Looking for the Best Value Personal Loan? Skip the Big Banks. Check out smaller lenders.

Leading financial comparison site Mozo is thrilled to announce the winners of the Mozo Experts Choice Awards for Personal Loans 2025, showcasing how smaller lenders are delivering standout value for Aussie borrowers—leaving the big banks trailing behind.

After a rigorous assessment of hundreds of products, Mozo has identified the standout winners across multiple categories, from unsecured and secured loans to green loans.

“In a high rate environment, at this time of year, getting the best value loans can be the difference between successful debt management and the new year debt dilemma,” says Mozo Experts Choice Awards Judge, Peter Marshall.

“Whether you’re looking to buy a new car, renovate your home, or manage debt, Mozo’s personal loan awards have highlighted the most affordable and accessible options for a range of different borrowers.”

How Mozo judged the winners

The Mozo Experts Choice Award judges analysed 347 personal loan products from 79 Australian financial institutions, calculating loan costs using scenarios tailored to different borrowing needs. 

“When it comes to choosing the best personal loans, Mozo takes a detailed and thorough approach,” explains Marshall.

"At Mozo, we take a comprehensive approach to assessing personal loans and look at more than just interest rates. We factor in mandatory fees, loan amounts, terms, and credit scores to ensure we’re evaluating the true cost for a wide variety of borrowers.” 

For loans with risk-based pricing, Mozo tested up to 80 different customer scenarios to ensure a balanced comparison, highlighting both general and excellent-credit options. The judging process includes evaluation across August, September, and October 2024 – to account for rate and fee fluctuations over time. 

Australia’s Best Personal Loans

IMB has been recognised as the lender with Australia’s Best Personal Loans in this year’s awards, taking home multiple awards across secured and unsecured personal and car loan categories. 

“IMB Bank has set the bar high, scoring more wins than any other lender in this year’s Mozo Experts Choice Awards for Personal Loans," says Marshall. 

“With standout wins across key categories like Secured and Unsecured Personal Loans, Car Loans, and Used Car Loans, IMB has proven time and again that it’s the go-to provider for consumers seeking the best value.” 

Fee-free Personal Loans stand out amongst competition

When it comes to winning personal loan rates, another clear standout was Now Finance, which offers a fee-free Unsecured Personal Loan with a starting rate of 6.75%p.a. (6.75%p.a. comparison rate).

Now Finance has been a long-running winner in these awards due to their fee-free approach to personal loans, and as a result has scored multi-year wins. From 2021 to 2025 Now Finance won the Excellent Credit Unsecured Personal Loan Award and in 2024 and 2025 the Excellent Credit Used Car Loan award from the Mozo Experts.

David Norman, Chief Operating Officer at NOW Finance, spoke to Mozo about their multi-year winning streak. “We are exceptionally proud that our no fee personal loan product has again been recognised in Mozo’s Experts Choice awards,” he said.

“To have received their Excellent Credit Unsecured Personal Loan award for the fifth time in a row reflects our unwavering dedication to providing customers with a straightforward and market leading personal loan that they can trust.”

Smaller lenders outshine much bigger competition

The winners list this year is mostly customer owned banks, non-bank lenders and regional banks, with the big four banks nowhere to be found.

“It’s clear from the analysis that smaller lenders are leading the way in providing Australians with better value personal loans, whether you’re looking to consolidate debt or fund a major purchase,” says Marshall.

“Customer owned banks and non-bank lenders are giving the big banks a run for their money, especially those with no or low-fee offerings. However, there are some bigger banks that are still offering Australians great value personal loans.”

ING and Bendigo Bank were the only bigg-er banks scooping up Mozo awards for fixed personal loans. Bendigo won for its Green Personal Loan and ING for its Unsecured Personal Loan, boasting starting rates of 7.49%p.a. (8.05%p.a. comparison rate) and 6.89%p.a. (7.17%p.a. comparison rate) respectively.

See the full winners list here.