Written by The features and benefits of a $20,000 loan
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A checklist for before you apply for a $20,000 personal loan
Compare with Savvy
Before you commit to any one offer, you should first explore your options as thoroughly as possible. You can do this by analysing offers available from Savvy’s lending partners, comparing different loans based on factors such as interest rates, fees, minimum and maximum loan term and repayment flexibility. Doing this will give you greater peace of mind that you’ve settled on the right loan after surveying the market closely. Once you’ve chosen your loan, you can proceed to reviewing its particulars.
Confirm your eligibility
One key factor when comparing loans is to make sure that you meet your lender’s eligibility criteria. It’s especially important that you do this given that a series of rejected applications on your file could lower your overall chances of approval, which is highly avoidable when it comes to eligibility. You’ll need to meet the following points to qualify for most personal loans:
- 18 years or older
- An Australian citizen or permanent resident
- Employed and earning a stable income of at least $20,000 p.a.
Review your credit file
You should be across what’s on your credit file before you submit your application to your lender. Your score is a major determining factor when it comes to approval in general, as well as the rate and borrowing power you’ll be afforded, so you can check this for free every three months via Equifax, Experian, illion or another credit reporting agency in Australia. This also gives you the chance to rectify any potential errors on your file.
Work out your affordability
In addition to this, you should have a reasonable understanding of how much you can feasibly afford to take on with a personal loan. Lenders will only approve you for amounts they believe you can comfortably afford to repay, with any level of risk met by an increase in interest rates. You can calculate your monthly disposable income by subtracting your regular expenses from your earnings in a given month. Lenders won’t usually approve loans on terms that exceed 30% of your disposable income.
Prepare your documents
Finally, you should gather all of your documents ready for submission prior to your initial application. Doing this will help you save time and gain approval faster, providing you with speedier access to the funds you need. While lenders may differ slightly, the documents you’ll generally be required to supply are:
- Your last two payslips (employment contract and/or 90 days of bank statements may be requested)
- Photo ID: your driver’s licence and/or passport
- Your online banking details
- Information on your assets and liabilities
The types of Personal Loans
Personal loan repayment calculator
It’s important to have an idea of what different loans might cost you overall before you apply. Fortunately, Savvy’s personal loan repayment calculator is simple to use and tells you everything you need to know about how much different offers might add up to overall based on a variety of different factors.
Apply for your personal loan online
Personal loan eligibility and documentation
Common $20,000 personal loan queries
Once you’ve submitted your initial application, you can receive an instant approval from your lender in as little as 60 seconds. If you’re successful, you’ll be able to continue with your application and have the funds transferred directly into your account in as little as 24 hours from your first submission.
The entire process is a fast one, so you can maximise that speed by having everything prepared and applying early in the day and week.
Bad credit borrowers are only accepted for unsecured personal loans up to a maximum of $10,00 to $12,000, so you won’t be able to take out a $20,000 loan if you find yourself in this position. You can, however, look to a bad credit car loan if you intended on using the funds to buy a vehicle, as these will allow you to borrow $20,000 or more (provided you can afford to repay it).
Yes – you can use our personal loan repayment calculator to determine the total monthly and overall cost of financing prior to applying. Even if you don’t already have your personalised rate and fees, you can run a rough calculation of what your loan might cost you by adding 2% to the minimum interest rate, $350 to your $20,000 loan sum and $3 or $4 to your monthly repayments.
Personal loans will give you the option of whether to make your repayments on a monthly, fortnightly or weekly schedule. You can choose this based on your own personal income frequency so that you give yourself the best chance of taking on a personal loan that you can manage comfortably.
If your lender doesn’t charge for extra payments, you can make these as often as you like beyond the minimum. Making fortnightly repayments may actually save you money over monthly payments, as they come to an equivalent of 13 months’ worth of contributions each year.
Yes – so long as you’re earning enough to support your proposed loan’s repayments, you can be approved for a $20,000 loan on Centrelink payments. However, a large part of this is determining whether your benefits are accepted as income by your lender, which isn’t always the case.
Stable sources such as aged, disability, carer’s and veterans’ pensions are all accepted, but payments contingent on your age, employment or study status like Youth Allowance, Austudy and JobSeeker (on its own) aren’t.
A guarantor is a third party, such as a parent or close relation, in a strong financial position who guarantees the full repayment of your personal loan, even if you can’t do so yourself.
These are especially useful for borrowers with a bad or minimal credit history that wouldn’t otherwise qualify for $20,000 or would be at a high rate. If you stay on top of your repayments comfortably and consistently, your guarantor won’t be involved in your repayments at all.
