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Mark Bristow

Updated on

21 Sep, 2024

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Summary

You can choose to go with a specialised veterinary loan or a general personal loan to pay for your vet bills. Not every personal loan provider offers specialised vet loans but most banks and non-bank lenders have personal loans.
It’s important for pet owners to do their research before committing to any personal loan. You should compare the interest rate, fees, features, whether it is a fixed-rate or variable-rate loan, how long the loan term is and whether it is a secured or unsecured loan.
Being hit with an unexpected vet bill could put you in a tight spot. Taking out a veterinary loan means you can pay it down over a period of up to seven years, which could soften the blow to your regular cash flow.
On the down side, you can expect to pay more if you decide to take out a veterinary loan than if you choose to pay the vet bill with your own money.

If your pet is in good health, the last thing you’d expect would be to spend thousands of dollars on veterinary care.

But you might have no other choice if your furry friend was hit by a car or suffered some other emergency. If this happens, you might need a veterinary loan to pay your vet bills.

What are veterinary loans?

Some lenders provide veterinary loans, which are specialised personal loans used to pay for veterinary bills. You can also use general personal loans to pay vet bills or other pet-related costs.

People sometimes have to use veterinary financing if their pet is rushed to the vet for an emergency, and then get hit with a hefty bill which they hadn’t budgeted for.

Who offers veterinary loans?

You can take out a loan specifically for vet bills with selected personal loan providers. The ones that tend to have specialised veterinary loans are non-bank lenders that focus on personal loans. In some cases, the lender may directly pay your vet bill for you. You would then repay this vet loan over the loan term.

Some pet owners prefer to pay the vet bill themselves after receiving the funds from the lender. For these people, a general personal loan may be a more suitable option, and can be accessible from many banks and non-bank lenders.

What should I look for in a veterinary loan?

Like all personal loans, it’s important for borrowers to compare various veterinary loans before deciding which one suits you best. There are six main ways to compare veterinary loans, or personal loans in general:

Interest rate – Veterinary loans are generally more affordable if your interest rate is lower, as it determines how much you'll need to pay back on top of the original amount you borrowed. Make sure to look at the advertised rate, as well as the comparison rate, which combines the advertised rate and fees.
Interest type – The type of interest you choose will affect the interest rate you’ll be charged and how much interest you pay. A variable interest rate might move up or down during the course of your loan, while a fixed interest rate will not.
Loan term – You may pay lower repayments each month with a longer loan term, but your total repayments over the life of the loan are higher. On a shorter loan term, your monthly repayments will be higher but you will pay less in total interest, reducing the cost of the loan to you.
Fees – Don’t forget to look at fees when comparing vet loans. Potential fees include upfront (or establishment) fees, ongoing (or monthly) fees, early exit fees, redraw fees and late payment fees. Fees can significantly alter the total cost of the loan.
Security – Some vet loans will require security (or collateral), while others won’t. As a general rule, secured personal loans will have lower interest rates than unsecured personal loans, because lenders see them as carrying lower risk.
Features – Some features are not available on all personal loans, but can make your loan more flexible and help you save money. Examples of features include additional repayments (which means you’re allowed to pay back your loan faster), redraw facilities (which allow you to access the money you’ve paid off ahead of schedule) and early exit (which means you can close your loan ahead of schedule).

Benefits

Can pay off the vet bill over a period of up to seven years
Less costly than using a credit card
Borrowers follow a regular repayment schedule, unlike credit cards

Drawbacks

Credit score may be damaged if you’re late with repayments or unable to repay the loan
Interest and various fees charged over the life of the loan

Can people with bad credit take out veterinary loans?

People with bad credit can, in some circumstances, take out veterinary loans. As a general rule, this is how personal loan lenders treat people with good credit and bad credit:

Good credit	Bad credit
Lenders regard you as a smaller risk	Lenders regard you as a bigger risk
More lenders want to do business with you	Fewer lenders want to do business with you
Lenders take less time to assess your application	Lenders take more time to assess your application
Lenders offer you lower interest rates	Lenders offer you higher interest rates

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^Words such as "top", "best", "cheapest" or "lowest" are not a recommendation or rating of products. This page compares a range of products from selected providers and not all products or providers are included in the comparison. There is no such thing as a 'one- size-fits-all' financial product. The best loan, credit card, superannuation account or bank account for you might not be the best choice for someone else. Before selecting any financial product you should read the fine print carefully, including the product disclosure statement, target market determination fact sheet or terms and conditions document and obtain professional financial advice on whether a product is right for you and your finances.

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