Secured Personal Loans

This will depend on the lender and loan product. Generally speaking, the following assets can be used:

• New or used cars

• Other vehicles such motorcycles or boats

• Property

• High value items such as art, jewellery or antiques

Yes, you can pay off secured personal loans early. However, depending on the lender you’re with and the loan, there might be fees involved. There might also be restrictions based on the amount of time you have left on your loan term. Keep in mind, variable rate loans tend to offer more flexible features, like early repayments. Fixed rate loans can be stricter on this sort of thing and there can be additional fees involved, like break costs and/or early payment penalty fees.

If you’re unable to meet your repayments and default on a secured personal loan, the lender has the right to repossess and sell your asset to recover the loss. This is unfortunate, but it’s also the risk that comes with the lower interest rates of a secured loan. If you feel like you could be in danger of defaulting on a loan, you may be able to reach an agreement with your lender due to financial hardship. You may also want to consider seeking financial assistance.

You can use our secured personal loan comparison table to compare secured personal loan products and lenders until you’ve found one that best suits your financial needs and budget. We also pick the top loans in our Mozo Experts Choice Awards. Most lenders generally offer both fixed and variable rate options. Remember, variable rates can change at any time in line with official cash rate movements, while fixed rates won’t change once you're locked in.

Yes, there are likely to be a few fees. Here are some you may need to budget for:

Application fee: Some providers charge a one-off fee to process your application and cover costs.

Ongoing fee: Usually charged monthly, an ongoing fee will generally be much lower than the application fee. 

Break cost fee: Be sure to find a loan that offers fee-free extra repayments and charges a minimal penalty for exiting the loan before the agreed timeframe.

Late payment fee: If you can't keep up with your repayments, you could be hit up with a late payment fee.

There’s one major difference: unsecured loans don’t require collateral and, as such, usually come with higher interest rates because there’s more at stake for the lender. To assess an unsecured loan, the lender often goes by the strength of your cash flow as security, instead of physical assets. These are typically for smaller amounts ($100k or less) as well. Learn more about the different types of personal loans with our guide.