Personal loan advertising in Singapore is built around one number, the flat interest rate, and it is the number that matters least. What you actually pay is the EIR, and the gap between the two is roughly double: Standard Chartered's headline 0.90% p.a. is an EIR of 1.75% p.a., DBS's 1.48% is an EIR of 3.22%, and OCBC's 1.98% is an EIR of 4.19%. Rank the market on EIR instead and the order changes. Standard Chartered's CashOne still leads on the published EIR at 1.75% p.a., but that figure is quoted before its S$199 first-year annual fee; include it and the bank's own example gives 2.15% on a S$20,000 five-year loan, which is above UOB. Its SG61 cashback ended on 30 September with nothing in its place. UOB sits second at an EIR of 1.93% p.a. with processing fees waived on every tenor, but its "up to 2%" cash rebate is a two-rung ladder: 1.00% until your loan reaches S$50,000, 2% above it, and its October terms run 1 to 31 October. Third is the product most roundups miss: CIMB's own Personal Loan, which is a different thing from its card-linked CashLite, at 1.00% p.a. (EIR from 1.94% p.a.) with no processing fee, no CIMB card or account required, and an income bar of just S$20,000. HSBC is the outlier on tenor: 1.3% p.a. (EIR 2.5%) stretching to seven years, the longest here, though the line of credit it runs on costs S$120 a year after the first and 2.5% to redeem early. Trust has cut its published rate to 1.00% p.a. and, alone on this page, quotes its 2.28% EIR with its own 0.88% annual fee already inside it. Below the leaders, DBS/POSB pays a flat 3% unlimited cashback on loans of S$10,000 and above, and GXS will lend from S$200, the smallest minimum on this list. Every rate, fee and promotion below was verified against the bank's own site and promotion terms on 29 September 2026 and re-checked on 30 October.
Why the advertised rate is the wrong number
Singapore's personal loan market is unusually easy to misread, because almost every bank advertises the wrong number.
The figure on the poster is the flat rate: interest calculated on the full original loan amount for the entire tenure, even though your outstanding balance is shrinking every month. The figure that reflects what you actually pay is the Effective Interest Rate (EIR), and it is roughly double the flat rate once fees and the reducing balance are accounted for. The banks are required to publish both, and the difference is not small:
- Standard Chartered: 0.90% p.a. flat → EIR 1.75% p.a.
- UOB: 1.00% p.a. flat → EIR 1.93% p.a.
- CIMB Personal Loan: 1.00% p.a. flat → EIR 1.94% p.a.
- Trust: 1.00% p.a. → EIR 2.28% p.a., the only one here that already includes its own fee
- HSBC: 1.3% p.a. flat → EIR 2.5% p.a.
- DBS/POSB: 1.48% p.a. flat → EIR 3.22% p.a.
- OCBC: 1.98% p.a. flat → EIR 4.19% p.a.
- CIMB CashLite: 2.88% p.a. flat → EIR 5.43% p.a.
- Citi: 3.45% p.a. flat → EIR 6.5% p.a.
Notice that DBS's flat rate is 64% higher than Standard Chartered's, but its EIR is 84% higher. The gap widens as you go down the table, which is exactly why comparing flat rates flatters the more expensive lenders. Read the EIR, not the poster.
There is one more layer, and almost nobody mentions it: most lenders quote their EIR *before* their own fees. Standard Chartered's 1.75% excludes the S$199 annual fee; the bank's own worked example puts the all-in EIR at 2.15% p.a. on a S$20,000 loan over five years, which is above UOB's 1.93%. Trust is the exception, and it runs the other way: its footnote says the 2.28% EIR is quoted inclusive of the 0.88% first-year annual fee, so it is the one number on this page with nothing left to add back. Because those fees are fixed rather than proportional, the all-in cost falls as the loan grows, which means the genuinely cheapest lender on this page changes depending on how much you borrow: Standard Chartered at S$50,000, UOB at S$10,000.
