securedpersonalloans.com.auA record of the thing behind the loan

A record of the thing behind a loan

Secured personal loans: what the lender holds

A guide to secured personal loans in plain words, published by Dotto from the official sources listed at the foot of each page. A secured loan is a promise backed by a thing: an asset you provide as security, which the lender can take and sell if the loan is not repaid.

General information, not financial or legal advice. The record of the thing below follows it through five stages, each with its own guide.

Record of the thingFive entries

Item
Goods or land, given as security
Held for
A personal loan
  1. What security meansWith you, pledged to the lender

    What an asset as security is, and when the National Credit Code covers it.

  2. The default notice and the waitWith you, while the notice runs

    The notice that must come before enforcement, and what can pause it.

  3. Hardship and changing the termsWith you, while the terms are looked at again

    The hardship notice, who can give it, and what the lender must do.

  4. After the asset is takenWith the lender, or on its way to a sale

    The notices, the time to get goods back, and any debt left after a sale.

  5. Disputing the amount, and the courtsWherever it was, while the numbers are tested

    Asking for the amount owing, disputing an entry, and reopening an unjust deal.

AA promise backed by a thing

Moneysmart draws the line between the two kinds of personal loan in a few words. With a secured loan you provide an asset, such as a car, and if you don’t repay, the lender can take and sell it. With an unsecured loan you provide no security, and if you don’t repay, the lender can take legal action to recover the money.

This record follows the thing: what it is, what the law asks of a lender before it can be taken, and what a borrower can still do at each stage.

BThe order of events

  1. Before any enforcement

    A default notice

    A lender must give a default notice under section 88 of the National Credit Code before it begins enforcement proceedings to recover money, take possession of property or sell property. Section 88 also lists cases where no notice, or no wait, is needed, among them where the lender reasonably believes the borrower’s fraud induced the contract, or has tried reasonably but without success to find the borrower. For a secured personal loan, the National Debt Helpline says it gives at least 30 days to pay what is behind, plus the usual repayment.

  2. When repayments get hard

    A hardship notice

    A borrower who considers they are or will be unable to meet their obligations can tell the lender so, by speaking to it or in writing.

  3. After the asset is seized

    Notice, and time

    Section 102 of the National Credit Code says the lender must give a written notice within 14 days of taking the goods, and must return them if, within 21 days of that notice, the arrears (less any accelerated amount) and its reasonable enforcement expenses are paid, with no further default of the same kind, or if the contract is paid out.

  4. After a sale

    An account of it

    The Helpline says the lender must send a notice with details of the sale, and may take the borrower to court for any debt left over.

Each step has conditions and exceptions, which the guides set out with their sources.

CThe rules the thing sits under

The National Credit Code applies to a mortgage that secures obligations under a credit contract or a related guarantee, where the person giving it is an individual or a strata corporation. The kind of security does not settle which rules apply, though: ASIC’s guidance says a loan wholly or predominantly for a business purpose falls outside the responsible lending obligations, even when the borrower’s home secures it. This record follows loans for personal purposes.

DWhere to check for yourself

  • MoneysmartPages on personal loans, financial hardship and problems paying a mortgage. Each guide here links the ones it draws on.
  • National Debt HelplineThe helpline describes its financial counselling as free, confidential and available to people in Australia in financial difficulty or with debt problems.
  • Australian Financial Complaints AuthorityA dispute resolution scheme for disputes with financial firms; Moneysmart says schemes of its kind hear complaints for free.
  • The National Credit CodeThe law itself, on the Federal Register of Legislation, where the sections quoted in these guides can be read in full.

EAbout this record

A blank brown paper tag with a punched hole, printed with empty from and to lines, lying on a white surface
A tag waiting to be filled in, the object this site borrows for its record. Photo by BRRT on Pixabay.

Secured Personal Loans is a guide published by Dotto. It explains what the law and the official sources say about secured personal loans; it is general information, not financial or legal advice. The sources for each page are listed at its foot, and were checked on 8 October 2026. Where a rule has a time limit, the guides give it as the source states it. Check the source before relying on any of them.