it off at your own speed? Travelling can be expensive, so you can distribute the cost of your next trip over a period you’re more comfortable with by taking out a personal loan to pay for it.
There are so many costs that go into making your dream wedding a reality, from venue hire to catering to dresses and suits and so much more. By taking out a personal loan, you can start planning the big day you want, even if you can’t pay for it upfront.
Home improvements are desirable for a range of homeowners to help keep their living space fresh and interesting, not to mention increase its value. You can get past the financial hit of renovations with a personal loan paid in instalments.
Personal loans aren’t limited to PAYG employees, though. If you’re running your own business, you can still be approved for financing by submitting tax returns and other alternative documents instead of payslips and utilise your funds however you wish.
There’s a variety of expenses which come with being a student, ranging from the cost of your courses, textbooks and computer to your accommodation. Taking out a personal loan can make these costs more manageable by spacing them out.
Some lenders offer green personal loans, which are designed to be used for energy-efficient appliances and products such as solar panel and air conditioning installation in your home. You can qualify for lower interest rates and fees with this loan.
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Personal loans explained further
What shapes your interest rate
There are a number of factors that go into the interest rate that you’ll receive on your personal loan. Perhaps the most important of these is your credit score. This is a numerical figure that provides an indication of your overall success when it comes to repaying past debts such as your regular household bills, with a higher score almost always leading to a lower rate.
In addition to this, you’re likely to receive a lower interest rate if you have demonstrable history repaying similar loans (such as a car loan or another personal loan), as that shows that you’re capable of managing the debt. Your income and how you receive it will also have a bearing on the level of risk your lender calculates when approving your application.
Fees and comparison rates
The two primary fees to be aware of are ongoing service fees and application fees. Ongoing fees are charged with each pay instalment and are usually only small added costs of up to $10, but some lenders on our panel don’t charge any monthly fees. The application fee is only a one-off charge based upon the size of your personal loan. This can either come as a flat fee of up to $575 or can be represented as a percentage of your loan amount up to 5%, but also is sometimes not charged. You may also be charged an early repayment fee (which depends on the time left to run on your loan) and a late payment fee of between $15 and $35, although the former is often not charged.
Fixed or variable rates
The diversity of products offered by our lending partners allows you to select between fixed and variable interest rates on your personal loan. Either may be more suited to you, as they offer different benefits to borrowers.
Fixed rates involve locking your interest in at the beginning of the loan term, which prevents it from fluctuating at all across your repayment period. The primary benefit of this is that it enables you to more accurately budget around your loan payments between instalments, as well as being offered at a lower initial figure and protecting you from rate rises during your term.
Variable rates, on the other hand, are left open to move throughout your loan agreement. Borrowers are best placed to take advantage of any rate falls and save a meaningful amount of money. However, these loans are generally offered far less frequently than fixed rates.
Personal loan security
When it comes to security, our lenders provide unsecured personal loans to customers. This means that you don’t have to put forward a valuable asset, which is often a car or other vehicle, to act as collateral for the loan if you aren’t able to pay it off in full, which would be the case for a secured loan.
Unsecured loans are faster to process thanks to the lack of a need to assess the suitability of your asset as potential collateral. Additionally, personal loans are often secured by the purchase itself, granting you a greater level of freedom to use your funds however you see fit. However, it’s important to note that security will reduce your interest rate and potentially expand your borrowing power beyond $50,000.
What you can use it for
The beauty of personal loans is that they’re able to be used for just about anything. The possibilities are almost limitless when it comes to what you can spend the money on. Debt consolidation is one of the most common and useful reasons why borrowers take out a personal loan, as bringing multiple ongoing debts under one roof can help make them more manageable and save you money. This is particularly useful if steep medical expenses are involved.
You can use it for something larger like buying a car without worrying about how old it is or you could simply put it towards a holiday. There are personal loans available to students who are looking to pay for any of their study or living costs.
Frequently asked questions about personal loans
Potentially not – if you’re a new permanent resident of Australia without having lived here in the past, your lender won’t have access to your credit file from the previous country/s you’ve lived in. As such, you’re likely to be treated with more caution as a borrower. However, your rate can still be made to be more affordable if you’re able to demonstrate that your income is stable and you can comfortably service the loan.
Because sole traders generally can’t supply income documents like payslips, you can apply for a personal loan with your tax returns from the two most recent years to essentially replace these. If you can’t supply these, you can apply for a low doc personal loan, which utilises alternative documentation like your ABN, income declaration, BAS and profit and loss statements. These loans come with higher interest rates and more restrictions on borrowing, however.
Yes – we can help you find a personal loan even if your credit score isn’t perfect. It’s important to note, though, that you’ll have to have a clean record when it comes to past defaults and bankruptcy, which means you may have to wait until these are removed from your credit file (after five years).
Aside from having a good credit score to cut down on your interest rate, there are several ways you can cut down on the overall cost of your cheap loan. Making additional repayments is one way to do this as you’ll pay off your loan ahead of schedule, cutting down on the period of time spend paying interest and fees in the process. This means that picking a shorter loan term will have the same effect. Finally, building up your savings is another way to demonstrate financial discipline and increase your lender’s confidence in you as a borrower.
The documents you’ll need to supply when completing your application are:
- Driver’s licence and/or passport (or other valid photo ID)
- Employment contract
- Two most recent payslips
- Information on assets and liabilities
In addition to these, your lender may require you to submit 90 days’ worth of bank statements. If you receive any Centrelink benefits, you’ll also have to supply statements relating to these.
You can access our easy borrowing calculator to determine what size personal loan you’ll be able to take out, which will be based on what you can afford in terms of repayments.
This depends on what you’re using them for. If you’re making smaller purchases up to around $2,000 that can be paid off within a short timeframe (usually 30 days), a credit card can be a useful way to access funds without paying interest. However, they have much higher interest rates than personal loans do, so anything that might be at risk of bleeding over into the following month or months could incur a significant amount in interest and fees. Personal loans are also faster and easier to be approved for if you need the money more urgently.
No – while your application fee is calculated at the start of your loan, you won’t be required to pay this upfront. This fee is built into your repayments and will only need to be paid individually if you pay off your loan earlier than your term ending.
Helpful personal loan guides
Still looking for the right personal loan?
Personal loans come in all shapes and sizes, so read more about the ways you can use them, as well as how they might work for you.