The three things that decide your real cost
Fees are not included in the headline, but they are included in the EIR. Standard Chartered's CashOne is the cheapest loan here on EIR and yet it is the only one on this list charging an annual fee: S$199 in year one, deducted from the approved amount, and S$0 thereafter provided you have not missed a minimum payment. UOB waives processing fees on all tenors, and GXS charges nothing for processing, prepayment or late payment, which makes it the only lender here you can clear early at no cost. The two that advertise zero processing fees are not fee-free. HSBC's Instalment Plan runs on a Personal Line of Credit account carrying a S$120 annual fee after a first-year waiver, charges 2.5% of the redemption amount to clear early, and its own FAQ states that the EIR includes a processing fee of 1% of the approved amount, minimum SGD88, where applicable (waived for eligible applicants under its 1 October to 31 December 2026 promotion terms). Citi takes nothing up front but charges S$100 or 3% of the outstanding amount, whichever is higher, to settle early. Trust prices its exit at a flat 3% of outstanding principal, though it is also the only lender whose quoted EIR already contains its 0.88% first-year fee. If there is any chance you will repay ahead of schedule, read the exit fee before the entry rate.
The advertised rate is the lowest published rate, not the rate you will get. Every bank on this list says some version of the same sentence; UOB's is the clearest: the promotional rate "is the lowest published rate and may be different from the interest rate offered to you", with the actual rate set by your credit and income profile, the tenure you pick, and the bank's assessment. UOB's own published range runs from 1.00% p.a. (EIR 1.93%) all the way up to 8% p.a. (EIR 17.62%). Treat the headline as the best case at the front of a range, and check your personalised rate in the bank's app before committing.
Cashback can be worth more than the rate difference, but only at size. On a S$30,000 loan over five years, moving from an EIR of 1.93% to 1.75% saves you roughly S$140 over the whole term. DBS's flat 3% cashback on that same S$30,000 is S$900, paid once. That is why the promotions below matter as much as the rates, and why the minimum loan amounts attached to them (usually S$10,000, S$15,000 at Citi and Trust) are the real gate. Below S$10,000, most of the cashback on this page is simply unavailable to you and the decision goes back to EIR and fees.
One rule that applies to everyone
Under MAS rules, your total unsecured credit (credit cards, credit lines and personal loans combined) is capped at 12 times your monthly income. Personal loans are unsecured, so a large loan eats into the same limit as your cards. If you are already carrying card balances, that ceiling, not the interest rate, may be what decides how much you can borrow.
Every rate, fee, eligibility rule and promotion on this page was re-verified against the bank's own website and, where one exists, its promotion terms document, on 29 September 2026, and every rate and promotion was checked again on 30 October 2026 (OCBC's as of 17 October, because its site blocked our 30 October check). Standard Chartered's and OCBC's promotions ended on 30 September with nothing in their place. UOB's rebate, Trust's 1.00% rate and scratch card, and DBS run to 31 October; CIMB's cashback and Citi's GrabGifts vouchers to 30 November; HSBC's promotional rate and GXS's IKEA tie-up to 31 December. Personal loan promotions here are refreshed monthly, so confirm the current terms with the bank before you apply.
What changed at our 30 October check
No rate, EIR or promotion moved since 17 October. Every lender's own page and, where one exists, its terms document still match this page, with two things worth knowing.
Three promotions end tomorrow, 31 October. UOB's cash rebate (its terms, updated 1 October, still run 1 to 31 October, and approval must land inside that window), DBS/POSB's 3% cashback with code DBSPL, and Trust's quoted 1.00% rate and scratch card. None of the three had published November terms on 30 October. DBS's banner says "apply by 1 Nov 2026" while the same page says the promotion ends on 31 October, so treat 31 October as the deadline.
CIMB re-issued its cashback terms for November without changing them. The new document keeps the 28 March to 30 November window and the same tiers, and spells out the payout: the cashback lands in the loan repayment account after 6 months of prompt repayment, and CIMB can claw it back if the loan is closed within a year.
OCBC's site blocked our 30 October check, so its entry stands as checked on 17 October.
What changed at our 17 October check
Every flat rate and EIR on this page still matches the lender's own site. Two promotions moved, and both make a lender look better than we had it.
