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Personal loans / Personal loan repayments

How your repayments work

Keep in mind, your personal loan has an agreed minimum monthly repayment amount. You’re required to pay this amount based on the:

  • Loan balance
  • Interest rate
  • Contracted loan term
  • Loan service fee

You can enjoy flexibility by choosing to pay weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Increasing the frequency of your repayments can help you pay less interest over the life of the loan.

Consider setting up a Direct Debit for your repayments. Once it’s set up, your repayments will automatically be taken from your selected account on the due date.    

Required repayment amount may change

Your repayment amount could get larger or smaller due to changes in loan balance, loan term or interest rates. This is so your loan is repaid within your loan term

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Example of weekly and fortnightly Direct Debit amounts

  • If your monthly repayment due is $1,000 each month and you repay it in weekly instalments, then your weekly amount is $231 (calculated as ($1,000 x 12)/52)). Based on the number of weeks in the month, this works out to two different monthly amounts:

    • $924 per month for months with 4 weekly payment due dates in the month ($231 x 4)
    • $1155 per month for months with 5 weekly payment due dates in the month ($231 x 5).

    If you had decided to repay in fortnightly instalments, then your fortnightly amount is $462 (calculated as ($1,000 x 12)/26)). Based on the number of fortnights in the month, this works out to two different monthly amounts:

    • $924 per month for months with 2 fortnightly payment due dates in the month ($462 x 2)
    • $1386 per month for months with 3 fortnightly payment due dates in the month ($462 x 3).

    At the end of each month, we check that you have paid at least the applicable monthly repayment. If you miss a weekly or fortnightly instalment, you can make it up by paying that amount in the same month, so that you still meet your applicable monthly repayment amount.

A tip for staying on track

If you align your repayment date to a few days after you get paid, it can help to avoid missing repayments. To check your progress at any time log on to the CommBank app.

Making changes

You can make a change to your existing Direct Debit amount or frequency in NetBank.

If you hold a joint loan with another person, both of you will need to have NetBank or the CommBank app. This is so you can both consent to the change. Otherwise, you can also visit your nearest branch.

What happens next

When you request a change online, we’ll check to make sure your new repayment amount is enough to meet your required monthly repayment amount.

If everything is OK, we’ll send you a confirmation message in your transaction listing in NetBank and on your Personal Loan statement.  

Generally, the turnaround for processing a change request is 3 business days.  

How to set up 

You can set up or cancel Direct Debits, or make any other requests, by messaging us on Ceba in the CommBank app.

Things to consider

  • Making changes to your repayments

    • If you increase your repayment frequency, it can help you pay less interest over the life of the loan.
    • You can increase the amount you repay to pay off your loan faster and reduce the interest you’ll pay over time. Keep in mind, early repayment fees may apply on fixed rate personal loan accounts.
    • Alternatively, you can reduce the amount you repay to free up some cash, provided you’re ahead on your loan after making additional repayments (on eligible products).

  • You’re unable to make changes when

    • Your payment is due on the same day.
    • Your loan is in arrears, or the requested change will make it fall into arrears.
    • Your weekly or fortnightly repayments haven’t met the full monthly minimum amount.  

  • Manual payments may be needed

    • If your change request means that you wouldn’t meet your next minimum repayment amount, we’ll let you know. We may pause your request to avoid any fees and ensure that your account doesn’t fall into arrears. And you may need to make a manual transfer to meet your minimum monthly repayment.
    • If we’re unable to process your Direct Debit payment for any reason, we won’t try again (*exceptions apply). So you’ll need to make a manual payment by your monthly loan repayment date.

  • Keep in mind

    • When you make additional repayments to your loan, it doesn’t replace your Direct Debit which still gets processed as usual. 
    • Direct Debits can’t be processed on a public holiday, and will wait until the next banking day. So make sure you continue to have enough funds in your account. 
    • When you pay off your loan, any upcoming Direct Debits or pending transactions will still be processed. We’ll ensure any overpayment is automatically refunded into your account – usually within seven business days.

If you are experiencing financial difficulty

We can help

Things you should know

  • For the purposes of examples, all amounts have been rounded to the nearest dollar. Actual repayments may involve dollars and cents. We assume there are 52 weeks and 26 fortnights even in leap years.

    * A second attempt will be made if it was the first time a Direct Debit was scheduled for the nominated account.

    As this advice has been prepared without considering your objectives, financial situation or needs, you should consider its appropriateness to your circumstances before acting on the advice. You should also read our Financial Services Guide.