Written by Legal fee personal loans are the same as any other personal loan: they’re a product available from $5,001 to $75,000 for use on whatever you need and can be repaid over one to seven years. In this case, you can use a personal loan to cover any legal expenses you might encounter for any type of proceedings or area of law.
Why compare personal loans with Savvy?
There's no need to worry about forking out to compare offers. Our service is free, so you can come back whenever you like.
You don't need to worry about sifting through documents and visiting the post office, as they can all be submitted online.
We've partnered with personal loan companies you can trust to ensure your comparison is a high-quality one.
What legal expenses might I need to cover with a personal loan?
There’s a wide variety of different situations under which you might look to take out a personal loan to cover your legal expenses, with the most common areas being:
- Contested probate – challenging the validity of a will as a party with an interest in the deceased’s estate
- Family law – matters such as divorce, custody disputes over children and property and asset settlement after separation
- Personal injury – covering damages of a physical and/or psychological nature sustained as a result of a separate party
In terms of what the expenses are that you can accrue, there are myriad legal costs that can be charged both by your lawyer and the court. These can include:
- Lawyers’ hourly rates, which generally range from as low as $200 up to over $600 and can be based on:
- Travelling time to court and to consult with you (where applicable)
- Reading and researching documents
- Expenses relating to witnesses
- Other administrative costs
- Court settlements
- Out of court settlements
- The opposing party’s legal fees
- Court costs, such as daily hearing and conciliation conference fees
Before committing to a particular lawyer or firm for representation, you should always be aware of the fees that you’ll be charged for the process. Lawyers should always be open and transparent about what these fees are, outlining clearly what they’ll be charging you for and the rate at which they do so. This can be an effective way of finding the right type of legal representation, as you can save money by comparing from a wider range of options.
How to compare legal fee personal loans
Interest rates
One of the key aspects to compare on personal loans is the interest rate charged, as this will play the largest contributing role to the cost of your loan. A difference of just 1% can cost more than $800 on a $30,000, five-year loan, for instance.
Comparing offers between different lenders is an effective way to help you save on overall interest, as you can find the lowest rates from a larger sample size. This shouldn’t be the only area in which you compare loans, though.
Fees
Additionally, your loan is likely to come with a set of fees that you’ll be required to pay. Like interest rates, these differ between lenders, but they typically fall within the following ranges:
- Establishment fee: from $0 to $595
- Ongoing fees: from $0 to $10
- Early repayment fee: from $0 to $600+, depending on the length of the loan left
Late payment fee: from $15 to $35
The former two fees are represented in your loan’s comparison rate, which is a combined figure comprising them and your interest.
Loan security
Unsecured personal loans are, by far, the more common of the two and avoid the need for you to put a valuable asset up as security for the loan. This makes them quicker to process and more available to a wider demographic of borrowers.
Secured personal loans do utilise an asset as collateral, which means they’re not as fast but are cheaper in terms of rates and fees and can potentially expand your borrowing power up to $100,000.
Loan amounts
Not all personal loan financiers are the same when it comes to the borrowing ranges that they offer for their loans. Some offer maximum amounts lower than $100,000 while others, more commonly, will set their minimum loans at $5,000 instead of $2,000.
If you’re looking at a smaller amount, or a particularly large one, you should double-check your lender’s loan criteria to ensure your desired amount fits within their parameters.
Loan terms
Similarly, different lenders offer different maximum and minimum loan terms. It’s imperative that you find the right loan length, as your personal loan should always be paid on terms that you’re comfortable with.
Even a year shorter than your preferred length will cost a significant amount more each month, while a year longer will result in higher overall interest accrued across the life of the loan.
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
Frequently asked questions about personal loans
No – lenders won’t be keen on granting a loan to cover legal costs for a case that could result in your incarceration. This would severely hinder your ability to repay your loan, as your income streams would run dry. That’s why comparatively low-risk proceedings like those listed above are more commonly accepted for personal loans.
Yes – some lenders offer a specialised legal finance product designed for the express purpose of covering legal costs. These are generally larger loans, so they come with higher borrowing ranges from around $25,000 to $400,000. However, they’re secured and are more restrictive with how you can use them, namely that they can only be dedicated towards your legal fees.
Yes – many personal loans come with no fees associated with paying off your debt early, which can be a great way to save money across your loan. Even if these fees are charged, it could be a worthwhile financial decision to pay the loan and additional costs to get it off your books as swiftly as possible.
In most cases, you can choose the frequency of your loan payments, coming either at a monthly, fortnightly or weekly rate. It’s important that you choose the option that suits your personal financial situation the most.
If you’re unsure about how much your loan will cost you, you can utilise Savvy’s personal loan repayment calculator. You can use this tool to work out an estimate of your loan’s cost, both on a month-to-month basis and overall, based on differing amounts, terms, rates and payment frequencies.
In addition to paying for legal counsel or a settlement, you can also consolidate other debts, pay for expenses around the house or even put a bit of money aside towards a small holiday if you wanted to.
