Average personal loan interest rate in Australia

Personal loans are priced differently from home loans, and it changes how you should read any average. Most lenders use risk-based pricing, quoting a range rather than one rate and setting your actual rate from your credit history, income and the loan purpose. The advertised rate is the best case, offered to the strongest applicants, so the average across the market is a more honest guide to what you will pay.

The largest single lever on your rate is security. A secured loan is backed by an asset the lender can repossess, usually a car, and that lower risk buys a materially lower rate. The live tiles above show the average secured rate, the average unsecured rate and the gap between them across the lenders we compare. On a typical loan that gap is worth more than any amount of negotiating.

Fees deserve as much attention as the rate on a personal loan, more so than on a mortgage, because the loan is small and the term is short. An establishment fee of $150 to $600 plus monthly service fees can add a meaningful amount to a $15,000 loan over three years. This is exactly what the comparison rate exists to capture, and it is why the comparison rate on a small personal loan can sit well above the advertised rate.

Australians took out around $9.7 billion in new fixed-term personal loans in the June quarter of 2026, and close to half of it, about $4.7 billion, funded a road vehicle. If a car is what you are borrowing for, a dedicated car loan secured against the vehicle will usually beat a general unsecured personal loan, and it is worth comparing both before committing.

One structural point that catches borrowers out: a shorter term means higher monthly repayments but substantially less total interest, and many fixed-rate personal loans charge an early repayment fee that removes the option to fix that later. If you can afford the higher repayment now, taking the shorter term at the outset is usually cheaper than planning to pay a longer loan out early.