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How much can you borrow with a personal loan?
Unsecured loans typically max-out at £25,000 (although the big banks may lend up to £50,000 to existing customers). However, limits are tailored to the individual applicant.
| Lender | Loan | Maximum loan amount | Minimum income | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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NatWest Existing Customer Personal Loan | £50,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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Royal Bank of Scotland Existing Customer Personal Loan | £50,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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HSBC Premier Personal Loan | £50,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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Shawbrook Bank Personal Loan | £50,000 | £15,000 per year | Check eligibility |
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Novuna Personal Loan | £35,000 | £10,000 per year | Check eligibility |
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Admiral Personal Loan | £30,000 | £19,000 per year | Check eligibility |
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My Community Bank Personal Loan | £25,000 | £18,000 per year | Check eligibility |
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Churchill Loans | £25,000 | £850 per month after tax | Check eligibility |
|
Salary Finance | £25,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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Santander Existing Customer Personal Loan | £25,000 | £10,500+ for loans up to £19,999, or £20,000+ for loans between £20,000 and £25,000 | Check eligibility |
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HSBC Personal Loan | £25,000 | £10,000 per year | Check eligibility |
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Santander Personal Loan | £25,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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Fluro (formerly Lending Works) Personal Loan | £25,000 | £850 per month | Check eligibility |
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M&S Bank Personal Loan | £25,000 | £10,000 per year | Check eligibility |
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Everyday Loans Personal Loan | £15,000 | £10,000 per year | Check eligibility |
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Bamboo Personal Loan | £15,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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BetterBorrow | £12,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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Abound Personal Loan (formerly Fintern) | £10,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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1plus1 Loans Guarantor Loan | £10,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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Guarantor My Loan | £10,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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Reevo Money Personal Loans | £7,000 | £15,000 | Check eligibility |
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Lifestyle Loans personal loan | £5,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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118 118 Money Personal Loan | £5,000 | £700 per month | Check eligibility |
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Loans by Mal Personal Loan | £5,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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Finio Loans Personal Loan | £5,000 | No minimum income specified | Check eligibility |
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Fluent Money Secured Loan | £1,000,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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thinkmoney Secured Loan | £250,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Bank of Scotland Existing Customer Personal Loan | £50,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Barclays Existing Current Account Loan | £50,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Ulster Bank Existing Customer Personal Loan | £50,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Halifax Existing Customer Personal Loan | £50,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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TSB Existing Current Account Customer Personal Loan | £50,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Barclays Existing Premier Account Loan | £50,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Lloyds Bank Existing Customer Personal Loan | £50,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
|
first direct Existing Customer Personal Loan | £50,000 | £10,000 per year | Read our review |
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Sainsbury's Bank Nectar Cardholder Loan | £40,000 | £7500 per year | Read our review |
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Virgin Money Existing Customer Personal Loan | £35,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Tesco Bank Personal Loan | £35,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Zopa Personal Loan | £35,000 | £12,000 per year | Read our review |
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Creation Financial Services Creation Loans | £25,000 | £9,600 per year | Read our review |
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AIB (NI) Personal Loan | £25,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Halifax Personal Loan | £25,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Nationwide Member Personal Loan | £25,000 | £700 per month | Read our review |
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Monzo Bank Personal Loan | £25,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Danske Bank Existing Freedom C/Acc Customers | £25,000 | £16,000 per year | Read our review |
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Sainsbury's Bank Non-Nectar Cardholder Loan | £25,000 | £7500 per year | Read our review |
|
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Danske Bank Existing Choice Plus or Prestige C/Acc Customers | £25,000 | £16,000 per year | Read our review |
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Lendable Personal Loan | £25,000 | £800 per month | Read our review |
|
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Tesco Bank Clubcard Personal Loan | £25,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Lendwise | £25,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Danske Bank Home Owners Personal Loan | £25,000 | £16,000 per year | Read our review |
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MBNA Limited Personal Loan | £25,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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TSB Personal Loan | £25,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
|
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thinkmoney Personal Loan | £25,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Danske Bank Fixed Rate Personal Loan | £25,000 | £16,000 per year | Read our review |
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Plata Personal Loan | £20,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Norwich Trust Limited Unsecured Homeowner Loan | £20,000 | £1300 per month | Read our review |
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JN Bank Homeowner Personal Loan | £15,000 | £1,000 per month | Read our review |
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Oakbrook Loans personal loan | £15,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
 |
LiveLend personal loan | £12,000 | £12,000 per year | |
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Plend personal loan | £10,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
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Toot Loans Personal Loan | £5,000 | £1,000 monthly income | Read our review |
|
Munzee Loans Personal Loan | £3,000 | No minimum income specified | Read our review |
Late repayments can cause you serious money problems. See our debt help guides.
How much can I borrow with a personal loan?
You can generally find personal loans from £1,000 to £25,000. Some larger banks might offer personal loans of up to £50,000 to existing customers, but those are exceptional cases. For loans higher than this, you’ll generally need to offer some form of security and take out a secured loan.
