If you’re having trouble being approved for a loan of less than $2000, and urgently need to purchase household essentials, there may be emergency loan options available to you.
For example, the No Interest Loans Scheme (NILS) allows low-income borrowers to take out interest-free loans of up to $1500 for essential goods and services.
For further assistance, consider contacting a financial counsellor, or calling the National Debt Helpline on 1300 007 007
Personal loans may require a borrower to provide proof of identity, proof of residence, details of any other outstanding loans (including credit cards), details of assets they own (e.g. savings, car, property), and proof of income.
While borrowers in full-time or part-time employment can often provide payslips and similar documents to prove their income, self-employed borrowers may need to provide other information, such as bank statements or tax returns, to demonstrate that their income can cover a loan’s repayments.
Like other personal loan applicants, single mothers will likely need to provide a few documents to any potential lender, such as personal identification, bank statements (savings, loans, credit cards), proof of address, and proof of income (payslips, tax returns).
Some lenders offer fast loans to borrowers with bad credit. Providers of small payday loans of up to $2000 or medium amount loans of up to $5000 may have no credit checks, though these lenders will usually want to confirm you can afford their loans on your income.
It can be hard to improve your credit score, as it usually requires sacrifice and discipline, but hard doesn’t necessarily mean complicated. There are nine steps you can take to improve your credit score, most of which are simple to follow.
As a general rule, the lower your credit score, the more remedies you can apply and the greater the scope for improvement.
Comprehensive credit reporting may change your credit score – either positively or negatively.
Under comprehensive credit reporting, credit providers will share more information about how you and other Australians manage credit products. That means credit reporting bureaus will be able to make a more thorough assessment of everyone’s credit behaviour. For some consumers, that will lead to higher scores; for others, lower scores.
The Australian personal loans market contains dozens of lenders offering several hundred different products. Personal loans are available through a range of institutions, including:
There are three main ways to access personal loans. You can go through a comparison website, such as RateCity. You can use a finance broker. Or you can directly contact the lender.
When many lenders assess a borrower’s income to determine whether they can afford a loan’s repayments without ending up in financial stress, they may not count Centrelink payments as income for this purpose.
Before applying for an emergency loan, it may be worth contacting a potential lender to find out if they accept applications from borrowers on Centrelink.
If more than half of your income comes from Centrelink benefits, it may be more difficult to have a $2000 loan application approved. Many lenders will check if you can afford a loan’s repayments on the income from your job before they’ll approve an application, and many won’t count Centrelink payments when assessing your income for this purpose.
Some lenders will offer $2000 loans to borrowers on Centrelink – consider contacting potential lenders to check before applying.
The No Interest Loans Scheme (NILS) allows low income borrowers to take out no-interest loans for up to $1500 to purchase essential goods and services.
There are also similar low-interest loan schemes available to borrowers in financial hardship who are having a tough time getting finance approved.