What is the minimum salary required to take out a personal loan?
The simple answer is that there is no minimum salary requirement that will guarantee you will be approved for a loan. Income is one of the important factors when lenders assess your loan eligibility, but it isn’t necessarily a deciding one.
Some lenders may well have salary requirements. For example, the Post Office and the AA both state that you must have a minimum annual income of £12,000 to apply for a personal loan. But there is no universal minimum. This is because lenders are interested in a number of other factors such as:
- Your credit history
- Your employment status
- Your current debt
- Your expenses
- Your assets
- Any other financial commitments you might have
If you discover that you do not meet the lender’s minimum requirements, then there are a number of ways that you can improve your chances of being approved for a loan:
- Use a guarantor – guarantor loans are less risk to lenders as they have a guarantee that the loan will be paid back, even if you are unable to.
- Apply for a lower amount – borrowing less mean less risk to the lender and lower repayments for you.
- Use your bank – your current bank is more likely to give you a loan than another lender, as long as you have a good banking history.
If you compare loans with Money Expert, we'll run soft eligibility check that won't show up on your credit score.