How to apply for a personal loan: steps and documents

To apply for a personal loan in Switzerland, you tell the lender how much you want to borrow, who you are, and what you earn and spend. You prove your identity. The lender then checks your credit records and your budget, as the law requires, and decides. If the answer is yes, you get a written contract, and you can still withdraw within 14 days. At Swizeo you apply online, on the application page, in six steps that are saved as you go. Have your ID or passport ready, and your residence permit if you have one.

Before you apply

Four things are worth doing before you give a lender any details.

• Work out a payment you can carry. List what comes in and goes out each month, then try amounts and terms in the loan calculator. The guide how much can I borrow explains how lenders look at your budget.
• Read the lender’s requirements. Each lender sets its own rules on age, permit, income and credit records. See loan requirements.
• Know your own records. You can order your IKO and ZEK extracts free of charge; both come by letter post (IKO, ZEK). Your debt collection extract costs CHF 17 plus postage (ch.ch). Then nothing in the lender’s check surprises you. See ZEK and IKO explained.
• Apply where you mean to borrow. Lenders that are members of the ZEK report credit applications to it, not only the contracts that follow. They must tell you and ask for your consent first (ZEK).

What every lender must do

For a consumer credit from CHF 500 to CHF 80’000, the Consumer Credit Act (Konsumkreditgesetz, KKG) sets the same steps for every lender that lends as a business (KKG, Art. 7).

1. It checks that you can afford the loan, before the contract (KKG, Art. 27a). You must be able to repay without using the part of your income that can’t be seized in debt collection. The lender counts your actual rent, your taxes according to the withholding tax table and the credits already recorded at the IKO, the information office for consumer credit. It must assume the loan is repaid within 36 months, even if your term is longer (KKG, Art. 28).
2. It may rely on what you tell it, unless your figures are plainly wrong or contradict the IKO. If it has doubts, it must check them against documents (KKG, Art. 31).
3. It may ask for two documents: an extract from the debt collection register, and a salary statement or, if you are not employed, other documents that show your income (KKG, Art. 31).
4. It gives you a written contract and a copy. The contract must state the net amount, the effective annual rate, the repayment plan, your right to withdraw and to repay early, and the part of your income the credit check was based on (KKG, Art. 9).
5. It reports the credit to the IKO once it grants it (KKG, Art. 25).

You then have 14 days to withdraw, in writing. The period starts when you receive your copy of the contract, and handing your letter to the post office on the last day is enough (KKG, Art. 16).

You owe a credit broker nothing for arranging a loan, and a lender may not bill you separately for what it pays a broker (KKG, Art. 35). The guide to taking out a personal loan covers the rest of the law, from the rate cap to early repayment.

Swizeo lends from CHF 1’000 to CHF 1’000’000. Above CHF 80’000, the KKG does not apply.

Applying at Swizeo: the six steps

You apply on the application page. If you have a question first, ask it in the chat, and a person from our team answers. Each question says why we ask it. Each step is saved as you go, so you can pause and continue later in the same browser.

Please use your real figures in step 5. A payment that looks affordable on paper but isn’t would only make things harder for you.

Documents to have ready

• Your ID or passport, and your residence permit if you have one. You need them for step 3, the identity check, with a document that shows your address.
• Your phone with its camera, for the identity check.
• What else we ask for: When the application asks for a document, it says why.

If you work for yourself, you have no salary statement. The law lets a lender ask for other documents that show your income instead (KKG, Art. 31). The guide to loans for the self-employed explains which documents those can be.

If a lender asks for your debt collection extract, you order it from the debt collection office for the place where you live, online or at the counter, with a copy of your ID. It covers the past 5 years and costs CHF 17 plus postage (ch.ch).

What happens after you send

You see the status of your application at every stage: sent, credit check, in review, then approved with an offer, or declined.

1. Credit check. With your consent, we check with the credit offices we name and whether the payment fits your budget.
2. Decision. You always see the status and who has your application.
3. Your offer. A yes shows your monthly payment and your total cost, at our rate of 3 % a year, an effective annual rate of about 3.04 %. A no comes with the reason, as far as the rules allow, and a next step.
4. Signing. You read the contract in short, then sign online.
5. Withdrawal period. The law gives you 14 days from receiving your copy of the contract (KKG, Art. 16).
6. Payout.

Next step

Read what we check and what a loan costs on the personal loan page before you apply. If one of our requirements rules you out, better to know now.