Citi renewed its GrabGifts vouchers. We had Citi down as having no promotion after 30 September. A new terms document runs the same ladder from 1 October to 30 November 2026: S$50 at S$15,000 of Quick Cash applied for in the Citi Mobile App, S$250 at S$50,000 and S$600 at S$100,000, for existing Citi cardholders and Ready Credit customers only.
HSBC's promotion now has dates, and a fee waiver. HSBC's promotion terms, effective 1 October 2026, cover applications from 1 October to 31 December 2026 that are approved by 31 January 2027. They waive the 1% processing fee (minimum S$88) that HSBC's FAQ says its EIR otherwise includes, and the top of the promotional rate band is now 9.3% p.a. (EIR 17.0%), down from 9.5%.
Standard Chartered and OCBC still show no borrower promotion. UOB, DBS/POSB and Trust all end on 31 October, so check this page again after that date.
What changed at our 29 September check
Nothing on the rate cards moved in thirteen days: every flat rate and EIR above matched each lender's own page. The changes are all in the promotions, and the biggest one is the calendar.
What happened on 30 September, checked on 5 October. Three lenders renewed. UOB's rebate is back for 1 to 31 October with a better lower rung, 1.00% instead of 0.50% on S$10,000 to under S$50,000, and still 2.00% from S$50,000; approval must come inside October. CIMB re-issued its cashback terms to run to 30 November. Trust extended its quoted 1.00% rate to 31 October. Three did not: Standard Chartered's SG61 cashback, OCBC's up-to-S$1,000 cashback and Citi's GrabGifts vouchers all ended on 30 September, and at 5 October none of those banks had published a replacement (Citi has since renewed; see the 17 October note above). DBS/POSB's uncapped 3% (to 31 October) is still the richest cashback here at S$30,000 and above.
CIMB's cashback now has an end date, and the 9.9 Special is gone. CIMB's product page still prints no date, but its current terms document runs the Personal Loan Cashback Promotion from 28 March to 30 November 2026 and excludes applications through aggregators such as MoneySmart, SingSaver and Lendela unless CIMB names them as partners. The 9.9 Special (0% on 3- and 6-month loans, first 399 customers) closed on 20 September and has been removed from the page. What CIMB advertises instead is a referral scheme paying up to S$200 per successful referral, with no cap.
GXS does have a live offer. We had GXS down as "no current promotion". Its FlexiLoan page links an IKEA campaign whose terms run 1 June to 31 December 2026: a new-to-FlexiLoan customer who draws at least S$4,000 over 12 months or more and names the loan "IKEA" gets 1.28% off the rate for the first 12 repayments, paid as cashback, plus a S$50 IKEA voucher. It is the only promotion on this page that starts below S$10,000.
Trust's scratch card runs to 31 October, now the same end date as its quoted rate, per the footnote on its Instant Loan page (15 June to 31 October 2026). And CIMB CashLite's existing-cardholder EIR is 6.54% to 6.60% depending on tenure, not a flat 6.60%.
Two pages are still worth reading with suspicion. OCBC keeps a second Cash-on-Instalments panel dated "Valid till 31 January 2025", and GXS's hero banner still advertises "up to S$488 cashback" that its own small print dates to March and April 2025.
Standard Chartered CashOne, in plain numbers
CashOne is the loan most people arrive here searching for by name, so here it is without the marketing. The advertised rate is 0.90% p.a. flat, EIR from 1.75% p.a., the lowest published EIR of any personal loan in Singapore right now. Tenures run 1 to 5 years. The minimum income is S$30,000 a year for Singaporeans and PRs and S$90,000 for foreigners. There is a S$199 annual fee in year one, deducted from the approved amount, and S$0 in later years unless a minimum payment went unpaid in the preceding 12 months, in which case it is S$50.
That fee is the part the adverts leave out, because the 1.75% is quoted *before* it. Standard Chartered's own worked example puts the all-in EIR at 2.15% p.a. on a S$20,000 loan over five years: above UOB's 1.93%. Because S$199 is a fixed sum rather than a percentage, it punishes small loans and disappears into large ones: it is worth roughly 2% of a S$10,000 loan and roughly 0.4% of a S$50,000 one. So CashOne genuinely is the cheapest loan on this page at S$50,000, and genuinely is not at S$10,000.
