NAB Personal Loan: Eligibility and Broker Review 2026

A National Australia Bank (NAB) personal loan gives a sole borrower unsecured finance with a fixed or variable rate. Assess your client’s purpose and repayment budget before choosing between them. For a car purchase, compare that unsecured route with the separate secured NAB Car Loan, where the vehicle is security.

Choose the Relevant NAB Product

Choose the unsecured NAB Personal Loan when the client wants personal borrowing without pledging an asset. As at October 2026, NAB’s personal-loan page lists borrowing from $5,000 to $55,000 over one to seven years. Both fixed and variable options have weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayments.

NAB lists car purchases, debt consolidation and renovations among permitted purposes. Its exclusions include business purposes, a home-loan deposit and lenders mortgage insurance (LMI). A client buying equipment for their business needs a business-finance route, even if the purchase resembles a household expense.

A personal car loan remains unsecured when the funds buy a vehicle without taking security over it. The secured NAB Car Loan uses the vehicle as security and is available to existing NAB customers. The car can be repossessed and sold if the secured debt isn’t repaid.

NAB provides the credit for its secured car product. Its car-finance guide identifies Plenti as the appointed administrator. Plenti’s own branded loans have separate terms.

Keep the lender and exact product name in the file so a Plenti policy isn’t applied to NAB car finance.

Verify the Borrower’s Eligibility

Apply the unsecured product’s eligibility rules to the individual who will owe the debt. As at October 2026, NAB’s application guidance requires an applicant aged at least 18 with regular income. The applicant must be an Australian resident for tax purposes.

They must also be an Australian or New Zealand citizen, an Australian permanent resident or hold an acceptable temporary residency visa. NAB excludes student, working-holiday and bridging visas, among other categories. Its stated visitor-visa exception is the Special Category Visa for New Zealand citizens.

The online application is for a sole applicant. That person owes all repayments even when someone else receives a substantial benefit. Don’t count another person’s willingness to help as making them a joint borrower.

Prepare the following application information.

• Identification, such as a driver’s licence or passport.
• Employment and residential-address history for the past three years.
• Income before and after tax, supported by a payslip or tax return.
• Asset values and all debts, including credit cards and buy now pay later loans.
• Living expenses, including housing, dependants and transport.
• The proposed account for receiving funds and making repayments.

Reconcile the budget with the client’s records. Include existing repayments until the relevant debt is actually discharged, and keep irregular expenses in the budget. Eligibility to apply doesn’t establish that the requested repayment is affordable.

Compare Fixed and Variable Repayments

Choose fixed repayments for rate certainty or a variable loan for access to eligible extra repayments through redraw. As at October 2026, NAB’s rates-and-terms guide says fixed rates remain unchanged for the term. A variable rate can rise or fall, changing the required repayment.

Decision	Fixed Personal Loan	Variable Personal Loan
Rate certainty	Rate is fixed for the loan term	Rate can change
Extra repayments	Allowed without early-repayment penalties	Allowed without early-repayment penalties
Redraw	Unavailable	Available subject to conditions
Budget assessment	Use the offer’s scheduled payments	Also test the budget against higher payments

NAB’s general terms limit redraw to the excess amount less one contracted repayment. Redraw can be suspended in the circumstances those terms describe. Keep a separate cash reserve when the client needs reliable access to emergency funds.

Calculate the Offer’s Total Cost

Use the client’s dated loan offer to calculate the dollar cost. Record the amount advanced, payment schedule and any fees already included in the quoted repayments. A comparison rate helps compare standardised borrowing, but it doesn’t give this client’s dollar total.

NAB’s published unsecured-loan fees are a $250 application fee and a $15 monthly fee. For a five-year term with 60 monthly fees, the fee component is $250 + (60 × $15) = $1,150.

The calculation covers fees alone. Use the dated offer for the client’s interest and repayment amounts.

Calculate total outlay by adding every scheduled repayment and any fee paid separately. Subtract the money actually advanced to the client to find the borrowing cost. If the repayments already cover financed fees, adding those fees again would double-count them.

For a variable loan, label the future total as a projection at the assumed rate. Update it after a rate change, redraw or extra repayment. Compare shorter and longer terms using total outlay as well as the regular payment, because a smaller payment can extend interest and monthly fees.

Follow Conditional Assessment

Treat an indicative rate as the start of assessment, then use the verified offer for the decision. As at October 2026, NAB’s rates-and-terms guide says a conditional response depends on verifying the application information. It also warns that the rate can differ on settlement day.

Follow these checkpoints in order.

1. Submit the client’s accurate application information through the appropriate NAB route. Retain the application reference and initial response.
2. Supply the documents NAB requests. Resolve differences between declared income or commitments and the supporting records before relying on the assessment.
3. When NAB approves the loan, have the client read the loan documents and acceptance letter. Recheck the actual rate, term, fees and repayment dates against the budget.
4. Complete acceptance and repayment setup through NAB’s new-loan process. The client signs the documents and chooses the repayment account.

NAB’s setup guide says a joint NAB account can’t be nominated for direct debit in Application Tracker. A sole NAB account or an account with another bank follows the documented setup route. Keep the account details consistent with the client’s repayment plan.

Before acceptance and funding, recheck any job loss, reduced hours, new debt or higher ongoing expenses. The general terms make funding conditional on NAB reasonably believing no financial change affects repayment capacity. Notify NAB of a material change so its assessment uses the current position.

Write a Credit Decision Note

Write a note that explains why the chosen NAB product fits this borrower and how the repayment is funded. As at October 2026, NAB’s personal-loan support page directs customers to its online application guidance. A branch banker can assist when the client can’t apply online.

Record the purpose, requested amount and unsecured or secured branch. Add the fixed-or-variable choice, evidence dates, income and expense assumptions, existing commitments and the dated offer’s cost calculation. Name any borrower-specific criterion still awaiting NAB’s decision, such as acceptance of a particular temporary visa.

Where your brokerage has no authorised submission route for this NAB product, refer the client to NAB’s direct online application or branch. Mortgage-broker accreditation doesn’t itself establish permission to lodge this personal loan. Keep the referral outcome distinct from an application you submitted.

For a client also arranging property finance, use the NAB home-loan policy guide for that separate assessment. Record the new personal-loan commitment in the mortgage file. Finish the personal-loan review when the chosen product, verified evidence and accepted payment schedule agree with the client’s current budget.