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| Instalment loan | Line of credit | Payday loan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rate range | 5.98 - 35% APR | 19.8 - 34.99% APR | $14 per $100 |
| Interest charged on | The full amount from day one | Only what you draw | Flat fee per $100 borrowed |
| Repayment | Fixed instalments, set end date | Revolving, minimum payment | Due in full on your next payday |
| Re-borrow without reapplying | No | Yes | No, and rollovers are banned in most provinces |
| Best when | You know the amount and want a payoff date | Costs arrive over time and you cannot size them yet | A small shortfall you can clear from your next cheque |
| Watch out for | Interest on funds you may not need | No end date means a balance can persist for years | The highest cost per dollar of any form on this site |
| Term | Monthly payment | Total interest |
|---|---|---|
| 2 years | $521 | $2,510 |
| 3 years | $384 | $3,841 |
| 5 years | $279 | $6,741 |
An instalment loan is the plainest product in personal lending: a lump sum now, repaid in equal payments over a fixed term, at a rate fixed when you sign. Nothing revolves, nothing is drawn against, and the last payment is on a date you know from the first day. When people say "personal loan" without qualifying it, this is usually what they mean.
That simplicity is the product's whole case. A line of credit is cheaper for a recurring gap and a payday loan is faster for a few hundred dollars, but neither tells you on day one what the borrowing will cost in total. An instalment loan does, and the total is the number worth reading before the monthly payment.
Eleven lenders on this page offer instalment loans, from $100 to $35,000 unsecured, from 9.99% APR on terms of 3 to 84 months. Every one of them is subject to the 35% federal cap on instalment lending, so the ceiling is fixed by law and the floor is set by your file.
| Stated purpose | Share of personal applications | Average request |
|---|---|---|
| Pay off bills | 33.0% | $4,616 |
| Debt consolidation | 20.5% | $8,167 |
| Other | 17.9% | $5,141 |
| Medical expenses | 5.8% | $4,445 |
| Improve credit | 4.6% | $5,897 |
On Smarter Loans, from January 2026 to June 2026, the average personal loan request across more than 13,000 applications was $5,888. Paying off bills was the most common stated purpose at 33.0% of applications, at an average of $4,616, with only medical expenses lower. Debt consolidation was second at 20.5%, and the largest by amount at $8,167, nearly double the bills figure.
That gap is the most useful thing in the table. A bill is a gap; consolidation is a restructuring. The first wants the shortest term you can carry. The second wants a rate below the cards it replaces, and a term long enough that the payment is lower than the sum of the payments it consolidates, or the exercise fails. Our guide to using a personal loan to consolidate debt works through that arithmetic, and the debt payoff calculator runs it on your own balances.
Take $5,000 over 24 months, the shape of a typical request here. At 19.99% APR the payment is about $255 a month and the total interest about $1,108. At 34.99%, near the cap, it is about $293 a month and $2,022 in interest.
Two things stand out. The monthly payments are only $38 apart, which is why the payment alone is a poor guide. And the total interest nearly doubles between the two rates, which is why the rate you are offered matters more on a longer term than a shorter one. The personal loan calculator shows both numbers for any amount, rate and term, and the second one is the one to compare offers on.
What sets your rate within a lender's range is the file: income regularity, what is already leaving the account, and the credit band. On our platform in the first half of 2026, 46.3% of personal applicants carried a fair score, 23.6% poor, 22.1% no usable score, 6.7% good and 1.3% great. The lenders on this page price across that whole distribution, and most of them serve the first three bands.
The three products that compete for the same borrower, and the situations that decide between them.
The test: if you can write down the amount and the month it will be gone, take the instalment loan; if you cannot write down either, take the line; if the amount is a few hundred dollars and gone by your next pay, only then consider the payday product.
An instalment loan for a known one-time need with a known end. A car repair, a consolidation, a medical bill, a move. The fixed payment is the discipline.
A line of credit for a recurring or unpredictable need. You draw in the thin month and repay in the strong one, and interest runs only on the drawn balance. For a single known amount it is the wrong shape, because nothing forces the balance to zero. Our guide to personal loan versus line of credit covers the trade, and the lines of credit page lists the lenders here that offer one.
A payday loan for a few hundred dollars for two weeks, priced as a fee per $100 and due in full from the next deposit. It is faster than anything on this page and far more expensive per dollar; where the need will take more than one pay period to clear, an instalment loan over a few months costs less in total. The payday loans page shows the provincial caps.
Request size on instalment varies less by province than most people expect. On our platform in the first half of 2026, the average personal request was $6,013 in Ontario, $5,799 in Alberta, $5,608 in British Columbia and $6,089 in Quebec, a spread of under $500 across the four largest provinces against a national average of $5,888. The cost of living differs a great deal between those provinces; the size of an instalment request does not, which suggests the amount is set by the need rather than the address.
What does differ is the regulatory floor. The 35% federal cap on instalment lending applies everywhere, and it is the cap that sets the ceiling on every card on this page. Provincial rules mostly govern payday lending, which is a different product and a different page.
Income first, in the form of deposits. Lenders here read bank statements rather than pay stubs, and what they read for is regularity: the same amount on the same day, month after month. Income floors on this page run from $1,000 to $2,500 a month from any regular source; six of the eleven lenders sit at $1,200 or $1,500.
Then what is already leaving the account: existing loan payments, an outstanding advance, returned payments. Then the score, which sets the rate rather than the decision. That ordering is why applicants with a thin or damaged file get instalment loans from lenders here that a bank would decline; the bad credit loans page covers that assessment in detail.
Applying online is the same assessment with less friction, and it is how most applications on this page are made; our guide to online versus in-branch loans covers what changes and what does not.
All personal loan options are on the personal loans hub. If the need is a secured product, a larger amount or a specific situation, the pages under it cover each one. We do not record which product an applicant ends up with, so the purpose figures are for all personal applications.
Source for all platform figures on this page: Smarter Loans personal loan applications, January 2026 to June 2026.
Reviewed by Vlad Sherbatov, Co-Founder and President, Smarter Loans. Last reviewed 7 September 2026. Platform figures cover applications from 1 January to 30 June 2026.
A lump sum repaid in equal payments over a fixed term at a rate fixed when you sign. Nothing revolves and the final payment date is known from day one. It is what most people mean by a personal loan, and it suits a known one-time need with a known end better than a line of credit or a payday loan does.
On our platform in the first half of 2026 the average personal loan request was $5,888 across more than 13,000 applications. Paying off bills was the most common purpose at 33.0% and averaged $4,616; debt consolidation was second at 20.5% and averaged $8,167, the largest of any purpose.
On $5,000 over 24 months, about $255 a month and $1,108 in interest at 19.99% APR, or about $293 a month and $2,022 at 34.99%. The monthly payments are close; the total interest nearly doubles. Every lender on this page is subject to the 35% federal cap, and the rate within a lender's range is set by deposits and credit band.
An instalment loan is a fixed sum on a fixed schedule with a known end; a line of credit is a limit you draw against and repay, with interest only on the drawn balance and no forced payoff. The loan suits a one-time need; the line suits a recurring or unpredictable one. Nothing forces a line to zero, which is its main risk.
Yes, from lenders here that read bank deposits before the score. On our platform in the first half of 2026, 23.6% of personal applicants had a poor score and 22.1% no usable score; most lenders on this page serve those bands. The score sets the rate within a lender's range rather than deciding the application.
