Demystifying Personal Loan Fees and Features

Fast personal loans were always going to be complexified by fine print, fees and features. Mozo's compare personal loans table shows you all the deets with ease. And you can run through the facilities and sneaky fees here...

Personal loan repayments

Bank loan repayments are based on the amount borrowed and the agreed term of your loan. (Our handy personal loan repayment calculator can jazz up your numbers...) The optimistic borrower will want to make sure that extra repayments are allowed in the personal loan conditions, to make larger payments when possible and thus reduce the total interest paid.

Mozo's personal loan comparison table let's you search for cheap loan deals with this facility just hit 'Go!', and tick 'extra repayments.

Personal loan redraw facility

Redraw means that once you've paid off a portion of your bank loan, you can draw that money back out again. Note that this can increase the term of the loan, and/or the size of monthly repayments. And it can also increase the total cost of your personal loan. So you might want the option of redraw, but you don't want to abuse it. Search personal loans and tick 'redraw ok' to compare loans with this feature.

More personal loan features:

• Minimum loan borrowing. Some lenders don't set a minimum amount for borrowing, while others start at $2000 and up.
• Maximum loan term. Most loans have a maximum term by which time the bank loan must be repaid. The term is typically seven to ten years, but varies from loan to loan.

Some personal loan fees:

• Personal loan setup fees. Bank loan entry fees range from $0 to over $100. There are plenty of no fee accounts but no upfront fees often results in a dismal interest rate, and thus a more expensive personal loan overall.
• Bank loan monthly fees. Monthly fees definitely add up over the course of seven to ten years so you might want to avoid these! Search loans without monthly fees!
• Bank loan early exit penalty. If you've been clever and thrifty enough to make larger than expected repayments, you don't want to get clobbered with a fat fee after all that hard work.