Are you looking to fund your dreams, consolidate debt, or cover unforeseen expenses? ABSA, one of South Africa’s leading financial institutions, offers a solution in the form of personal loans. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll take a deep dive into ABSA’s personal loans, uncovering the benefits, application process, and everything you need to know to make an informed financial decision.
Getting Your Personal Loan from Absa
Absa is one of the few banks that offer flexible repayment terms, regardless if you’re borrowing the minimum or the maximum amount allowed. For the Absa Personal Loan, you can borrow as small as R500 to as big as R350 000.
Absa Personal Loan offers an optional Credit Protection Plan which is an insurance that covers critical illness, death, disability, and retrenchment.
Absa also offers a Price Guarantee program. If you availed an Absa Personal Loan and you’re offered with a like-for-like loan with lower interest rates from a competing financial institution, Absa guarantees to best their offer. Absa will give you an even lower interest rate on what the competition is offering, adjusting the terms on your current personal loan. Monthly repayments and total interest rates will also be reduced to make it easier to make the installments.
To take advantage of this program, you can contact Absa and ask for their Price Guarantee form. This must be done, though, within 30 days after receiving your Absa Personal Loan.
You can also get to enjoy pre-qualification benefits to make it easier to take another personal loan in the future.
Interest & Fees
The APR for the Absa Personal Loan depends on the prime rate plus 18%. A service fee and a one-time initiation fee is charged on every loan application.
The minimum loan amount of R3 000 is interest-free as long as you repay it within the month.
The Absa website has a loan calculator that can automatically compute the best repayment terms depending on the loan amount you put in. Use this to get an idea of how much you have to repay for a specified loan amount.
Repayment Schedule
The repayment term usually falls between 6 to 84 months, depending on the amount you’ll borrow. You can set how long you want to pay the loan, although longer payments will incur greater charges and higher interest rates.
How to Apply for ABSA Personal Loan
- Go to the ABSA Personal Loan page and click the “Apply Now” button
- If you are an exiting customer – click Absa Customer and then use Online Banking
- Login to Absa Online Banking
- Accept SureCheck
- Provide Absa consent to process the application by clicking the appropriate boxes
- You will then be shown a pre-qualified loan amount and term. You can enter the amount you would like to borrow and for the period of time. The calculator will show the estimated loan installment for the details you’ve selected.
Fill in the required details - Confirm your personal details
- Confirm your employment details
- Confirm your income and expenses details
- You will then be shown the loan offer you can qualify for. You can now Accept, Save or Reject the offer.
If you accept the offer, choose the notification method for your loan agreement - Check your DebiCheck debit order details and click accept
- Congratulations! Your loan application has now been approved and will be paid into your account.
If you are applying as a new ABSA customer
You will need the following documents:
- Personal ID book or card
- Proof of residence, not older than 3 months. For example: a municipality statement, a lease or rental agreement, and a Telkom or cell phone statement.
- Latest proof of income
- Last 3 months of bank statements
You can then complete the loan application form providing the necessary details as per the above steps.
ABSA Personal Loan Calculator
You can use ABSA personal loan calculator to calculate your repayment plan for the amount you would like to borrow and the term you want to repay it over.
The ABSA personal loan calculator will show you the:
- Total repayment
- Total interest paid
- Total Credit Protection Plan
- Once-off initiation fee
- Monthly service fee (this is a fixed amount of R69 for all ABSA loans)
- Your estimated monthly repayment
Absa Personal Loan Calculator
Do I Qualify for a ABSA Personal Loan?
To apply for an ABSA personal loan of over 12 months or more, you need to meet the below criteria:
- Be 18 years or older
- earn a monthly income of minimum R2 000 per month
- have a South African bank account into which your income is being paid
If you are looking to apply for a short-term personal loan for 2 to 6 months, you need to:
- be 18 years or older
- earn a monthly income of minimum R1 500 per month
- have an Absa bank account which your income is paid into
You must not be insolvent, receiving any debt counselling or have a pending debt review. If you have managed to get out of debt review then you may be still eligible for a personal loan.
Contact Details
You can call ABSA on their contact phone number at 0860 100 372 or visit any of the Absa branches near you.