To qualify for fast approval loans, you will have to meet specific criteria set by the banks, including:

• Having permanent residence
• Being at least 21 years old
• Be employed
• Offer income-type information
• Residential status

Bonus tip: Your lifestyle affects approval rates. If you change places of residence offer, have turbulent employment history, or don't have a stable salary, the bank might not look at your application favourably.

Credit histories include records of all debt and bill payments. These records show your ability to meet financial obligations. By looking at the CCRIS reports, banks can learn about your payment habits.

Credit scores are 3-digit numbers that show your overall score of credit history based on your financial habits. A good credit score can help you get loan approval. A bad credit score signals you aren't financially responsible and present a liability to the bank.

Poor credit: 300 - 528

Low credit: 529 - 650

Fair credit: 651 - 696

Good credit: 697 - 743

Excellent credit: 744 - 850

You can quickly check your credit score with the CTOS credit agency. Getting a credit report is an important step before a loan application.

Your first monthly repayment will arrive one month after approval. Depending on the bank's terms and conditions, your payment will be due on the first or in the middle of the month.

Banks set minimal amounts you have to cover to avoid penalties, but this affects your charges.

After loan approval, you must meet your obligations to avoid additional expenses and ensure future lenders will look at your applications favourably.

Try to make full payments on time to avoid being penalized. Not only that you will have additional expenses, but you will also damage your credit.

You can settle your remaining balances and loan repayments before your tenure ends. However, most banks won't reduce your interest payments even if you make payments in advance. Inform the bank of your advanced payment to avoid the early settlement fee.

You can make your monthly repayment with the following:

• Cash deposits
• Auto deductions
• Online banking
• Over the counter

Loan tenure determines how many years or months you will need to repay the loan. Your personal loan requires you to make monthly payments until the end of your term.

In most cases, the repayment term ranges from 1 to 7 years. Remember that your interest and monthly payment are determined by the repayment method.

Here's a personal loan calculator example to show how tenure affects your monthly instalment.

Personal loan calculator example

If you get a personal loan for a shorter period (1 year), you can expect an interest look something like this: RM15,000 x5% x1 year = RM750. At the same time, the monthly instalment will look like this: RM15,750 ÷ 12 months = RM1312.5.

Several factors affect your interest, including:

• Tenure
• Loan amount
• Credit score
• Credit history

If you want your interest to be as low as possible, you will have to get your credit score in shape and find a loan term with a short repayment period.



At the same time, you will also have to consider multiple banks and see their loan offers. Sometimes the banks push rates too high, and it's best to look for a better offer.

Now that we've gone through personal loan basics, let's look at potential loan preferences. It's essential to compare several offers to find the personal loan that works best for you.

It would help if you considered interest, tenure, repayment alternatives, monthly repayments, etc. Still, personal loans in Malaysia involve several other assets, including:

• Insurance coverage or Takaful?
• Islamic loans or conventional loans?
• Secured and unsecured loans

Loans with coverage or Takaful:

This is an optional choice, and you get liability coverage which covers all unpaid balances in case of disability or death of the borrower. It's a slightly more expensive offer as the coverage is included in monthly repayments.

Personal loan without insurance:

Borrowers and loan beneficiaries must cover all balances in case of disability or death. Borrowers get 100% of the borrowing amount.

Islamic loans:

These Shariah financing contracts avoid exploitative gains. These loans can be used for all halal purposes, and borrowers get charged a profit rate on the amount borrowed. The bank also bears risks of earning returns, and the profits aren't compounded in case of overdue payments.

Conventional personal loan:

These are typical loans where banks gain money by borrowing through interest on the total amount. Conventional loans can be used for any legal activity, and borrowers bear all the risk.

Unsecured loans:

An unsecured loan doesn't require security or collateral and has no guarantors. You can even get an unsecured loan when you're not eligible by finding a guarantor.

Secured loans:

A secured loan requires a security or collateral like a unit trust, property, or fixed deposit. You must have a guarantor when getting secured loans.

We all want to achieve our goals; in many cases, we need money to kickstart our ideas or start the journey. People can earn capital in many ways, but some don't have any options.

In other words, getting a personal loan is a good option if it will help you invest in your future. Here are some of the good reasons for getting a personal loan:

• Investing in education
• Business investment
• Emergency
• Property acquisition
• Debt consolidation

When someone has multiple debts, they can get a debt consolidation loan to simplify the payment process and consolidate all of those loans into one.

Tracking multiple loans, interests, tenures, due dates, and banks can be overwhelming. A debt consolidation loan lets you repay all of these loans at a lower rate in the longer term while making the process easier.

Some of Malaysia's best debt consolidation loans are Al Rajhi Personal Financing-i and Alliance Bank CashFirst Personal Loan.

Let's look at some debt consolidation examples to show you how this works.

Suppose a borrower has a loan agreement and two credits with monthly instalments and balances with a total of RM2,000 monthly and RM50,000 outstanding balances. In that case, they might find it challenging to pay RM2,000 monthly.

An approximate consolidation from the Alliance Bank CashFirst Personal Loan calculator for a total loan amount of RM50,000 can be stretched to 60 months with a monthly instalment of RM1,250.

When applying for a personal loan, you must consider several things like the amount you should apply for, finding the best personal loan, interest rate, allowed credit card debt, loan repayment period, monthly instalment amount, etc.

Generally, you can get a loan for a minimum of RM2,000 and over RM250,000. When you've determined your principal amount, you must find the right tenure for your financial abilities.

Loanpanda has a personal loan calculator that lets you calculate monthly payments by adding borrowed amounts, tenure, and monthly income. But the calculator doesn't consider your other financial commitment like other loans, credit cards, bills, car loans, home loans, credit scores, etc.

If you want your personal loan application approved, make sure you can pay your monthly commitments quickly.

Banks use a simple calculation to see how much money you can afford to pay with your monthly instalment.

They sum up all your monthly commitments and divide them with monthly income and then multiply by 100%.

For example: RM3,000 ÷ RM6,000 x 100% = 50%

If you want your loan approved, your monthly commitments shouldn't be over 50% of your income. In other words, the borrower should be able to spend 50% of their monthly income on the monthly repayment and use the rest for other expenses.

But ideally, the number should be lower than 50%. The lower the number is, the higher the loan amount. When you apply for a personal loan, do the math on your own and improve the numbers to secure a better loan.

>To get your loan approved, prepare all the necessary documents. Banks can ask for different documents depending on your type of employment, but here is some of the general information you can expect:

• Application form
• Proof of identity (passport/IC)
• Recent photo
• Proof of residence
• Income statement
• Salary statements
• Business registration copy
• Proof of office address
• Proof of business ownership

You can apply for a loan online or offline. Online applications are made via websites; you can compare loans, check your credit score, calculate affordability, etc.

The alternative is to go directly to a local branch to fill out an application or call a bank via phone. At Loanpanda, you can check a wide range of personal loans and submit personal loan applications quickly.

Loandpanda lets you apply in just a couple of minutes. Just go through the application process and check loan terms on our site before applying.

We will check eligibility and help you find fast approval loans. In other words, we won't send your application unless you can approve the loan amount.

First step:

Please go through our website and find a loan you like. Apply for the loan or look for additional recommendations.

Second step:

You will be redirected to a chat conversation, and after answering some basic questions, your application will start.

Third step:

After you've answered all questions, your application will be sent, and we will get back to you once the bank replies.

Check out the offers at Loanpanda and get the perfect loan for your needs. Before making an application learn about all the risks, obligations, and requirements for getting a loan so you can safely repay your loan while getting the most out of it.