There is no CashOne cashback at the moment. The SG61 ladder, which paid 0.61% to 3.61% depending on loan size from S$18,000, ran 13 July to 30 September 2026, and Standard Chartered's only live loan offer is a referral scheme paying existing borrowers up to S$200 per friend, to 31 December 2026.
Who it is actually for: borrowers taking S$30,000 or more over 3–5 years, who will keep the loan to term. Below about S$20,000, UOB's fee-free 1.93% beats it on the all-in maths, and if you want the biggest cheque rather than the lowest rate, DBS/POSB's uncapped 3% pays more than CashOne's 1.61% rung at the same S$30,000.
How to pick, in one paragraph
If you are borrowing S$30,000 or more over 3–5 years, the cashback decides it: DBS/POSB's uncapped 3% is worth S$900 on S$30,000 and S$1,800 on S$60,000, which beats every rate advantage on this page. If you are borrowing S$10,000-S$30,000, compare Standard Chartered, UOB and CIMB's Personal Loan: Standard Chartered has the lower EIR, UOB and CIMB have no S$199 annual fee, and one of those two usually wins below roughly S$20,000. Do not pick UOB in this band for the rebate alone, because at under S$50,000 it pays 1.00%, not 2%. If you are borrowing under S$10,000, none of the big cashback offers apply and the decision comes down to fees: GXS FlexiLoan lends from S$200 with no fees at all and no penalty for clearing it early, while CIMB's Personal Loan starts at S$2,000 with an EIR of 1.94% and no processing fee, which is far cheaper interest than GXS's 5.45% once you are above its S$2,000 floor. If your monthly cashflow is the binding constraint rather than total interest, HSBC's 7-year tenor is the only one that will lower the instalment further, at the cost of two more years of interest.
Before you apply
Check your personalised rate first. Every bank here publishes a "from" rate and states that your actual rate depends on your credit profile: DBS lets you see yours in iBanking or digibank before committing, and UOB's published band runs all the way to 8% p.a. (EIR 17.62%). Apply through the bank's own page where the promotion requires it: UOB's rebate is void if you route the application through an aggregator or through UOB Personal Internet Banking, and DBS's 3% cashback is void through a branch or any other assisted channel. UOB can also claw its rebate back if you cancel within 12 months or repay early. And remember the MAS cap, your total unsecured credit across cards, credit lines and personal loans cannot exceed 12 times your monthly income.
If you are consolidating debt, a personal loan may be the wrong product
A lot of people arrive at a page like this already carrying card balances, looking for one loan to clear them all. If that is you, check whether you qualify for a Debt Consolidation Plan (DCP) first, because it is a different product built for exactly this and none of the ten loans above is.
The Association of Banks in Singapore sets the criteria, and they are the same at every participating bank. You must be a Singapore Citizen or PR, earn between S$20,000 and under S$120,000 a year, hold net personal assets under S$2 million, and (the qualifying test) carry total interest-bearing unsecured debt across all your cards and unsecured credit facilities that exceeds 12 times your monthly income. That last one is the catch in both directions: below the threshold you do not qualify for a DCP at all, and above it you are near the MAS borrowing ceiling anyway, so a new personal loan may not be approved.
Not everything can be folded in. Joint accounts, renovation loans, education loans, medical loans and any credit facility granted for business purposes are all excluded from a DCP, because those are treated as purposeful or needs-based borrowing and sit outside the unsecured limits to begin with.
So the practical split: if your unsecured debt is under 12x monthly income, a personal loan from this list at a lower rate than your cards is a reasonable refinancing move. If it is over, a DCP is the product to ask about, and if repayments are already slipping, speak to Credit Counselling Singapore before you take on anything new.
This guide is general information about publicly advertised products, not financial advice. Borrowing costs money; if you are consolidating existing debt or struggling with repayments, speak to your bank or a Credit Counselling Singapore adviser before taking on a new loan.
Related reads