However, the amount you’ll actually be able to borrow depends on several factors, including your financial history and credit rating. Many lenders favour applicants with good credit scores, as this shows you’re a reliable borrower and are likely to repay your loan on time. What constitutes a good credit score depends on the credit rating agency (CRA) you use, as the 3 main CRAs in the UK all score consumers differently. But generally, the higher your credit score, the better.
While you can still find borrowing options with bad credit, you likely won’t be eligible for the largest loan amounts available.
If approved for a loan, the lender tells you the total amount you can borrow. However, it’s important to consider how much you actually need and what you can afford to borrow before taking out a loan.
What is the maximum personal loan amount?
This depends on the type of loan and lender, but as a rule of thumb, unsecured personal loans are generally offered for up to £25,000 or £40,000. Loan amounts higher than this are often secured loans, which means you’ll need to use an asset as security against the loan.
Your home is the most common type of asset used for a secured loan, which means you’ll usually need to be a homeowner to qualify. Secured loans are typically available for sums as high as £500,000, but the maximum you can borrow is dictated by your property’s value and the amount of debt currently secured against it (i.e., in your “first charge” mortgage). Secured loans are usually repaid over a longer period compared to unsecured loans.
Discover and compare secured “homeowner” loans
How can I qualify for the maximum amount offered?
Most personal loan providers have limits on how much they can offer. But in reality, these don’t apply to all borrowers. How much you can actually borrow depends on a wide range of factors, like your financial situation and credit history.
There are no guarantees you’ll be approved for the loan amount you’re seeking, but these tips may help you get the amount you need:
- Improve your credit. A higher credit score generally translates to better loan terms. If you’re after a large amount of money, a good or excellent credit score may get you the loan you want.
- Lower your debt-to-income ratio. Paying down your existing debts will lower your expenses and show you can afford to take out a larger loan.
- Wait until you have established employment. Having a secure source of income can help show lenders you can pay for your loan.
- Look into a secured loan. If you have the collateral available, you may be able to borrow a secured loan for a larger amount. This is because lenders are less likely to lose their money should you default on the loan.
However, it won’t always be in your best interests to borrow up to your maximum limit. You may find it hard to afford your repayments or may end up paying unnecessary interest if you borrow more than you need.
How much can I afford to borrow?
While a lender will only offer you a loan amount it believes you can pay back, it’s important that you also understand your borrowing limits. To be sure you can afford the maximum amount a lender offers you, do some basic calculations first. You can calculate how much you can afford to borrow by taking into consideration both your current bills and your current monthly income.
Add up all your bills and regular expenses – including all your debt payments – and subtract this from your take-home pay. If you have a few hundred left over, you can likely afford a new loan for a large amount. If you don’t, work on paying down some of your other debts before borrowing.
Our personal loan borrowing calculator can help you quickly determine how much you may be able to spend on a new loan.
Benefits and drawbacks of borrowing the maximum amount available
Borrowing the maximum amount available could enable you to cover the full cost of whatever you need the funds for. You might be paying for an extension to your property, for example, or buying a new car. In some cases, borrowing a larger amount also reduces the interest rate, although this usually only applies to borrowing amounts of between £7,500 and £25,000.
But as well as the benefits, there are a number of drawbacks. For a start, your monthly repayments will be higher, and this could make it harder to repay your loan on time. If you miss repayments, you risk damaging your credit score, so it’s important to be sure you can afford your loan before you take it out. You’ll also pay more interest overall as you’re borrowing more, and you’ll increase your debt load.
What do lenders consider when evaluating my application?
When you submit an application, lenders take into account a few different pieces of information to determine if you qualify for the maximum loan amount you’re requesting.
- Purpose. Many lenders ask what you plan to use the loan for. Be honest, as this could impact your loan contract and the interest rate you’re offered in addition to your loan amount.
- Credit score. While your credit score isn’t the only deciding factor, it does carry a lot of weight. The better your credit score, the more likely a lender will approve you for the maximum loan amount.
- Affordability. Most lenders will factor in the amount of debt you already have, the stability of your job, and income versus your outgoings to calculate whether you can afford the loan you are applying for. They also look at the term you are applying for – i.e., the length of time the loan is spread over. For example, you’re more likely to get a loan of £10,000 with a term of 3 years as opposed to 1 year.
- Security. For larger loans, you could opt to leverage the equity in your home to access larger sums or lower rates. In this case, the lender looks at the property’s value and the amount of debt secured against it.
Bottom line
The maximum amount available for a loan and the maximum amount you can borrow will vary depending on the lender and your financial circumstances. Find the right lender and see what types of rates you may be offered. If it matches your budget, you may be on your way to financing that next big purchase in your life.
Frequently asked questions
We show offers we can track - that's not every product on the market...yet. Unless we've said otherwise, products are in no particular order. The terms "best", "top", "cheap" (and variations of these) aren't ratings, though we always explain what's great about a product when we highlight it. This is subject to our terms of use. When you make major financial decisions, consider getting independent financial advice. Always consider your own circumstances when you compare products so you get what's right for you. Most of the data in Finder's comparison tables has the source: Moneyfacts Group PLC. In other cases, Finder has sourced data directly from providers.
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