Personal Loans

They are unsecured loans that are only offered to pre-approved American Express
Cardmembers. Personal Loans can be used for personal, family or household
purposes, to consolidate existing credit card debt, for major purchases, home renovations or significant life events.

You have three days from when your loan agreement is displayed to you on the application to review and sign.

If you do not sign your loan agreement within that three day period, the application will be cancelled. 

Most borrowers will receive a decision within minutes.

However, this may be delayed if we require additional information from you.

Your APR (interest rate) is determined based on the current information we have on you at the time of application including your credit history.

Pre-approved offers are based on your creditworthiness and other factors at the time you receive an offer. As a result, the pre-approved offer you receive may be different from an earlier offer you received due to changes in your creditworthiness or other eligibility factors since the time of the earlier offer.

Fixed APRs are rates that will not increase or decrease over the term of the loan. This means that your payments and the length of the loan will not increase or be extended.

This means that you are approved to apply for the loan. However, please keep in mind that if you are pre-approved, it does not guarantee that you will be approved for the loan. We may require additional information from you or we may deny your application if there has been any material change to your financial condition, creditworthiness or for other reasons as required by law.³ 

You can only have one American Express Personal Loan at any given time.

You can check for a pre-approved offer by visiting the American Express Borrowing Centre. If you're pre-approved for a personal loan, your personalized offer will appear. If you don’t see an offer, you can periodically check the Borrowing Centre to see if you are pre-approved.

At this time, only pre-approved Cardmembers may apply for a Personal Loan and the application must be done online. You must have an American Express Online  Services account to apply. Simply sign up for an Online Services account if you do not have one prior to accessing the application . If you are pre-approved, we’ll let you know the maximum amount you can borrow, as well as the annual percentage rate that will apply to your loan.

You will be required to provide the following information during the application process including:
- Amount you wish to borrow
- Desired repayment period 
- Purpose for requesting the loan
- Contact information
- Income
- Bank account details for direct deposit of funds and monthly payments (Account, Institution & Transit numbers). These numbers can be found on your cheque or your online banking portal.

At this time, you can only apply for a loan online. 

To apply, you must agree to receive communications and other documents in electronic form. You must also have an American Express online account and valid email address.

No, your credit score will not be impacted when you apply for a Personal Loan. However, if you are approved for and agree to the terms of the loan, it is necessary for us to report it to the credit bureau that you have a loan with us. This may impact your credit score, just as any credit product would.

Pre-approved Cardmembers can apply for a loan of at least $3,500, up to their pre-approved amount, which depends on creditworthiness and other factors.

No. Personal Loans do not provide Membership Rewards, cash back, or other benefits that are available on American Express Card products.

A third party is a person or entity who instructs another person or entity to conduct an activity or financial transaction on their behalf. When you are determining whether a third party is giving instructions, it is not about who owns or benefits from the money, or who is carrying out the transaction or activity, but rather about who gives the instructions to handle the money or conduct a transaction or particular activity. 

Example of NOT applying for a third party: A parent applying for their child’s education where the parent will be responsible for the loan payments.  

We will send your loan funds to the bank account that you provided after signing your loan agreement. We will ask you to designate a personal chequing account in your name.

You will have three days from the date you sign your loan agreement to add a bank account, otherwise you will not receive your loan funds and your loan agreement will be void and unenforceable. 

We require your bank details during the application process as we need to know both where to send funds and from which bank account the payments will be drawn.

Currently, we require that the same account be used for both.   

You may change the bank your pre-authorized payments come from online after you are approved and your loan account is set up.

Yes, the loan funds will be deposited directly into your designated bank account within 1 to 3 business days from the time of approval.

We do not currently issue loan funds by cheque or other non-electronic means.

Personal Loans are payable in fixed monthly installments. The amount of your monthly payment will depend on the amount you borrow, the repayment period you select and the total interest paid on your loan (based on the APR that we apply).

The last monthly payment will be slightly different than all other fixed payments (as the last payment is adjusted to account variances in interest due to the interest being calculated daily). 

A fee will be charged if we attempt to withdraw funds from your account for your monthly payment and there are insufficient funds available for that purpose.

There are no fees other than the insufficient funds fee referred to in the previous paragraph.

You can access information about your loan, including the outstanding balance due, monthly payment amounts, payment due dates, and prior payments and credits, through your American Express Online Services account.

You can find your Loan Account Number on your Loan Agreement, which is included with your Loan Documents. Your Loan Documents can be found in the Account Summary section of your American Express Online Services account.

Automated payments will be set up at the time of loan application and agreement and will be taken from your account on a monthly basis. You can make ad-hoc payments to pay down your loan faster or make up for a missed payment via Online Services or through your bank’s online payments system.

On your application, you can choose from one of three repayment periods (12, 24 or 36 months). Keep in mind that a longer repayment period may result in a lower monthly payment but more total interest than if you choose a shorter repayment period for the same loan amount.

Yes. There are no pre-payment penalties with a Personal Loan. Additionally, you can make as many payments as you wish with no associated fees.

To pay off your Personal Loan early, you can pay the Outstanding Loan Balance that appears in your Online Services account or on your current loan statement. Payment must be received before the Next Statement Date shown on your loan statement for your account to be deemed paid in full.