Loan Rates Hit 5-Year Low: Is Now the Right Time for Singaporeans to Borrow?

Personal loan flat rates in Singapore have dipped below 2% p.a. for the first time in five years, signalling a potentially opportune moment for consumers considering debt consolidation, home upgrades, or major personal expenses.

To understand how today’s rates compare to past offerings, personal finance platform SingSaver reviewed publicly available data — including archived versions of bank websites — to trace changes in personal loan rates from 2020 to 2025 across major lenders like DBS, OCBC, UOB, and Standard Chartered.

SingSaver’s review of available data found that personal loan rates have steadily declined from an average of 3.88% p.a. between 2020 and 2023 to as low as 1.85% p.a. in 2025 — marking the lowest they’ve been in five years.

According to the review, personal loan rates from Singapore’s major banks in 2025 are as follows:

• UOB: 1.85% p.a. flat (EIR 3.40%)
  
  

• DBS: 1.99% p.a. flat (EIR 4.17%)
  
  

• OCBC: 1.98% p.a. flat (EIR 4.19%)
  
  

• Standard Chartered: 1.90% p.a. flat (EIR 3.63%)
  
  

This represents a sharp drop from earlier years. For example:

• DBS maintained a consistent rate of 3.88% p.a. from 2020 to 2023, before falling to 2.68% p.a. in 2024 and 1.99% p.a. in 2025.
  
  

• OCBC’s Cash-on-Instalments plan fell from 4.79% p.a. in 2021 to 3.50% in 2022, and further to 1.98% p.a. in 2025.
  
  

• Standard Chartered and UOB show similar trends, with rates dropping by more than 1.5 percentage points since 2023.
  
  

Today’s sub-2% offerings could mean thousands in interest savings over the course of a typical 3- to 5-year loan term.

Borrowing remains a personal decision, but current flat rates represent the most competitive environment we've seen in half a decade. For financially disciplined individuals, this could be a strategic time to lock in lower-cost credit.

Table 1: Historical Personal Loan Rates by Bank (2020–2025)

SingSaver reviewed flat interest rates and effective interest rates (EIRs) for standard personal loans from DBS, OCBC, UOB, and Standard Chartered — based on current product pages and historical snapshots retrieved from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine (2020–2024).

The comparison focused on unsecured bank-issued instalment loans, excluding products from moneylenders, digital lenders, and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) providers. Promotional perks like cashback and eligibility criteria were also referenced where available.

No personal user data was collected or used in this review.

With rates at a five-year low, borrowers have a rare window to access lower-cost financing. As always, responsible borrowing and careful comparison are key. To explore current offers and terms, visit SingSaver’s Personal Loan Comparison Tool.