Unsecured personal loans

Unsecured personal loans are a much more expensive way to access personal-loans, as lenders don’t secure the loan against assets like cars, savings, boats, houses or other valuable items. Unsecured loans therefore are more accessible if you don’t have any assets but you will pay somewhere between 5%-36% dependant on your credit history and credit score and your current employment.

Secured personal loans

Secured-loans require you to have assets that the loan can be secured against. Thus the lender can recoup any losses if the money is not repaid. The interest rates for secured personal loans range from 1-15% again dependant on your creditworthiness and current employment.

Fixed-rate loans

Most personal debt will have a fixed interest rate, this means the amount you pay in interest does not change.

It makes it easier for you to budget as each month the payment amount is consistent.

Variable-rate loans

Interest rates for variable loans change based on a number of factors, economic and societal.

One of the best things about variable rates is that the APR is typically lower than fixed and reputable lenders will often add a cap on how much they can increase the rate. The downside is the rate can go up, but typically this happens over months not weeks. So a variable loan is a good solution for a short term loan, but should be avoided if needed for a longer period.

Debt consolidation loans

The idea of a debt consolidation loan is to roll multiple debts of varying interest rates to one that is a) easier to manage and b) is cheaper to pay off than the multiple loans outstanding. They’re great if you need to pay off expensive credit cards, unsecured loans that you can now secure with say a new car you bought or savings you may have or a partner can lend you.

Co-sign loans

This kind of loan is for borrowers with no credit history, the idea is a family member, partner or close friend can sign the loan and they guarantee if you cannot pay they are able to. It’s a good option if you have someone you have someone close enough to you willing to help you start your journey towards having a credit score.

Personal line of credit

A personal line of credit is access to an amount of money that can be used on a rolling basis. For example a credit card offers this line of credit, but there are other lines of credit that are available. This kind of debt is perfect if you’re short on cash and need to pay for groceries, medical bills or other recurring expenses. A line of credit allows you to borrow as you need and not apply for specific loans. The downside is that these loans can be more expensive especially if you don’t pay your balances in time.


Payday loans

Payday loans are short term unsecured debt people take out and pay back with their next paycheck.

Payday loans are short-term, high-interest — and risky — loans. Most borrowers wind up taking out additional loans when they can’t repay the first, trapping them in a debt cycle. That means interest charges mount quickly, and loans with APRs in the triple digits are not uncommon.



Paycheck Advance

Technically, this service isn’t actually a loan; it’s an advance of your salary. Basically you can get paid for work you’ve completed say the first week of the month, but a tad earlier than your usual monthly or fortnightly payment.

The way it works is typically a third party service/app will send you the balance of the work you’ve done say 200 dollars. The best thing is there is no interest the money just comes directly from your next paycheck, although you may a flat fee to access a service like this.


Credit card cash advance

You can use your credit card to get cashback from a store or ATM directly and quickly. The rates are even higher than typical credit card fees and they often charge a fee as well either fixed amounts like $10 or a percentage of the amount of cash borrowed.

Pawnshop loan

This is a secured personal-loan. You borrow against an asset, like an expensive watch, a wedding ring, a laptop, speakers or other electronics. The way it works is you leave the asset at a pawnshop and they loan you the money, if you don’t pay in time they can sell your asset from the store and recoup their losses. 

Pawnshop loans are a good if you have limited assets, but they are typically very expensive. The upside is your credit isn’t ruined if you cannot pay in time, but you will lose the items you left at the pawnshop.

Student loans

A student loan is typically money borrowed from the government or a private lender in order to pay for college tuition, it most cases it can  be used for housing, books and most importantly course fees.

There are a number of services that allow you to refinance your student loan to a cheaper deal.

Students can get personal-loans in Australia but you'll need to be at least 18 and an Australian citizen or permanent resident. and likely have some kind of consistent income. Some lenders will let your parents guarantee the loan. Usually the loan you get will need to be for a specific purpose like buying a laptop or a car and used for that purpose.

Lenders that will lend to students include:

Now Finance (5.95%)
Our Money Market (6.5%)
Alex (5.49%)
Symple (6.47%)
Wisr (6.76%)

Check out the full list of personal loans.

It is possible in Australia to get a same day personal-loan, check out our same day personal loan list here to find the lenders that can offer you a same day loan.

They are well over 40 personal loan companies in Australia. The lenders we're talking about here are just a portion of the list below you can use to compare these lenders. These lenders are the most searched personal loan lenders on Google in Australia:

1. Newcastle Permanent personal loans

Newcastle Permanent's personal loans have a $250 application fee but then have no other fees aside from the interest payments you'd make on any other loan.

2. People's Choice personal loans

People's Choice offers personal loans so you can buy a new car, renovate your home, refinance an existing loans or to go on a holiday.

3. BOQ personal loans

BOQ is a personal lender that offers loans from $3000 - $40,000 and charges a $150 application fee.The minimum term of the loan is 1 year and maximum is 7.

4. Coles personal loans

Coles offers personal loans with cheaper rates going to their members and slightly more expensive loans for non members. They have a $10 a month fee that's waived in the first year and charge a $100 application fee. Loans range from 5k to 50k.

5. Greater personal loans

Greater Bank has three personal loan types car, secured and unsecured loans. They lend from 5k to 100k based on the loan, and they charge a $275 establishment fee. Loans are available even if self employed.

6. Me Bank personal loans

Me Bank has a personal loan offer from 5k to 50k and a $250 establishment fee, the loans run from 1-7 years.

7. Suncorp bank personal loans

Suncorp has discontinued their personal loans but check out all the other great personal loan lenders.

8. RAA personal loans

RAA offers personal loans upto 100k their interest rates go down as the amount goes up (and based on your credit.) They have no monthly fees and members get 1% p.a. off the standard interest rate, plus get $100 off the $355  establishment fee.